An object cannot compete with an experience

Hamish Fulton (b. 1946) has over the years been characterized as a sculptor, photographer, conceptual artist, and land artist. However, he characterizes himself only as a “walking artist.”

A walked line, unlike a drawn line, can never be erased

The walk has been fundamental in Fulton’s art since 1973, after completing a 47 day walk from Duncansby Head in Northeast Scotland to Land’s End Southwest England, he decided to only make art resulting from the experience of individual walks. “If I do not walk, I cannot make a work of art.”

The facts of the walk cannot be changed, but new perspectives about the way we live today may be added

Fulton’s art contains a wide spectrum of ideas, but has a clear foundation in the interest of preservation of the natural environment. In this sense he has been influenced by the deep ecology movement and the ideas of Arne Næss – “simple in means, rich in ends.”

Time and space. Time and place

Fulton alternates between recounting and describing. Although Fulton experiences the walk firsthand, the walk texts and photographs and other media he presents in exhibitions and books, affords us the opportunity to participate in his experience.

Walking is The Constant. The Art Medium is The Variable

His dominating mediums have for a long time been photographs, drawings, wall paintings and wall reliefs of wood, all of which contain a dated walk text. The notebook and the camera are his most important tools when on a walking journey. In the resulting artworks, the range of media and materials has broadened over time. Also, Fulton’s extensive production of books, smaller publications and mailing cards are an important medium for his work.

An idea may be stolen. An Artwork may be purchased, but a walk cannot be sold

Over the last years Fulton has conducted a number of group walks, both indoors and outdoors. A diversity of walks can interconnect with a wide range of actions, disciplines, philosophies, environmental and political issues.

The artworks in the exhibition refer to several different walks – the most recent being a 28 day resupplied walk and 28 nights camping within Jotunheimen National Park in Norway this past summer.