Please note: The gallery will be closed on Saturday 27th January for a private memorial party.

John Hacker was a friend of Hastings Arts Forum for many years and a valued member of the exhibitions committee. He sadly lost his life in summer 2017. The exhibition includes previously unseen works and a collection of sketchbooks. John’s unique abstraction style is best explained in his statement below:

“Although my work appears to be abstract I paint what I see in the wooded Sussex landscape near my studio.

I am interested in the balance and imbalance of light and the changing patterns and energies I see throughout the day and seasons,and how this affects colour, in the winter months the intensity of light is at its lowest, by midsummer it has reached it speak. Often there is tension, sometimes resolution.

What concerns me is the moving push and pull of light, as it comes through dark, and dark through light. This movement can often appear as a narrative in my paintings and drawings.

I work with watercolour, chalk and pencil. I prefer the lightness of touch and transparency of watercolour over other paints especially when interpreting the dynamics of light.”

John Hacker