Hayden Timmings, Sit Still, 2024, in Confessions of ADHD an exhibition at the Aigantighe Art Gallery.

Currently on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery is an exhibition of works on paper by local Artist, Hayden Timmings. Timmings is known for his diverse range of artworks – including paintings, drawings, and digital pieces. He specializes in the realm of Pop Art - of images of popular culture, cartoons, advertising and mass-produced items.

Confessions of ADHD is an exhibition of 20 exquisitely detailed drawings which have been enlarged and framed. These works feature items such as headphones, a teddy bear, a stress ball, jeans, a boxing glove, medication bottles, a cigarette, a watch, a flamingo pool floatie and a plastic chair. Hung in the main exhibition space at the Aigantighe Art Gallery, these monochromatic drawings on white SyntiSol satin paper, with their white wooden frames, look to be floating weightless around the walls of the space.

Rather than the usual characteristics of Pop Art (loudly colourful multiple prints), these are 1/1 black and white prints and acknowledge ADHD, with the associated sensory processing and concentration challenges.

Timmings’ drawings have no colour, they aren’t demanding, rather they are inviting.

With their sense of contemplative and methodical exploration, these artworks draw in the viewer to enjoy their perfectly rendered detail. For example, in Sit Still, 2024, which is void of drawing outlines, the Artist’s pen strokes have skilfully sculpted the surface area of the plastic chair – the direction of his fine strokes providing a three-dimensional perspective of the object. While Confessions of ADHD contextually explores neurodiversity it is also an acknowledgment of determined and concentrated focus.

Timmings graduated in 2019 with a diploma in Digital Media and Design from Ara Institute, and he is the organiser of Hector Black’s Art Auction which promotes local South Canterbury artists. Confessions of ADHD is on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery until Sunday 8^th December 2024.

Hayden Timmings, Sit Still, 2024