Images of Lydia Hamblet's private view Noises in the Florid Sky.
Showcasing an incredible seventeen new paintings, Hamblet transforms the gallery space into an immersive, energetic environment where the viewer is enveloped by a vibrant symphony of colour. Within this ambitious new body of work, Hamblet delves deeper into her fascination with the weather. The exhibition title, Noises in the Florid Sky, is inspired by Richard Mabey’s 2013 book Turned Out Nice Again: Living With The Weather. Within this book, Mabey weaves together science, art and memoirs (including his own) to show the weather’s impact on our culture and national psyche. The refer- ence to ‘Florid Sky’ is also taken from the poem Electromagnetic by Emily Rothko, where she writes “Disruptions in the Florid Sky ... An inner weather grows out of the atmosphere”. This quote is something that Hamblet refers back to often when making work, directly informing and impacting her practice.
A truly British topic, the weather has preoccupied Hamblet’s research for the past four years. The artist follows a well-trodden path of myths, love affairs and mysteries that surround how we interact with the weather. Noises in the Florid Sky provides access to the artists’ personal narratives, memories and emotions - we see how colour and form take precedence in her large scale abstract pieces, responding directly to her lived experiences and surroundings, and engulfing the viewer in her inner world.
Often referring to a specific quote by Marcel Proust when making work, ‘We relive our past years not in their continuous sequence, day by day, but in a memory focused upon the coolness or the sunshine of some morning or afternoon’, this solo presentation creates a welcome relief from the complexities of every-day life, and encourage a quiet self-reflection and contemplation.
