Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful exhibition at Messums London of work by contemporary artists in the theme of the totemic. Like many of the galleries over the summer this was an excuse to show work by artists they represent and in this case it was themed around the idea of totems. The blurb said "Across cultures it (the totem) has always symbolised more than a mere object: a spiritual and social emblem, imbued with energy, almost living, carrying the history of a people within it. …..But, at the heart of this exhibition is the sense that a totem is a unique expression of who we are, and of what we have chosen to value." I'm not sure I got that from the works but there we a number of artists I really like represented so I was happy. There was a beautiful small sculpture of three men by Laurence Edwards and I always delighted to see Antony Williams exquisite egg tempera portraits. New discoveries for me included wacky life sized human figures in shades of blue creating pieces of furniture ...

Powerful exhibition in a pop-up space by Messums showing a selection of large sculptures by Laurence Edwards. The work looked majestic in the space and mainly consisted of life sized and over life sized male figures. There were also some fragmented faces. The main focus was three huge walking men statues which seemed to stride through the space. When I came to photograph them I realised they were all looking in different directions. I’d been the week before and found the gallery shut but they even looked imposing through the window. Closed 15 January 2025

Interesting exhibition at Messum's London looking at contemporary landscape painting. I am currently doing a National Gallery course on landscape painting so this mirrored some of the themes and ideas.   Shout outs to a clever diptych of a swimming pool by Claudia Pons Bonham displayed around the corner of the room, two beautiful square small pictures of Berkshire by Harry Martin and a dramatic picture of fire by Jelly Green. Closed 16 November 2024  

Stunning exhibition at Messum’s London of new small sculptures by Laurence Edwards. I’d not come across Edwards work before but really loved it. There was a mix of small figurative works like this one of running figures and broken up head studies. I love the fact you could see the hand of the sculptor in the finished castings. Closed 29 June 2024  

Delightful exhibition at Messums of work by Jean-Marie Toulgouat, Monet’s great-grandson. Toulgouat lived at Monet’s garden in Giverney which he was instrumental in restoring. The works had shades of Monet but also had a distinct and independent style. It was interesting to see his style develop from a more abstract linear style, though a freer floral abstract to more realistic scenes. I had a fascinating conversation with the attendant and it was lovely to have such a friendly welcome. Closed 5 April 2024    

Charming exhibition at Messums Cork Street of new work by ceramicist Christie Brown. As well as having some of her figurative ceramic sculptures, the show also included some wonderful large life drawings. The figures in the drawings had been reworked, redrawn and collaged to give a sculptural effect and a sense of movement. The palette was similar to the ceramic figures so they worked brilliantly together. It really complimented the Elizabeth Frink studio recreation which was shown with it. Closed 18 November 2023    

Delightful installation at Messums in Cork Street recreating the sculptor Elizabeth Frink's studio. I love Frink's work so it was a wonderful surprise to pop into this gallery and find this atmospheric recreation of her studio. It turns out in 2019 Messums Wiltshire was involved in rescuing the studio from collapse and reconstructed it in their barn. It is now being moved to a new purpose-built location. I loved the mix of objects in the space from some beautiful sculptures, though working plaster casts to the sink and water heater! Closed 24 November 2023  

Interesting  exhibition at Messums London of new work by Shaun Fraser. The work was based on landscape and memory of landscape. I loved the earthy colours in the pictures and as well as the lovely green sketches of moss and the piece that actually included moss he found on his residency in sub-arctic northern Iceland during the summer of 2022. This was an interesting echo of work I’d seen earlier based on a residency in Antarctica. It’s strange how often when you have a day going round galleries that the shows start to speak to each other. Closed 26 May 2023

Interesting exhibition at Messum’s London of work by Jean-Vincent Simonet. Simonet comes from a printing family and uses their print factory to experiment. Based on photographs he uses heat, humidity and different drying methods to change the surface of the work. Each version and print is different. These works were from two series “Flowers, Novembre” based on still lives set up in the studio and “Sapporo Lights” from neon floral displays in Japan for the Christmas season. The images became abstracted and full of colour and texture. Closed 26 May 2023  

