Hanna ten Doornkaat
German-born mixed media artist Hanna Ten Doornkaat is a mixed media artist who considers the relationship as a central to her practice but often moves to a between space, combining both painting and drawing in one or adding a 3D element to it. She describes her process as a dialogue between herself and the work which often pushes conventional boundaries of form, surface and framing. Her work has been widely exhibited and is held in collections across the UK and internationally.
Hanna ten Doornkaat’s work is an ongoing investigation of the meaning and concept of painting versus drawing. Her works on wood panels are defined by a complex process of repetitive mark making and erasure, of revealing and concealing. Layers bear witness to the tension between silent contemplation and the cacophony of modern life, the spaces between as noteworthy as the lines themselves.
Initially trained in sculpture, ten Doornkaat not only questions the purity of abstracted lines and shapes, but also challenges the boundaries between two and three dimensions.
More recently she put down pencils and pens to experiment with a different medium, thread and needle to draw lines with. The general idea of the line remains at the centre of it and the questioning of what constitutes a drawing.
Often initiated by a fleeting glimpse, overheard phrase or fragmented memory, an idea may be concealed until ten Doornkaat adds a final layer when naming her works. Whether paying homage to conceptual artists whose theories have influenced her practice, offering a pragmatic description of a drawing’s formal characteristics, or providing a glimpse into her state of mind, words not only inspire the work but complete the artist’s contemporary palimpsests.