HELENA HAMILTON

Untitled Acrylic on Canvas Orpheus Building, School of Art and Design, York Street, Belfast, N. Ireland 2009

Acrylic on Canvas 249 x 343 cm 2009

‘Untitled’ is a large text painting consisting of a statement Hamilton created whilst doing a durational action in November 2008, the statement reads: "Breathe in breathe out repeat this many times until one gets tired then stop" Breathing is a global and universal exercise, uniting all that are living. When one stops this simple and unnoticed act, one dies. The simplification of this process into a single sentence is ironically confronted as she choose to paint the statement as if it had been printed. When the piece was completed this aspect usually went unnoticed until one is very close to it. This action, telling a story in itself of how one often does not notice the complex act of breathe until they are close to tiring of it, ironically emphasizing the fragility of the exercise that keeps us in this complex world.