Hambling's work offers a counterweight to the careful irony and self-conscious allusion of much contemporary art, demanding a direct and unmediated encounter with the viewer. These new works succeed in convincing us that we are present at, and indeed become part of, their making. We are "on the edge", confronted by the fragility of existence, both ours and that of the planet. The artist has never been afraid of addressing big themes and delivers simultaneous presence of life and death in her work. In this new series, polar icecaps melt, a trafficker drifts, Aleppo and its inhabitants fall, ghosts hover and Hamlet questions. Human vulnerability is continually - and viscerally - expressed. We are asked not so much what do we think, but rather what do we feel.
March 2, 2017
