Hitnes’s The Image Hunter project culminated with an exhibition at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary arts at the College of Charleston in the fall of 2018.
The realization of the whole exhibition took me 6 months during a residency in Charleston South Carolina, between 2017 and 2018.
I was able to retrace the steps of my voyage done in 2015 and focus on John James Audubon’s connections with the wild and the birds, creating my own connections and allowing this research to form my creative practice.
The exhibition consists of 15 shadow-boxes, 53 etchings and drawings, 2 hand-made books 5 artist sketch books, objects and ephemera collected along the 2015 journey.
After Charleston the Exhibition travelled to other locations:
Lake Charles Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center, Lake Charles, LA. February 22 – April 27, 2019
Provo City Library at Academy Square, Provo City, UT. October 4 – November 27, 2019
High Desert Museum, Bend, OR. October 17, 2020 – February 21, 2021
Costal Discovery Museum, Hilton heads, SC. April – June 2022
This part of the exhibition focus on the deep aesthetic bound between observing and painting.
The subjects of the 15 shadow-boxes are the birds painted in the murals of the journey in 2015 and the locations and the emotions inspired by the ”hunt” of this birds.
In every piece the techniques used by the artist are many but mainly watercolours and acrylics.
The layers of paper are the core of the boxes, first painted and than patiently cut, the different type of sheets are kept together and layered by gator-foam and restauration glue.
The distance between the layers enhance the perception of the painting, and drives the eyes of the viewer in some kind of set design created to observe the “soul” of the birds.
Pieces of natural materials taken during the voyage were cleaned and placed in each box showing the real connection between the location and the observation of the birds, transforming this pieces in to some kind of diorama of my adventures.
Each wooden box has been hand painted whit acrylic and sealed behind poly.