Humorous but beautiful exhibition at Messums London of marble sculptures of everyday objects by Tom Waugh. You couldn’t help but smile at this selection of traffic cones, packing boxes and pill bottles but they were exquisitely made and finished. Most were plain marble but the traffic cone was made of different coloured stone. The press release pointed out the “tensions and contradictions: between classical and contemporary art; between temporality and permanence; and between humour and serious environmental and social issues.” How clever to represent such complex ideas so simply. Closed 26 May 2023

Exquisite exhibition at Messums of portraits by Antony Williams. Williams works in egg tempura giving a detailed matt finish and up close you can see the tiny, multicoloured hatch marks which create the effect. As a fan of early Italian egg tempura works it is always fascinating to see the technique used by contemporary artists. The show consisted of two sets of work. One revisited models he had used before and introduced a new one. The last show of his I saw was of still lives he did in lockdown and a is was delightful to spot the doll’s house which featured in some of those in the background of one picture. Most moving though were a series he had done of the landlady of his studio. He painted a picture of her every year for 15 years until she died aged 96. The picture I am using here is of that last portrait. These were a tender but honest study of old age. Closed 14 October 2022

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 underst...

Interesting exhibition at Messums of drawings by the American sculptor Albert Paley. Paley is a metalworker and is best known for having designed the gates for Florida State University. The show was mainly of lovely design drawings for gates and other objects including a wonderful ornate bed. The show also included examples of his metalwork including models for two gates and some beautiful candlesticks which the commentary said he makes in his downtime. My favourites were “Tuft Candle holders” a simple but elegant leaf design.  Closed 30 November 2019

Colourful exhibition at Messum’s Gallery of new work by Rose Hilton. These pictures surrounded you with colour and were a mix of abstracts, still lives, beach scenes and   life studies in the studio. The handout didn’t say anything about the artist so I’ve just looked her up to find she is the widow of the abstract artist Roger Hilton who, although she had trained as an artist, discouraged her work. She took up painting again when he died in 1975 and do get a sense of an artist breaking out and producing these works from a love of painting after a period of suppressing it. I loved a still life of a dressing table in shades of blue and pink and a picture of a cross legged reading figure by a side table next to a mirror in which there is a reflection of her.   Closed on 15 June 2018

Lovely exhibition of complementary work by James Dodds and Guy Taplin. James Dodds’ work was lovely large paintings of boats out of the water in a neutral space. The pictures are very detailed without being hyperreal. It was interesting to see that Dodds had been a boat maker as the work seems to show a real love of boats as objects. I particularly like his pictures of the inside of the boats as they almost take on an abstract quality. Guy Taplin’s contribution was fun driftwood sculptures of groups of birds mounted on blocks of wood with metal supports, hence his section was called “Birds on a Wire”. I loved one set of birds in flight with one large bird at the back and a convoy of five smaller ones swopping down. It had a nice sense of perspective and movement.

Super exhibition at Messum’s of new work by Maxwell Doig. I loved the strange super real quality of these works yet when you looked at the surface of painting it was dappled and made up of many colours. The buildings he painted were mainly of Yorkshire and has a wonderful industrial but rural feel. A lottery win would see me buy a wonderful picture called “House”, yes you’ve guessed it of a wonderful house in a townscape. I also liked his figure work again done in this fine stippled style and some nice picture of fishing boats in bright colours. Many thanks to the gallery owner who came over the talk to me about the work and to recommend some upcoming shows at the gallery.   Closes on 10 March 2017  

Interesting exhibition at Messum’s of work by Rose Hilton. These pictures had a slightly Bloomsbury feel with dissolving, abstracting figures in delightful colours I loved one of a woman sitting reading with a blue mirror in the middle of the picture. Here were also some pictures where the figures are sketchily defined in a patterned, rather abstract background. Closes on 11 November 2016