Tom Hammick Fallout, 2014

"Like in so many of my images I work in metaphors and I try and make pictures of what it's like to be human. It is very difficult for us as empathetic creatures to be able to cope with simple acts of love amongst our friends while there is so much pain and destruction beyond the horizon.  Somehow in holding both, the love at first hand and acknowledging catastrophe and utter societal meltdown in far off places, we have to try to be evolved enough within ourselves to grieve over injustice while at the same time celebrating the simple things in life."

This three-part etching was created by Tom Hammick for his monograph Wall, Window, World (Lund Humphries, 2014). Fallout, 2014, consists of three separate sheets, depicting in pulsating colour a family at a music festival watching a volcanic catastrophe unfold. It was printed in collaboration with master printmaker Rob White at Sanguine Studio and is in a 33 x 69.5cm frame painted anthracite grey. 

Tom Hammick (b. 1963) is a British painter and printmaker based in London, UK. His work explores universal themes relating to the human condition and is influenced by his interest in poetry, literature and music, as well as his concerns with climate change. He has taught Fine Art Painting and Printmaking at the University of Brighton. Hammick's work features in many major public and corporate collections including the British Museum (Collection of Prints and Drawings); Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Collection of Prints and Drawings); Deutsche Bank; The Library of Congress, Washington DC; The New York Public Library; Towner Gallery and Museum, Eastbourne; V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum); Yale Center for British Art; Pallant House; Art Council of Northern Ireland.