Frank Walter: Artist, Gardener, Radical
Innovative exhibition at the Garden Museum looking at the life and work of Antiguan artist, poet and gardener Frank Walter.
The show was imaginatively arranged almost like an installation. You entered via a slightly claustrophobic recreation of a shed with small paintings and sculptures by Walter as well as archive material set into vitrines sometimes only visible via a peep hole.
The space then opened into a bright area with a recreation of his garden and a selection of his larger, bright paintings ranging from abstracts, through landscapes to strange imaginings of outer space. I particularly like the landscapes both those of the Caribbean and his pictures of a remembered Britain.
The show then expanded into the archive space with examples of his imagined heraldic coats of arms and invented genealogies linking him to Charles II. All a little strange but fascinating.
Closed 25 February 2024
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