Delia Hamer
Overview
“The female figures that appear on my canvases are 'vessels' used to depict the human soul, in all its rawness and vulnerability.” - Delia Hamer
Delia Hamer’s practice can be understood as a balancing act. A mission to express the self as straddled between two realms of influence: the mythological, drawing on the ancient Greek tradition, and the religious. Having been raised within the Charismatic Evangelical Movement, a religion which blurs the very thin line between Christianity and sectarianism, Hamer’s subconscious is interwoven both with mythological tales of old and the biblical messages that permeated her upbringing. Hamer’s painterly language is intuitively born from these two worlds. The resultant works read as dreamscapes, where the laws of gravity, time and space are not respected and there is nothing to remind us of the realities of civilization.
The female figures that appear on her canvases are vessels for depicting the human soul in all its rawness and vulnerability. With their closed eyes or interiorized gaze, Hamer’s human protagonists are secluded from the outside world and encapsulated in their own fragility. She aims to bring forth an image of the soul's epicenter; the place where all personal storms and earthquakes lie dormant in serene potentiality or erupt with unbridled force. As such, the focus of her work is intrinsically human, she searches for that which has been there ever since the sun started shining down on us and will be there in the end.
In order to bring her archaic sceneries to life, Hamer’s works across mediums deploying whatever tool feels most poignant at the time including acrylic and oil paint, gold foil, paper collage, oil bars, spray paint, pencils and pastels, applied both on canvas and paper. Formally, the artist is always searching for balance and clarity in an attempt to make sense externally of what seems daunting within. All elements are composed carefully and arranged harmoniously on the canvas. Human anatomy is respected in its form and size and is never distorted to the point of no return.
Drawing dominates over blurry liquidity and texture, yet colour is the undisputed protagonist. Her palette is rich and vibrant, exclusively using hues created from five primary colour pots. Clarity is achieved through the juxtaposition of contrasting yet complementary tones.
The overarching influence on her work, that is easily perctable, is Hamner’s upbringing in the South of Spain. Her mythological gardens are lush with agaves, figs, pomegranates and palm trees, around which a warm round sun beams through the linen canvas. She visualises the paradise that may be found South of Eden.
Biography
Delia Hamer (b.1992, Germany) is an artist based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She grew up in Southern Spain, moved to Milan to pursue her studies in painting then settled post-graduation in Lisbon. She achieved a BA in Painting from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Madrid (2014), followed by an MA in Illustration at the University of the Arts, London (2016).
Recent solo exhibitions include: Karyatides (online) (The Curators, 2022), Nothing new under the sun (Hangtough Gallery, Dublin, 2021) and The tree of knowledge was a palmtree (Boa Art Space, Lisbon, 2020). She also presented a duo show at Eritage Gallery, Lisbon in 2022.
Her work has been featured in multiple group exhibitions at galleries such as: Esquina Art Space, Lisbon (2023), Le Reservoir Gallery, Paris (2022), Plato Gallery, Evora (2022), Purslane Gallery, London (2021) and Delphian Gallery, London (2020). Her work is held in private collections globally.
Works
