Chiara & chair 2004

Richard Hamilton made this mixed media piece, Chiara & chair, using collage and drawing techniques. The cool palette of greys, browns, and blues is overlaid by a system of technical perspective lines. It gives the feeling of something halfway between life and a drawing of life. The physical surfaces here – from the naked figure, the furniture, and the strange lawn glimpsed through the window – are both present and absent. The space feels more like a design for living than a place to live. Look closely at the blocky grey shapes, they have a texture like they have been printed, maybe photographic silkscreen. You can see traces of hand-drawn lines sitting on top of the image. A dialogue between the hand-made and the machine-made. Hamilton's work reminds me a bit of David Hockney, both are interested in how we see, how we picture space and how images circulate in the world. There is no singular meaning to be found here, it's more about the multiple ways that images can operate on our senses.