Alex Hartley talks to Wallpaper* about his new exhibition Closer Than Before

‘I'm aware that it’s a triggering thing,’ Alex Hartley says, looking at the watermark that runs around the Victoria Miro Gallery in Venice. ‘I live next to a river and we flood every two or three years, so I know that it's a trauma; often the threat of it is worse than the reality.’ There’s an eerie sense of foreboding through the entire exhibition ‘Closer than Before’, which links the British artist’s new artworks with a site-specific installation, of which the tidemark is just the start. The space has borne the sign before, but it’s the first time it’s been applied by hand. Hartley hand-collected dirt from the lagoon to create a surreal echo of the past, or a warning of the future. ‘The beauty of the space put me off before,’ he says, ‘trying to rub a bit of something into it, to mess that up has been important… I like this idea that there's this threat that nature is taking back dominance.’

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Image: installation view, Alex Hartley: Closer Than Before

Victoria Miro Venice, 22 April–17 June 2023

All works © Alex Hartley

Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro Venice