Jun 6, 2014

Zoology Private View at E17 Art House Gallery

Last night was the Private View for the E17 Art House Gallery's animal-themed Zoology exhibition. It was bustling inside and overspilled into the outdoor area where guests were entertained with music and singing. Local Walden Cider was served. 

Over 20 London-based artists and designers are represented in this exhibition with a broad range of techniques including prints, painting and sculpture. 
Some celebrating the local wildlife with naturalistic representation, such as Kate Broughton's 'British Garden Birds' prints, others cartoonish or surreal, like the Crocodile by Animaux Circus. 




A couple of the most interesting works reflected on the use of animals in sport. Darren Hayman's series, 'Walthamstow Stadium Heroes', showed retired greyhounds who had previously been stars, at the (now closed) Walthamstow Stadium, resting, looking a little worn out from their former occupation. Their racing statistics are listed next to them. The title of the series is celebratory, but there is certainly an air of melancholy as their finest moments are now past. The idea for Jason Hawkridge's painting of a large, idealised horse, enhanced by machinery, came after he heard that steroids had been used in a Dubai stables to make racing horses go faster. This painting of a cyborg-horse questions how far such interventions into nature could go. 



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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Although I did not know the picture they were from, Elaine's plastic pigeons over the door at the E17 Arthouse with rainbow coloured acrylic pigeon poo on the doormat gave me a lot of pleasure. The animal letters of the alphabet are beautifully drawn and children will enjoy surprising adults that they know animals like aardvarks if they learn that alphabet. I love Kirsten's fauvist geese. The wildlife sketches for the tunnel on the marshes is delicate, but as realistic as the real thing otherwise . There is a lot more to enjoy on a visit to the E 17 Arthouse than greyhounds made redundant when Walthamstow stadium closed.