The Art of Squatting
Object
Photograph
Production date
1997
Object number
2010.98
Physical Description
Photograph shows a man sitting in front of an easel in the foreground, apparently painting a woman who stands at the rear. The woman is wearing a bright yellow top and blue trousers. The room is bright but in poor repair; the peeling floral wallpaper only partially covers the exposed brick work of the far wall. The woman holds a magazine. There are carefully arranged fruit and flowers on the table to the left of the composition, in the style of a still life.
1997 Cibachrome print.
1997 Cibachrome print.
Object history
In this photo, Hunter references the oil painting 'The Art of Painting' by Johannes Vermeer.
In a 2024 interview with Anna Müller of Aesthetica Magazine, Hunter said of his series Life and Death in Hackney, 1999 – 2001:
"I wanted to paint a landscape of Hackney that captured its beauty and countered the cliches. The place had been described as an ugly wasteland that needed redeveloping, and so I wanted to show the way nature and people had reclaimed the wasteland. Weeds had sprung up through the cracks in the concrete in a beautiful way. [I] looked back on the Pre-Raphaelite artists and how they had woven narratives into their art. They took the notion of beauty and gave it an English makeover. I based all my works on Pre-Raphaelite paintings...Each of my works recreates the stories of people I lived with in squats, or partied with in empty industrial warehouses. The beauty I depict shows weeds instead of flowers, the unemployed and the squatters, the wastelands where the businesses have been deserted. The message: we are the flowers in your dustbin."
In a 2024 interview with Anna Müller of Aesthetica Magazine, Hunter said of his series Life and Death in Hackney, 1999 – 2001:
"I wanted to paint a landscape of Hackney that captured its beauty and countered the cliches. The place had been described as an ugly wasteland that needed redeveloping, and so I wanted to show the way nature and people had reclaimed the wasteland. Weeds had sprung up through the cracks in the concrete in a beautiful way. [I] looked back on the Pre-Raphaelite artists and how they had woven narratives into their art. They took the notion of beauty and gave it an English makeover. I based all my works on Pre-Raphaelite paintings...Each of my works recreates the stories of people I lived with in squats, or partied with in empty industrial warehouses. The beauty I depict shows weeds instead of flowers, the unemployed and the squatters, the wastelands where the businesses have been deserted. The message: we are the flowers in your dustbin."
Associated Person
Hunter, Tom (Photographer)
Material
photo
On display?
No
