FINE ART If you’re wild about fine art

Living Wild

Gladwells Rutland welcomes 2021 with the exciting January exhibition ‘Living Wild.’ This month, the Mill Street gallery’s walls showcase the beautiful and diverse interactions of artists with nature and places optimism and hope at the heart of it...

Words: Rebecca Chatterton.

FRENCH & BRITISH landscape paintings have long been an area in which Gladwells specialises but this exhibition offers the gallery the opportunity to examine the changing perception and understanding of man with the physical world around him. Within this collection the landscapes develop from pastoral scenes with domesticated animals or managed farmland, to the study of the wilder far flung corners of our planet and the wildlife within it.

The natural flora and fauna of Europe is represented in beautiful detail by artists and sculptures from such artists as Kenneth Webb, Karl Martens and Simon Gudgeon but this exhibition also sees us moving to Africa with iconic wildlife paintings from David Shepherd and contemporary artists such as Peter Pharoah. David Shepherd (1931-2017) was an internationally acclaimed wildlife artist known for his depictions of African animals and Gladwells has been privileged to work with him and his conservation Foundation over many years. David started life as an aviation artist and his story is one of serendipity. Having been turned down by art school he learnt to paint at the studio of professional painter Robin Goodwin and went on to work for the RAF. He was flown into Kenya in 1960 with a commission to paint the life of the country and his first depiction of a rhino on the runway changed the course of his interests. Elephants, lions, tigers, cheetahs, zebras and giraffes all followed. The sight of a herd of dead zebras poisoned at a waterhole by poachers set David on a life long passion for conservation. “Man is the most stupid, arrogant and dangerous animal on Earth,” he said. “Every hour we destroy a species to extinction, and unless we start doing something about that very quickly, we are going to self-destruct.” His paintings struck a cord with the popular imagination and his style which placed the central focus on the animal itself, was very effective in capturing the strength and vitality of his subjects, as the rightful inhabitants of their surroundings. Gladwell & Patterson have long championed David’s artistic and charitable work, across three generations of the Fuller family. >>

>> Their 268 year old gallery, historically in the City of London and later Albemarle street is now in Beauchamp Place, London, and has been fortunate enough to display David’s superb paintings over the decades. In January 2019, together, the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and the gallery held the first retrospective exhibition of David’s work since his death in 2017. The exhibition raised awareness and funds for the Foundations continuing work and for educational projects in Zambia. Peter Pharoah (born in 1969) is a contemporary South African artist who will also be found in the Gladwells exhibition. His work has been described as a ‘stunning evocation of tribal people and wildlife, imbued with the heat and dust of Africa.’ His bold use of colour and the abstracted style of his brushwork reflect the energy of the continent itself. His subjects emerge from the canvas and dominate with their vibrancy. This exhibition gives Gladwells Rutland the opportunity to bring yet more of their diverse art works to Oakham and the quality of the paintings and sculpture shine through. They chose this subject matter to distract from the restrictions and impositions of the last year, to transport the viewer to other places and to remind us that despite the fragility of the world around us, it keeps turning and that we have to play our part in maintaining it. They hope to see people enjoying the exhibition and look forward to welcoming you to the gallery. n Living Wild takes place at Gladwells Rutland on Mill Street, Oakham, throughout January & February. Gladwells Rutland is based on Oakham’s Mill Street, call 07866 450070 or see gladwellpatterson.com.

Above: Swift by Simon Gudgeon.

Above: As Kingfishers, by Simon Gudgeon, 182 x 85 x 30cm, bronze edition of 12, £9,500.

MEET THE ARTISTS... Living Wild includes work by David Shepherd, Clarissa James, Karl Martens and sculptor Nick Bibby...

Hen Harrier, by Karl Martens, 58cm x 76cm, Watercolour, £4,250.

Morning Mist Rising, by Clarissa James, 100cm x 150cm, Oil & Gold Leaf on Canvas, £38,000. Clarissa James (born 1971) is a contemporary artist whose interest in Renaissance and 19th century painting techniques shines through her work. Her paintings of birds reflect a period influenced by Japanese themes and are part of a 10 year exploration of the concept of silence and serenity. Karl Martens (born in 1956) is one of the finest wildlife artists of his generation. From earliest childhood he began drawing and painting birds and his fascination and understanding of them means he is able to paint from memory. His watercolours are fluid and free in style yet exquisitely capture the fleeting essence of his subjects. The Plight of the Pangolin...

The plight of the Pangolin – one of our planets most extraordinary and intelligent animals – has come to the forefront in our awareness in recent years. Sculptor Nick Bibby (born 1960) has produced beautiful palm-size silver pangolins curled up in their protective pose and in representing them thus, he highlights their extraordinary scales. These scales which evolution has gifted them are now ironically the reason that they have been hunted to the verge of extinction. n