Past Exhibitions — 2019

Hamish Fulton
A Decision To Choose Only Walking

22 November 2019 – 8 February 2020

Introduction

Parafin is delighted to present its first exhibition with the iconic British walking artist Hamish Fulton. The exhibition takes as its starting point the important walk the artist made over 47 days in 1973 from Duncansby Head to Land’s End – here presented as a large-scale wall text. After this major walk Fulton made the radical decision to ‘only make art resulting from the experience of individual walks’. Since then Fulton has rigorously maintained this focus, using walking as his medium and stating ‘If I don’t walk, I can’t make art’. Although only Fulton experiences his solitary walks directly, the works he presents in exhibitions and books allow us to engage with them.

Fulton has consistently argued that walking can be considered an important art form in its own right, and has pushed for wider recognition of the aesthetic and conceptual possibilities of walking as art. Through his work he highlights not only the artistic possibilities of walking but its ongoing history and importance as a means of transport, a way of connecting communities and a spiritual tool. It is also a traditional means of protest and Fulton has made work that is vocal in its support of environmental issues as well as the plight of Australian Aborigines, Native American Indians and the people of Tibet.

The exhibition includes works made between 1973 and now and encompasses the range of media Fulton uses to communicate his experiences, including printed texts, photographs, wall paintings and what he calls ‘walk texts on wood’. Using humble materials and adopting the wilderness ethos of ‘leave no trace’, Fulton’s work attempts an alignment with nature without exploiting or altering it. Fulton’s work, which directly addresses our relationship with nature, questions of environmental jeopardy and important causes such as the Chinese occupation of Tibet, has become more and more vital with every passing year.

Selected Works

Hamish Fulton
World Within A World, Duncansby Head to Lands End, Scotland Wales England, 1973, 1973
Wall text
Dimensions variable

Hamish Fulton
Cho Oyu, Tibet, 2000, 2000
Wall text
Dimensions variable

Hamish Fulton
Revisiting The Boulders, Jotunheimen, Norway, 2018, 2018
Wall text
Dimensions variable

Hamish Fulton
Touching Boulders by Hand, Wyoming, 2017, 2017
Framed archival inkjet print
65 × 79 cm

Hamish Fulton
Prayer Boulder, Nepal, 2009, 2009
Framed photograph and text
111 × 135 cm

Hamish Fulton
Boulder, Iceland, 2008, 2008
Framed photograph with text
73 × 85 cm

Hamish Fulton
Tibetan Prayer Flags Cover The Drolma Stone, Tibet, 2011, 2011
Framed archival inkjet print
36 × 52 cm

Hamish Fulton
A View From The Highest Point in North America/South America, 2003/2004, 2003-04
Framed archival inkjet print
62.5 × 50 cm

Hamish Fulton
Chomolungma (The Tibetan National Flag), Nepal, 2009, 2009
Framed archival inkjet print
59.5 × 75 cm

Hamish Fulton
The Precious Mountain, Tibet, 2011, 2011
Framed archival inkjet print
41 × 51 cm

Hamish Fulton
14 One Day Walks, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1989, 1989
Walk text. Ink stamps on paper
37 × 29.6 cm framed

Hamish Fulton
A Tree At Its Birthplace A Boulder At Its Resting Place, Cairngorms, Scotland, 2017, 2017
Framed archival inkjet print
54.5 × 70 cm

Hamish Fulton
Milestones, Wales & England, 2010, 2010
Framed archival inkjet print
58 × 45 cm

Hamish Fulton
Touching Boulders By Hand, Cairngorms, Scotland, 2013, 2013
Framed archival inkjet print
57 × 70 cm

Hamish Fulton
Antlers On The Track, Kent, England, 1970 & 1971, 1970-71
Photographs and text
25.5 × 44 cm

Hamish Fulton
Seven Small Engadin Mountains, Switzerland, 2007, 2007
Painting and text on paper
33 × 42 cm

Hamish Fulton
Untitled (Counting 588 Coloured Dots), Planet Earth, 2010, 2010
Paint and text on paper
36 × 41.5 cm

Hamish Fulton
14 One Day Walks, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1989, 1989
Walk text. Ink stamps on paper
37 × 29.6 cm

Biography

Hamish Fulton (born 1946, London) is a walking artist. Fulton first came to international attention in the late 1960s and early 1970s as one of a key generation of British artists, including Richard Long, Gilbert & George, Bruce McLean, Keith Arnatt and Art + Language, who were exploring new forms of art.

He was included in important early exhibitions of Conceptual Art, including ‘Konzeption – Conception’, Staadtisches Museum, Leverkusen (1969), ‘Conceptual Art, Arte Povera, Land Art’, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, Turin (1970), ‘Information’, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1970), Documenta V, Kassel (1972) and ‘The New Art’, Hayward Gallery, London (1972). Since then Fulton has exhibited extensively around the world. Major retrospectives have been presented at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1985), Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (1985), Albright-Knox Art Gallery Buffalo (1990), National Galley of Canada, Ottowa (1990), Serpentine Gallery, London (1991), IVAM, Valencia (1992) and Tate Britain (2002). Notable recent group exhibitions include ‘Ends of the Earth’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Haus der Kunst Munich (2012) and ‘Excitement’, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2016). Recent solo exhibitions include Turner Contemporary, Margate (2012), Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2012) and Bombas Gens, Valencia (2018).

His work is held in many major museum collections including Tate, London, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Kunstmuseum, Basel and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.