Artists Henry Hudson and Purdey Fitzherbert launch the stunning new Lucent space in Piccadilly

HENRY HUDSON

Using photographs and sketches as starting points, Hudson’s newest body of work visualises the city’s iconic buildings as they are reflected on the river’s surface. From the Thames Barrier to Windsor Great Park, these works remember an important time in the city’s history, marking the winding river as a place of sanctuary during difficult times both past and present.

The works themselves, made of plaster, glue and pigment, replicate the geological layers of the riverbed. The material, able to morph from liquid to solid, echoes the fluidity of the river’s ebb and flow. Hudson’s methods are drawn from a process known as scagliola, a practice popularised in the 17th century and dormant in recent years.

The titles of Hudson’s artworks each point to a specific latitude and longitude, marking a place along the riverbank. Each location indicates a point where Hudson paused his walks to take a photograph or make a sketch of his surroundings.

PURDEY FITZHERBERT

Purdey Fitzherbert (b.1987) followed her foundational studies at Wimbledon College of Art with an Honours Fine Art degree from Newcastle University, where she also worked with senior Psychology lecturer Dr. Gabriele Jordan to enhance her knowledge on human experience of colour. She has been influenced by the materiality of Anselm Kiefer, the minimalism of Agnes Martin and the subtlety of Robert Irwin. Having been praised internationally for her work, she is looking to further engage with viewer experience in her future explorations.

For Purdey the process of creation is paramount. She stresses the importance and the innate beauty of traditional crafts techniques. The artist embraces the full journey in her works, starting with hand ground pigments all the way to relinquishing her dominant role as a maker and trusting the natural processes to carry through her artistic vision and to release the creative force behind it. Purdey herself views it as a process of ‘discovery and mystery, some of which will always be unknown’. The courage of letting the beauty be revealed ‘from within the darkness of matter’ without interventions and impositions is the vital aspect of Purdey’s nature as an artist.