Seeing Hannah Battershell’s work is like stepping into an alternative reality; surreal, fantastical, darkly humorous and often with an unnerving sense of loneliness. All the works are miniature in scale, creating a feeling of peering into a fantasy world being played out inside the painted imagery, often collaged with papers and other items.

Nostalgic feelings are heightened further due to Battershell’s use of found objects, such as antique cigarette tins, matchboxes, Victorian mourning pins, and old buttons. She finds herself “inspired by the alluring ‘lostness’ of found objects.”

Growing up, Hannah Battershell spent some time in Malawi and the creatures she encountered during this experience may explain her interest for all things entomological. She recalls cases of pinned butterflies and taxidermy lining the walls of ‘Country Clubs’ and hotels. Her work, particularly those set within antique tins, echo these Victorian display cases of specimens.

Battershell works predominantly from her imagination, and draws inspiration from books she has read. Things such as half-remembered quotations, anecdotes, or an unfamiliar word will spark ideas which ultimately result in the work. 

Battershell studied English Literature and this is evident in her imagery, with each piece structured around a strong sense of narrative. This illustrative quality to her work, combined with a sense of macabre and surrealism, has caused her work to have previously been compared to that of Edward Gorey or Leonora Carrington. 

This summer Curwen Gallery will be showing Hannah Battershell’s first ever solo exhibition. We first took an interest in Hannah in 2011, exhibiting her work in group exhibitions, including the especially appropriate Miniature Show at The Rectory Gallery last November. Her work has been displayed in various exhibitions elsewhere including the 2011 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Her painting 'Crocodilian' appeared in 'Images 36', the 2012 Association of Illustrators' Best of New British Illustration publication. Hannah lives and works in London.

Hannah Battershell is a London based artist whose work spans from miniature paintings on buttons to collages with Japanese papers. Her interest lies in teasing out the narratives to be found in the overlooked or throwaway items encountered in day- to-day life. Scraps of paper, matchboxes, pins and buttons become the main focus of each piece, seemingly insignificant objects are bestowed a talismanic quality. Her gothic leanings and dark subject matters are always tempered by a silly sense of humour, often lending her work the 'quirky exuberance of a children’s story book' (Kate Weir, Spoonfed).Her work has been displayed in various exhibitions including The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2011, the 2011 National Open Art Competition and the Macmillan Cancer Support weekend at The Curwen Gallery. Her painting 'Crocodilian' appears in 'Images 36', the 2012 Association of Illustrators' Best of New British Illustration publication.

Curwen Gallery
34 Windmill Street, Fitzrovia
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