Biography of artist Andrew Hubball - ANDREW HUBBALL

Biography

Andrew Hubball does some serious messing about with charcoal, ink and paper in Cornwall, UK. Outside of the life room and on the rare occasions the fog of thinking lifts enough to see things simply as they are, he writes haiku and sends some of them to journals.

Artist Statement

I approach drawing from life grounded in a deep appreciation for the impossibility of the task at hand - of getting a living, breathing person on to the page; of any attempt at capturing the ceaseless stream of life.

My practice is inspired by what is known in Japanese as Zenga (translated as “Zen painting”) - ink paintings and calligraphies created by Zen Buddhist monks from the Edo period (1603-1868) to the present day. Although representative, Zenga departs from the careful refinement of other Buddhist art in favour of blunt simplicity and fearless spontaneity. Irreverent and profound at the same time and infused with a wry humour, the essence of the Zen experience is distilled into the brushstrokes of Zenga themselves.

Key to all arts that merge with Zen, is attaining through practice a state of mind called mushin (no-mind). Psychologically, this corresponds somewhat to giving up intellectual deliberation and leaving all to the unconscious activities of the body. Like a frozen stream freeing itself of itself upon thawing, the mind of no-mind relaxes into a state of dynamic unguardedness which fills the body and allows it to move reflexively and freely.

Within the traditional discipline of drawing the human figure from life, I practice giving up all conscious calculation to allow the unconscious to spontaneously do the work. For this reason, I practise the technique of drawing ‘blind’ (not looking at the paper as marks are made), without deliberation, without hesitation. No corrections or editing take place. I use charcoal for its rudimentary, earthy and tactile nature.

This “artless art”, in common with Zenga, disregards overt displays of technical skill to move towards something more vital, down-to-earth and imperfect.

“My play with brush and ink is not calligraphy nor painting; yet unknowing people mistakenly think: this is calligraphy, this is painting.” Sengai Gibon

Exhibitions

An Artless Art, The Convivial, Penryn, July 2025
Drawn to Life, The Fish Factory, Penryn, 2023
The Poly Spring Open Exhibition, The Poly, Falmouth, April 2020
Yet to Arrive, Cre8 Gallery, Hackney Wick, London, July 2013
Necessity is the Mother of Invention, History of Science Museum, Oxford, March 2012