In the work Pop up Forest Hobbs drew inspiration from:
a) The strategic use of makeshift “pop-up forests” in the First and Second World War.
b) The pop-up book, Untitled, which was made for his solo show at DKP, Be Careful in the Working Radius (2013).
Hobbs uses leaf shapes from the Newlands forest in Cape Town as a camouflaged pattern across the surface of a pop-up plan for a stereotypical tree shape. The process was complicated by the overlapping of these sources, which entices the viewer to make sense of the tree outline and the overlaid leaf pattern simultaneously.
Fitting in Together is an exploration of Hobbs’ camouflage designs where a human figure on all fours is disrupted by a contrasting pattern of dappled light shapes across the surface of the body.
As with Pop-up Forest, this print is one of the early studies created for the Permanent Culture exhibitions held at DKP in 2015. These works are informed by Hobbs’ interrogation of the hiddenness of the David Krut gallery in Cape Town, which is nestled in the Newlands Forest.
“Historically, such leafy conditions have not been my focus. The context lead me to conduct a lengthy investigation into First and Second World War defence systems on the Western Cape Peninsula to make work towards the show” – Hobbs.
This is a work in progress wall in the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in 2015. It shows other works and experimentations done at the same time as the above linocuts.
Hobbs has been exhibiting and collaborating with David Krut since 2010. To see more of his work or view more information on his current projects view his page here.