"Coast I" by James Hawke is a contemporary coastal painting that captures the shoreline as a luminous interplay of colour, movement, and human presence. Geometric forms and fragmented perspectives create a dynamic visual mosaic where figures, shadows, sand, and reflections merge into a rhythmic composition.Hawke transforms the coastal landscape into a scene that evokes memory and sensation rather than a specific location. Individual details remain intentionally elusive, allowing the painting to feel both abstract and recognisable.The coast becomes more than a setting; it emerges as a meeting point between solitude and community, permanence and change. The ebb and flow of human activity mirrors the movement of the sea, creating a subtle dialogue between nature’s rhythms and contemporary life. Light is central to the work. Vibrant yet balanced colour relationships convey the intensity of a sunlit day, while flattened planes of space create a sense of timelessness. Coast I invites viewers to shift continually between observation and imagination.The painting is a celebration of fleeting moments on a shared landscape and a meditation on presence, memory, and the enduring allure of the shoreline.
The "Poolside Series" is a project that has dominated James Hawke’s work since 1998. Hawke searched through many thousands of photographs to find the exact right composition and balance of movement for these complex beach and holiday scenes. His work is influenced by twentieth-century travel brochures, questioning the semiotics of "perfection" presented through advertising.While the series began when Hawke was living in London (drawing from urban landscapes) and later Norwich, he now works from the Norfolk Broads and the work is heavily inspired by Ligurian culture and colour from his response to Villa Delle Peschiere in Genoa.The series captures the irony of how leisure imagery adapts to shifting cultural norms while leisure itself remains unchanged for millennia.