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John Hatch

 

Dr. John Hatch, Associate Professor (Art History)
PhD (Art History and Theory), University of Essex, 1995
MA (Art History), Queen’s University, 1989
BFA (Art History), Concordia University, 1987
BA (Economics), Concordia University, 1982

Research

Dr. Hatch’s research has focused on the interstices of art and science, particularly in the twentieth century, with a side interest in the work of Francs Bacon. However, his first published articles looked at geometry in Greek architecture and Keplerian astronomy and religious mysticism in the churches of the Baroque architect Francesco Borromini. The latter, originally appeared in 2002, was reprinted in 2015 in a two-volume anthology on architecture and mathematics. His numerous articles dealing with science and modern art have ranged from the influence of wave patterns and Machian epistemology on the paintings of František Kupka to the adaptation of the relativistic theories of Henri Poincaré, Hendrik Lorentz, and Albert Einstein in the art and architecture of El Lissitzky and Theo van Doesburg. Of late, Hatch’s attention has turned to astronomy, accompanied by the publication of studies on works by Robert Smithson, Max Ernst, Anselm Kiefer, Shi Zhiying, and, most recently, the German photographer Thomas Ruff.

Awards, Grants (recent)

2023, Faculty of Arts Dean's Travel-Research Grant, University of Western Ontario.
2022, SSHRC Explore Grant, University of Western Ontario.
2022, Faculty of Arts Dean's Travel-Research Grant, University of Western Ontario.
2021, Faculty of Arts & Humanities Dean's Travel/Research Grant, University of Western Ontario.
2019, SSHRC Explore Grant, University of Western Ontario.
2015, Faculty of Arts & Humanities Dean's Travel/Research Grant, University of Western Ontario.

Selected Publications

 

"Postcards from a Cosmic Traveller: Thomas Ruff's Images of Space,” in Culture and Cosmos. (vol. 27, no. 1 and 2, Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2023 [appeared in 2024]), pp. 241-257. (https://www.cultureandcosmos.org/issues/vol27.php)

“Flattened Space: De Stijls Framing of Four-Dimensional Space/Time in Two Dimensions,” in Sarina Miller (ed.), Perspective: Selected Essays on Space in Art and Design (Wilmington, Delaware: Vernon Press, 2023), pp. 1-28.

Kazuo Nakamura: Life & Work. Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2021.

“East Meets West: Shi Zhiying's Picturing of Italo Calvino's Mr. Palomar,” in Nicholas Campion and Chris Impey (eds.), Imagining Other Worlds: Explorations in Astronomy and Culture, Studies in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, Vol. 9 (Ceredigion, Wales: the Sophia Centre Press in partnership with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2018), pp. 155-165. 

Paterson Ewen: Life & Work. Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2018.

"Cosmic Stutters: Anselm Kiefer's Search for Redemption in the Stars," in Nicholas Campion (ed.), Heavenly Discourses: Proceedings of the “Heavenly Discourses” Conference, Bristol, 2011 (Ceredigion, Wales: University of Wales, Sophie Centre Press, 2016), pp. 263-270.

"The Story Behind Asteroid 14060 Patersonewen," in Brian Patrick Abbott (ed.), Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena VIII: City of Stars. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, Vol. 501 San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2015), pp. 67-73.

“The Science Behind Borromini’s Divine Geometry,” in Kim Williams and Michael Ostwald (eds.), Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, Vol. II The 1500s to the Future (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2015), pp. 217-230. (reprint of 2002 article)

"Wrestling Proteus: The Role of Science in Modern Art and Architecture’s New Images of Nature,” in Brett Wilson, Barbara Hawkins & Stuart Sim (eds.), Art, Science, and Cultural Understanding (Champaign, Ill.: Common Ground Publishing LLC, 2014), pp. 86-99.

"A Sense and Essence of Nature: Wave Patterns in the Paintings of František Kupka," in Anthony Enns and Shelley Trower (eds.), Vibratory Modernism (Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), pp. 145-161.

"Seeing and Seen: Acts of the Voyeur in the Works of Francis Bacon," in Rina Ayra (ed.), Francis Bacon: Critical and Theoretical Perspectives (Bern: Peter Lang AG, 2012), pp. 35-47.

"Nature, Entropy, and Robert Smithson's Utopian Vision of a Culture of Decay," in Paul Crowther and Isabel Wünsche (eds.), Meanings of Abstract Art: Between Nature and Theory (New York and London: Routledge, 2012), pp. 158-168.

"Some Adaptations of Relativity in the 1920s and the Birth of Abstract Architecture," Nexus Network Journal (vol. 12, no. 1, April 2010), pp. 131-147.

"Desire, Heavenly Bodies, and a Surrealist's Fascination with the Celestial Theatre," in Nick Campion (ed.), The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena: Special Double Issue of Culture and Cosmos (vol. 8, nos. 1 & 2, 2004), pp. 87-106.

"On the Various Trappings of Daniel Spoerri," ARTMargins (Santa Barbara: University of California, 2003). (https://artmargins.com/on-the-various-trappings-of-daniel-spoerri/)

"Cindy Sherman,” in Hans Bertens and Joseph Natoli (eds.), Postmodernism: The Key Figures (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 292-296.

"Robert Rauschenberg," in Hans Bertens and Joseph Natoli (eds.), Postmodernism: The Key Figures (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 267-272.

"Machian Epistemology and its Part in František Kupka's Painterly Cognition of Reality,” Slovo: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Russian, Eurasian, Central and East European Affairs (vol. 12, 2000), pp. 51-69.

"Fatum as Theme and Method in the Work of Francis Bacon," Artibus et Historiae (vol. XIX, no. 37, 1998), pp. 163-175.

"Speculations on the Introduction and Role of Alexemata in Doric Temple Architecture", RACAR (vol. XXII, Nos. 1-2, 1995 [appeared in 1998]), pp. 1-6.

Teaching