Andrew Dadson captures images of his site-specific paintings made within the dimensions of the landscape and presents them as cross-media art forms. Black Barbed Wire (2013) is part of a series of works based in the post-industrial outskirts of Vancouver. For the work, Dadson has literally painted the landscape, taking water-based black paint and applying it to hedges, bushes and borders using a spray gun. He then documents his intervention into the landscape through photography, channelling the spirit of 1970s land artists. The black rectangle of Black Barbed Wire recalls both the history of monochromatic painting and tagged graffiti, evoking shadow or scorched earth.
Dadson’s work often considers notions of ‘edgelands’ or land areas that exist on the boundary between places of ownership. Ideas of ‘enclosure’ in his work connect to the Norwich Castle Museum’s collection of work by the Norwich School Painters, who were concerned by the effects of nineteenth century government enclosure acts on the Norfolk landscape. In a contemporary context, Black Barbed Wire also alludes to issues around migration and the idea of a promised land lying beyond the border.
This acquisition will mark the first time Dadson’s work has been acquired by a public museum or gallery in the UK. It is a significant international addition to Norwich’s expanding collection of landscape photography by artists such as Mark Edwards and Frances Kearney.
