A preoccupation with the emotional potential of physical spaces characterises much of John Hutton’s work. He often uses his immediate surroundings as a springboard to explore and elicit personal responses to environments, both exterior and interior. Abandoned places, emptied landscapes and discarded objects bear traces of a past human presence and are suggestive of what went before, or what might still occur. As pictorial records of real places, his works also document a personal history of journeys, departures and returns.
His oil paintings, drawings and etchings vary in scale from small, intimate statements through to larger renditions. Unusual cropping, unexpected viewpoints, and strong contrasts of colour, tone and texture invite the spectator to enter these spaces empathetically. In his rendering of familiar scenes, tricks of light, moody skies, the movement of water, and shadows cast across terrain become uncanny reminders of the passage of time and our experience of distance. John Hutton’s artworks are held in private collections in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.