Dynamite Projects is very pleased to present the first solo exhibition of paintings by Ralph Hunter-Menzies

Ralph Hunter-Menzies b.1988 is a painter and a drummer.  

He's been living in a tent, inside the warehouse of Dynamite Projects for over a year. Each day he is woken by the sound of compressors, engine revving and shouts of “BANG haha oi oi!!”.  He falls asleep as thundering freight trains shake the mezzanine his tent rests on. The studio life isn’t smooth but he isn’t a cool kid - he’s rock and roll. In the morning, cars drift into the mechanics next door and fumes start to fill his own space. He pulls open the shutters and puts the coffee on

Ralph’s studio sounds of heavy metal, 60’s ballads and occasional classical interventions. He washes a previous layer of paint marks from one panel while adding paper to another, shredding it like the guitar solos in his 80’s hair metal tracks.  He peels back layers and applies new ones with different processes, separate instruments. A painting can seemingly reach crescendo only to be pulled back to work with new process radically changing the tempo. Ralph keeps building layers but drums to a different beat each time

Satisfaction is reached once disparate layers meet in hectic harmony  

It’s a long night that Hunter-Menzies works into and through it his industrial estate is visited by busses, cars and groups who use the toilets for drugs and more. Cars wheelspin past and women scream in a way that is troubling, hard to discern from crime or play.  Sometimes there is a crash on the corner of the street near the bridge or an argument that develops into something requiring intervention. He’ll ponder calling the police then fall asleep to dream of paint and improvised percussion sounds... again