Andrew Hurle makes the technologies of mechanical and digital image reproduction into both the medium and subject of his work. This practice has developed from the simple use of technical reproductive apparatus into an intense observation of the structures and processes upon which this technology is founded.
Hurle has a preference for already existing graphic material, which he processes in order to bring out the specific political or social implications lying behind the material’s visual quality. His most recent exhibitions investigated the links between ornament and bank notes, and the materiality of digital pornography in the field of printing.
The exhibition in Studio 2 gathers together a number of separate works, all of which display a more or less direct reference to the English word “excavation”.
The term has two meanings; the first being that of an archaeological excavation, which brings traces and remains of the past to the light of the present day – ideally, to the benefit of future generations, at least if mankind is prepared to learn from history. The new works shown in the exhibition Excavating by Andrew Hurle represent this kind of subtle excavation work carried out on the chequered history of Berlin.
But “excavate” also means “to hollow out”, and this second interpretation of the word may be used to describe Andrew Hurle’s own strategy – it is a technique of abstraction applied to the graphic or printed forms that he has found.
