David Hensel

Stereoscopic Images

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Published on Thursday, 19 January 2012 00:53

Written by Loz

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I've always been fascinated by illusion in images and sculpture, and for the past couple of years I've been experimenting with sterescopic photographs - a pair of photos taken one for each eye which when viewed in a certain way merge into a single image which reads in 3D.  I've added a few of these pairs here.

These are arranged for cross-eyed viewing, which many people can easily learn to do:
sit back a bit, go cross-eyed until a third image appears between the pair, and gaze into that one without changing your focus.  After a day or two of eye ache it gets easier. 

Holding a finger up near your face to focus on can help, and your distance from the screen depends on the size.  Another way is to put dark dots, one centrally at the top of each image, gaze at these and go cross-eyed enough to bring them together in the centre, then simply look down at the 3D image.

It's possible to get Stereoscopes, viewers with prismatic lenses and for those you need to separate the two images and switch them over.

What's New and What's Next

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Published on Saturday, 14 January 2012 15:45

Written by Loz

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I'm doing some work with Bentley & Skinner (Bond Street Jewellers) Ltd,  for whom I did some of the work on Damien Hirst's diamond skull "For the Love of God", designing jewellery.  I don't make very much jewellery these days - the detail is getting rather too small to see - but I am making some sculptures that incorporate the pieces of jewellery that I do make.  Jewelled Sculptures.

The way I work is to circulate round three or four areas: jewellery, drawings, sculpture and photography particularly stereoscopic photography.  I've just started doing stereoscopic drawings, and will make a separate gallery about these soon. 

In a way all these explorations are an attempt to find a way back:  loss of the possibilities of my personal approach to jewellery amounts to becoming disillusioned with my own fantasy, which feels as if I've been marooned in the "real" art world which is extremely conventional and fashion conscious in being "contemporary".  The solution to becoming cynical about this involves the study of how and why the arts have become as they have, which leads to some important questions: I've noticed that whenever there's a recession, art changes.  People need to find and assert new values.  The arts reveal not just who and where we are, but also shows the images various powers would like us to have for their benefit (eg, to sell cosmetics you need in a subtle way to make people feel ugly). One wonders how much has the present fashion for childish drivel and stylish incompetence in the arts been engineered?  Whose money is there in the art world food chain? 

The present state of the economy etc happened perhaps to a degree because of our general level of childlike trust in the authorities.  Which the art world has been parodying for ages...  So what now?  No doubt we need a renewed emphasis in the arts on skill, intelligence and quality of judgement. 

The '30s, the time of Great Depression in the USA, was the time of Art Deco and industrial design for speed.  Streamlining served as a philosophical representation of how to survive the times.  What we need now are images of ourselves as similarly able to get through this.  It's up to those working in the arts, cultural performers, to devise how this might be...(it would be interesting to know other people's ideas about this?)

Questioning one's cultural surroundings reveals personal opportunities, and as it always is, the work of the artist lies in finding the work that can be the most genuine.  One can only work from one's own background and interface with one's own society.

At the moment then, my dominant interest is in stereoscopic drawing. This is a pair of images of the same subject side by siide, one rotated slightly, presenting two views, one as if from each eye.  With the Nude as subject, each drawing is a balancing act between the drawing as object of marks and paper, and clarity of illusion.  This clarity depends on space, form and depth description, surface description, and a life-like attitude or poise.  Then the two images have to match precisely so that viewed cross-eyed or with a stereoscopic viewer they merge and gain a very real sense of depth and vibrancy.

Most people can learn to view stereo images in this cross-eyed way, though it takes practice and initally causes a little eye-ache.

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I have decided to offer reproductions of some of my drawings.  Done in limited editions as "Giclee" prints, which is an extremely high definition and stable digital process, see Prints for sale.

Publications

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Published on Saturday, 14 January 2012 15:49

Written by Loz

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Publications featuring his work include:

"The Basics - Art History" by Grant Pooke and Diana Newall  2008
(Routledge ISBN 978-0-415-37308-1)

Treasures of the 20th Century  The Goldsmiths' Company 2000

The Encyclopedia of Jewellery Making Techniques  Jinks McGrath  Quarto 1995

"20th Century Jewellery"  Caroline Pullee  Apple Press 1990

"Jewellery Concepts and Technology" Oppi Untract, doubleday 1983

"Twentieth Century British Jewellery 1900-1980" Peter Hinks, faber&faber 1983

"The Ring - from antiquity to the twentieth century"  Thames and Hudson 1981

numerous exhibition catalogues and articles

Biography

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Published on Saturday, 14 January 2012 15:42

Written by Loz

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Bryanston School, Dorset.
Magdalene College, Cambridge University,
Bournemouth College of Art,
Brighton College of Art: Fine Art (painting and sculpture) BA (hons) 1969,

David Hensel's output covers many media, including sculpture in wood, stone and bronze, drawings and the jewellery for which he has been known internationally for over 30  years, in which he combines precious materials with a wide range of others, often carving semi-precious stones, wood or ivory to incorporate in pieces that then exist both as wearable jewels and pieces of personal sculpture. He employs a distinctive representational element in jewellery design, imagery of natural forms realised in natural materials.

His unique approach and inventiveness in jewellery design has been of considerable influence, and he has an international reputation, well represented in and major public and private collections. Recent work, drawing and sculpture, is largely figurative. He is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

Exhibitions and Events include:

Solo exhibitions:

• London, Electrum Gallery 1977
• Munich, Galerie Rutzmoser 1978,1981, 1992
• South East Arts, 1996

Group shows,

• London:
  
  • Goldsmiths' Hall,
  • V&A Museum,
  • Crafts Council,
  • Electrum,
  • Bentley & Skinner (Bond St),
  • Charles de Temple,
  • Royal Festival Hall
• UK:
  
  • London,
  • Edinburgh,
  • Glasgow,
  • Manchester,
  • Touring shows.
• International:
  
  • Los Angeles,
  • New York,
  • Stockholm,
  • Paris,
  • Mainz,
  • Munich,
  • Darmstadt

Several TV appearances.

Millennium exhibitions which included his work were:

• "Decadence" - Crafts Council
• "Treasures of the 20th Century" - Goldsmiths' Hall

2003, 2006, 2007 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London

Since 1997, he has participated in international sculpture symposia in:

• Belgium,
• France,
• Greece,
• Italy and
• Poland

Publications featuring his sculptural jewellery include:

• "Twentieth Century Jewellery" Caroline Pullee, apple press 1990
• "Twentieth Century British Jewellery 1900-1980" Peter Hinks, faber&faber 1983
• "Jewellery Concepts and Technology" Oppi Untract, doubleday 1983

In addition to private collections the world over, his work is in the collections of:

• The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, Goldsmiths' Hall, London
• The Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh
• The Arts Council of England
• The Koch Rings collection, Switzerland