Harry Hay

Dirty Postcards 

25 Nov - 9 Dec 

2023 

Besides being one of the oldest “genres” in Visual Art – the Narrative, or Story Telling, can also be one of the more difficult terrains for an artist to traverse.

The reasons for this are both complex and straightforward – the more obvious reasons revolve around the need to be both dextrous and inventive with the chosen materials –after which, the artist also needs to have a store of imagery and ideas which might then be bent, twisted, smudged and shaped to form the parable, anecdote or visual yarn.

The more complex part of a successful Visual Art narrative, is having the courage to allow the viewer room to move – meaning that it is imperative that the “story” not be nailed down to a single reading – and this freedom in turn, allows for diverse interpretations of the work at different times and depending in part, on the viewer’s life experience.

Harry Hay’s large format charcoal, dry pastel and gouache drawings bring together all of these necessary attributes – fluently inventing fertile images built from the myths and legends of both local and family histories, which importantly afford multiple entry points and a variety of touchstones for each and every viewer.