Ed Hadfield, poet and conceptual word artist based in London, explores character styles from literature; as well as the feeling of experience. He currently uses framing devices to reinforce the meaning of words, and is mainly interested in vernacular forms of communication.
His poetry practice builds on an array of influences, from the verbo-visual poetry of Marinetti & Apollinaire to the modernist poetry of Pound’s Imagism and Reznikoff’s Objectivism. While his conceptual word art practice is informed by the Art & Language group, with contemporary influences from Christopher Wool’s portraits, Barbara Kruger’s emotional aesthetics and the site specific nature of Lawrence Weiner’s work.
Philosophically he works with a positive & constructive mindset and is interested in knowledge gained from experience represented through the North American pragmatist philosophies of John Dewey’s “Art As Experience,” Richard Shusterman’s somaesthetics, and Sheri Irvin and Yuriko Saito on everyday aesthetics. He is also interested in understanding complex personality types through appropriation from literature, mainly from the modernist era including people such as Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Thomas Mann & Oscar Wilde.
Publications
Public Art
2019
Installation at Lewisham Market, London
2018
Installation at Peckham Railway Station, London
2016
Installation at Peckham Square, London
2015
Installations in Edinburgh
2015
Installations in Camberwell & Peckham, London
Exhibitions
2021
Biofictional Portraits, MOCA, Peckham, Queer Art Boot Fair
2021
Biofictional Portraits, Viewing Gallery, Thames Side Studios
2020
Poetry Wall Murals, Cable Depot, London
2020
Character Styles, Solo Show, Cable Depot, London
2019
Retour, Hortensia Gallery, London
2018
Inside-Job, Tate Modern, London
2016
Exterior Wall Art Installation, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery, London
2016
Converge, Visual Arts Scotland, Scottish National Gallery Academy Building
2015
Bonfire of the Vanities, Display Gallery, London
2015
1st Thursdays, Creative Debuts, Black & White Building, Rivington Street, London
2015
3rd Annual Show, Black Cube Collective, Gayfield Square, Edinburgh
2015
Summer Salon, Angus-Hughes Gallery, London
2015
31st London Annual Open, Cafe Gallery, London
2015
Camberwell College of Arts, BA Painting, Degree Show
Commissions
2016
Interior Wall Art Installation, 10-12 Eastcheap, London, EC3M 1AJ (Winner UAL Graduate Sponsored Project)
Collections
2020
Poetry Wall Mural, Cable Depot
2013
Getting Into The Rhythm In My Stride, Tate Library’s Artists’ Book Collection
2013
Getting Into The Rhythm in My Stride, Artist’s Book, UAL Special Collection
Education
2015
Camberwell College of Arts, BA Hons Painting, 1st Class
Design and development by Ashley Kinnard