John Hardy’s urban paintings use New York City as subject matter to make a general commentary on aspects of contemporary urban culture and especially about excessive consumerism highlighted by advertising of luxury items, high fashion, electronic services, etc. In recent years his concentration has focused on the monumental screen prints attached to high rise building walls which have become a surreal blight in cityscapes worldwide.
Sensing a peculiar form of alienation, Hardy chronicles the connect/disconnectedness he observes by cell-phone users, i-pod listeners, etc. on city streets.
His unorthodox seascapes focus the viewer on the beauty and power of nature and how it plays on the way people view themselves in that context.
In both of these settings, what matters most to him, aside from the content, is the character and quality of the aesthetic impact in terms of the paint, the design of the light and space and the manner in which color sets the tone and mood of the painting.
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