PRESS RELEASE
Work by artist Simon Hitchens kicks off a season of new possibilities at b-side’s new project space on Portland
16 March – 08 April 2017
b-side upped sticks and made the permanent move to the Isle of Portland in Dorset last year. Taking over an empty shop space in Fortuneswell, the new space became a real hub at the Festival in September and has since hosted various community and artist events.
This March sees the start of programme of activities that will experiment with and investigate how b-side and others can make use of the project space. A creatively diverse programme is already shaping up, beginning with work by Somerset sculptor Simon Hitchens.
Simon is showing a group of work entitled ‘Touch Stones’ which centres on his film Genesis, which explores ideas of what it is to be human and our relationship to the impermanence of life. There is an uncanny simplicity to the film like the meditative calm found in a Zen garden, where displaced rocks become almost body-like. What at first appears to be a benign boulder sat in an arcane landscape slowly begins to take on human qualities: is this a genesis, or the genesis?
“The film can be viewed as a landscape painting, a still life or even a self-portrait. I chose to use film because I wished to explore my ideas through a new medium, one that challenged how I went about making my art. The process of making it was slow, and involved working with a technical editor which in turn allowed me a greater degree of objectivity that I found rewarding.”
Join Simon at outpost on Saturday 16 March 7pm to hear more about his work. Please see website for all info and booking details.
Touchstones: 16 March – 08 April
Come and visit: Tues – Sat, 12 – 5pm
Admission FREE