Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea
Fri 7 July-Sat 12 Aug
A self-proclaimed “artist-alchemist”, Hastings creates illustrations made of rust against sheets of metal. Collecting many of her previous projects alongside new work, How Fallen, How Changed marks her first solo exhibition. She displays a good variety in the use of her technique and subject matters: her collection Lost Youth, Faded Beauty being her most human-centric, rust figures bleeding onto the rest of the surface, and veins of rust emphasising the mortal side of the figures depicted. She adopts a folkloric element to her work in Sacred Forests, and her polyptych approach to depicting legendary figures and beasts in the respective Ancient Skies and Arcane Seas showcases a good sense of scale.
While some of these works contain a more jagged, rough aesthetic, her most recent work is her most polished yet. These depictions of mythic, muscular bodies contorting in anguish against clean, metal surfaces effectively present her passion to capture the fading of the divine, as these god-men rust away into the obscurity of the unconscious in the modern world. The level of poetry which Hastings attributes to rust in her writings on her work is palpable, and it will be fascinating to see if this poetry can be fully witnessed in person to the naked eye, where the unique texture and richness of her work should have its greatest impact.
Admission: free. Info: 01792 602060 / www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk (EL)