Neil Haddon
NEIL'S UPCOMING EXHIBITION OPENS ON FRIDAY THE 7TH OF JUNE, 2024 AT 5.30PM
CATALOGUE COMING SOON...
In this exhibition, the artist delves into his personal biography, exploring the legacy of his migration to lutruwita/Tasmania and encounters with artworks that have marked his journey from the UK, through Spain and New York, to Tasmania.
His paintings intertwine threads from a painting by Paul Gauguin, a landscape by John Glover, engravings by Gustave Doré, snippets of text by H.G. Wells, and references to early colonial figure John Kelly, along with anecdotes from his life in the UK and Tasmania.
Migration is a complex phenomenon involving negotiations of identity, belonging, and spatial dynamics. Haddon's artwork exemplifies migratory experiences, merging past and present temporalities to create a poignant manifestation of displacement and settlement.
His technique spans hard-edged abstraction to loose expression, finely rendered figurative detail to bold text, utilizing a variety of painterly applications and materials.
Haddon's paintings offer insights into migratory experiences and the histories of lutruwita/Tasmania, depicting a place still in formation, whose geographies and views are yet to be fully discovered.
Neil Haddon is a British/Australian artist and currently lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Haddon was born in Epsom, England. He earned a B-TEC Diploma in Art and Design from the Epsom School of Art, Surrey, England (1985-87) (now the University for the Creative Arts). He received an Honours degree from West Surrey College of Art and Design (1987-1990) (now the University for the Creative Arts).
Haddon relocated to Barcelona, Spain in 1990 and lived and worked there until 1996. He held his first solo exhibition at Galería Carles Poy in 1992. In 1996 he moved to Tasmanian, Australia. He has lived and worked there since then.
In 2002 he was awarded a Master of Fine Art from the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania (now the School of Creative Arts and Media, UTAS). He has held a variety of part time teaching posts at SoCA, lectures in painting and Critical Practices and is a post graduate supervisor.
Haddon was a founding member Letitia Street Studios and Inflight Artist Run Initiative (now Constance ARI) and was the Chair of Contemporary Art Tasmania from 2010 to 2016. He regularly travels back to the UK and Spain for research projects and in 2014 undertook a three-month residency in New York at the Australia Council for the Arts Greene Street Studio.
Haddon’s paintings have been exhibited in Australia, the US and Europe. Recent exhibitions include: Strange Trees at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Theatre of the World, MONA (La Maison Rouge, Paris) curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, Platform, Los Angeles and Back Burn, Opera, the black mirror, Bett Gallery, Hobart, This Is No Fantasy / Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne and MOP Gallery, Sydney.
Haddon’s work is held in private and public collections internationally and in Australia by the National Gallery of Victoria, Artbank, Sydney, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Univeristy of Tasmania Fine Art Collection, Devonport Regional Gallery and the Gold Coast Arts Centre.
Haddon’s painting ‘The Visit’ won the $100,000 'Hadley’s Prize’ in 2017, ‘Portrait with Paperchains’ won the City of Whyalla Art Prize 2009 and ‘Purblind (Opiate)’ won the Glover Prize, 2008. His work ‘Survivor (del tink gyp flynn)’ was the winning entry in Tidal, the City of Devonport Art Award 2006.
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