MONIKA HARDY
In Hardy’s series of artworks titled PROJECTED LANDSCAPES, colour, organic, and intuitive form are the central motivators of her work. Through subtle layering and positioning, Hardy evokes a type of ephemeral landscape based on emotion and subconscious memory. Referring to the long history of Landscape Painting, Hardy plays off the idea of a time and place being registered. Instead of a simple depiction of a time and place, though, the artist instead collects items and objects from a certain place at a certain time. Then, encasing these items and objects inside glass tubes and presenting them in a particular group or formation, she assembles an abstract version of an environment.
For Hardy, this is a landscape without a definitive horizon line or discernible objects or identifiers. The collection of items and objects tell the story of memory, time, and place. In regards to the modular effect of her work, this is often intentional. These works, encapsulated in hand molded glass tubing, represent a time and a place, much like traditional landscape painting. However, in this case, the landscape almost becomes a kind of inner emotional space - a type of scientific encasement of memory and nostalgia. A need to try and retain the memory of a particular place and time.