Antony Williams: Memento Mori

Charming exhibition at Messums of new work made during lockdown by Antony Williams.

Williams normally paints detailed portraits in egg tempera but during lockdown, like many artists, he turned he eye to the world around him as he says himself in the commentary to the show “they are obviously dictated by the situation we are in.” It shows that if you have an urge to create you are just going to do it whatever the circumstances. I loved a small picture of a 2-litre plastic milk bottle although I felt a slight sense of desperation!

My favourites were paintings of a dolls house in which he placed twigs and seed pods he had picked up on walks on Chobham Common. He painted this from various directions, with and without the roof, this sets up surreal visions of apparently huge plants in a house. It plays with the idea of relative size within small works. I love they way you can see the way he has built up the egg tempera image with tiny brush strokes which also gives you a better understanding of pre-Renaissance art.

Closed 7 May 2021

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