Nature as ornament: Callum Harvey’s layered exploration of botanical motifs

Pipeline from London will present a series of new works by Callum Harvey in the New Art Section at Art Rotterdam.

This British artist has a keen interest in transitional environments. His practice straddles the line between the natural and the constructed, drawing inspiration from architectural details and repeated ornamental patterns, both the extraordinary and the mundane. In his work, he delves into spatial environments, raising questions about how we construct, perceive, and utilize spaces. What role do botanical motifs and symbols of nature play in this context?

Harvey's paintings are characterized by flowing, organic forms and repeated patterns, often magnified in scale and flattened in character. He employs a soft colour palette of natural and pastel hues, applying paint in transparent, thin layers. This technique gives his paintings a 'backlit glow’, a background radiance that appears both artificial and natural. This juxtaposition of the artificial and organic is a recurring theme in his work.

Nature serves as a significant source of inspiration for the artist, including decorative motifs from Art Nouveau and the British Arts and Crafts movements — a series of artistic and social movements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that advocated for a revaluation of handcrafts and traditional crafts as a form of resistance against industrial mass production. Harvey reflects on the social history and ideas behind these decorative elements and their relevance to our contemporary life, as well as the status and class they often represent. Moreover, Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movements present idealized depictions of nature, forming an intriguing subject of study for Harvey: how are these elements designed, and how do they enable us to experience nature and spaces in new ways?

For Art Rotterdam, Harvey engages with a unique artificial space: a fair booth. He’ll present two large paintings with flattened portrayals that were stripped of spatial depth, alongside four smaller works in carved wooden frames, effectively integrating domestic and design elements. The paintings contain interior motifs that are common in wallpaper, contrasting with the space in which they are displayed.

Callum Harvey was born in 1998 and lives and works in London. He studied Fine Arts at Falmouth University, followed by a master's degree at The Royal College of Art, where he graduated in 2023. He has received multiple scholarships and awards, including the Radcliffe Trust Craft Scholarship in 2022, and completed a residency program at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives in 2019. Last fall, his work was featured in a solo exhibition at Pipeline and his work was also showcased in Kingsgate Project Space and Safehouse in London, Centre Space Gallery in Bristol, and Huxley-Parlour in New York.

During Art Rotterdam, Callum Harvey's work will be on display in the New Art Section, presented by Pipeline.

Written by Flor Linckens