Submitted by Brett Baker on August 16, 2012
Never Let the Screen Door Slam is a video interview and studio visit with painter Frederick Hammersley (1919-2009), directed by Vanessa H. Smith. Hammersley's work was most recently on view at LA Louver.
Hammersley discusses his general thoughts on painting as well as the specifics and development of his practice, including what he calls painting by "hunch" or intuition: "You put down a shape and they just lie there, and then you make a movement and it comes alive. I've never quite understood that, but it's marvelous. The shapes have attitudes and the painting just clicks."
Link to Post:
http://inbetweennoise.blogspot.com/2012/04/little-more-rambling-about-hammersley.html
Steve Roden writes about the work of painter Frederick Hammersley, whose work is on view at LA Louver through May 12, 2012.
Roden writes: "when i discovered hammersley's organics they felt not only like the perfect antidote to the bombastic gargantuan works of painters like anselm kiefer and julian schnabel, but they also felt like an ally... a lot of decisions in [Hammersley's] work revolved around intuition, and i believe that because of this, the work is open in terms of readings and/or experience. an intuitive process - as opposed to a 'plan' or a 'propaganda'; offers the viewer a potential intuited response - creating meaning through experience, as opposed to creating meaning through knowing... this is what makes the work so generous."
Link to Post:
http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/2011/11/geometry-old-school-new-school.html
Joanne Mattera blogs installaton photos of two recent exhibitions of geometric painting: Frederick Hammersley at Ameringer McEnery Yohe and Ann Pibal at Meulensteen.
Of Pibal's work Mattera writes that "You're up against the image, with its flat color and oddly directional elements, and then, boom, you find you've fallen in."
Link to Post:
http://www.thoughtsthatcureradically.com/2011/09/frederick-hammersley-organic-geometric.html
Caleb de Jong reviews the exhibition Frederick Hammersley: Organic & Geometric at Ameringer McEnery & Yoe on view through October 8, 2011.
De Jong writes that "Hammersley - who served in the military in WWII and studied in the Ecole de Beux-Arts in Paris where he met Picasso and Braque - fits more easily as an honorary late figure in the School of Paris. Hammersley's simple use of shapes, especially the diagonal and zigzag, distantly yet distinctly mirror Braque's late studio interiors while his bold, intuitive use of color borrows from Miró."
