Artist Statement
Drawing on varied interests including history, philosophy and storytelling; I create allegorical, dystopian and Fantastical sculptural works. Which reflect my interest in the power of art as a cultural and political critique, presenting intricately sculpted worlds imbued with meaning.
In 2019’s Plato’s Lair (redux) I took from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and constructed a wooden potting shed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art within which resided a society of miniature bird like figures; their only reality. The otherness of the miniatures provides a distance for the viewer who observes a different yet identifiable character; an allegory for themselves.
Plato, Descartes and todays builders of computer simulations generate forms of scepticism about the verisimilitude of our ordinary experience. They raise doubts about how we can distinguish reality from substitutes made of shadows, dreams or virtual realities. My work addresses the problem that our reality is also a political reality made of images, slogans and fantasies.
Peter Hanmer was born in 1992 in Northumberland, UK. He studied at the University for the Creative Arts and Newcastle University, where he received a BA (Hons) (2014) and Masters of Fine Art with Distinction (2018) respectively. Winner of the Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor of The Year award 2017, he has been shortlist for multiple awards and has exhibited his work at a variety of galleries and venues both locally and internationally. Select exhibitions include, Plato’s Lair (SOLO), Cheeseburn Sculpture Garden (2018); Digital Citizen – The Precarious Subject, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2019) The Discerning eye, Mall Galleries, London (2014); AUTONOMY, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough (2019); Modern Panic VI, Apiary Studios, London (2015); FLUX Exhibition, The Royal College of Art, London (2015); utopia:dystopia, Fringe Arts Bath Festival (2016); and MFA Connect, Victoria University, Victoria, Canada, (2018).
All animal bones used in my bone sculpture series are legally and ethically sourced, and have mostly been found by me on walks in my home county of Northumberland. Works containing real animal bone are for display only and are not for sale unless noted by work..
In 2019’s Plato’s Lair (redux) I took from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and constructed a wooden potting shed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art within which resided a society of miniature bird like figures; their only reality. The otherness of the miniatures provides a distance for the viewer who observes a different yet identifiable character; an allegory for themselves.
Plato, Descartes and todays builders of computer simulations generate forms of scepticism about the verisimilitude of our ordinary experience. They raise doubts about how we can distinguish reality from substitutes made of shadows, dreams or virtual realities. My work addresses the problem that our reality is also a political reality made of images, slogans and fantasies.
Peter Hanmer was born in 1992 in Northumberland, UK. He studied at the University for the Creative Arts and Newcastle University, where he received a BA (Hons) (2014) and Masters of Fine Art with Distinction (2018) respectively. Winner of the Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor of The Year award 2017, he has been shortlist for multiple awards and has exhibited his work at a variety of galleries and venues both locally and internationally. Select exhibitions include, Plato’s Lair (SOLO), Cheeseburn Sculpture Garden (2018); Digital Citizen – The Precarious Subject, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2019) The Discerning eye, Mall Galleries, London (2014); AUTONOMY, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough (2019); Modern Panic VI, Apiary Studios, London (2015); FLUX Exhibition, The Royal College of Art, London (2015); utopia:dystopia, Fringe Arts Bath Festival (2016); and MFA Connect, Victoria University, Victoria, Canada, (2018).
All animal bones used in my bone sculpture series are legally and ethically sourced, and have mostly been found by me on walks in my home county of Northumberland. Works containing real animal bone are for display only and are not for sale unless noted by work..