January 2008: Gordon Harkinson

Gordon Harkinson works in a variety of mediums: clay, paint and mixed media. He will be showing mixed media shadow boxes along with large-scale clay & mixed media sculptures. His work is joyful, and always about the poignant celebration of life. One thing is immediately apparent when viewing his art: “I adore the printed word,” to quote Gordon. Letters and words appear everywhere. Language, alphabets and words appear in most of his work, not so much as a literary component, but simply as a source of intriguing visual texture. To Harkinson, art is a distinctive “language’ unto itself, each piece he produces having very little to do with words. When not consumed with rust and its visual effect, Gordon uses color exuberantly. He works in clay, low fire earthenware, affording him a wide range of intense color. Whether flat of two dimensional, Gordon describes “πI put things together…It’s about placement & juxtaposition”