Galleries - December 2014

DECEMBER 2014 GALLERIES 51 personal relationship with the ocean. Currently, it is the sea-inspired artists of the past who are most visible. JMW Turner’s late works are on at the Tate Britain –and Mr. Turner , his biopic, is out in cinemas. The National Gallery , meanwhile, is in the midst of its exhibition of Peder Balke, a nineteenth century Norwegian painter of untamed outdoor scenes (‘Norway’s answer to Turner?’ the Gallery has ventured). However, even the wildest nineteenth century seascape seems positively well behaved next to Hambling’s works. Taking her inspiration from the sea wall at Southwold, where waves break with dramatic force, Hambling recreates her impressions through abstracted monotypes. Using starkly At the moment, London is brimming with works by artists who have taken their inspiration from the power of the sea. Maggi Hambling is soon to join them. Her upcoming exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art, ‘Maggi Hambling: Walls of Water, The Monotypes’ will run from 3 December through 10 January and reflects her powerful, contrasting black and white or silver, the artist recaptures the destructive and decaying power of multiple individual waves. This power is transformative. When taken as a group, the exhibition title Walls of Water suggests the potential of Hambling’s images to change the nature of the gallery walls on which they hang. When taken individually, each small image shifts subtly, suggesting organic forms, bodies, trees, or pairs of lungs, however briefly. In addition to the monotypes at Marlborough, an exhibition of Walls of Water paintings will go up in The National Gallery from 26 November. Hambling’s paintings, which are huge in scale and make use of colour, will compliment the monotypes, but the raw energy of the monotype remains peculiar to its medium. CODA Frances Allitt beforetheart@gmail.com Maggi Hambling ‘Walls of Water 17’, 2014 at Marlborough Fine Art with Tate Liverpool and The Baltic in Gateshead focusing attention in the North. Many London galleries with international reputations are clustered in specific areas. For example Mayfair (covering New and Old Bond Street and Cork Street) and St James’s are home to many of the best known, whilst Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Bloomsbury, Kensington, the South Bank and the East End are notable for newer ‘blue chip’ and emerging artists. If you are visiting for the first time, or are back to expand your knowledge of the galleries and museums of the UK, it helps to plan ahead. Your hotel can provide guides and information on galleries nearby; Galleries magazine is available to the concierge in top The UK Art Market is probably the most highly regarded in the world, selling art from widely differing cultures, periods and styles; from the ancient to contemporary cutting edge. London is the centre of this market, and now a major focus for Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Russian art sales – as well as for European and American art. Across the UK, other centres of excellence include Cardiff Edinburgh, Glasgow, as principal cities with rich heritage collections and diverse galleries reflecting the national identities of the individual markets of Wales and Scotland. Numerous collections and high profile galleries selling important works exist in cultural centres such as Bath, Bristol and St Ives in the South of England, hotels in London and around the country, and can be sent on request to await your arrival. Use the internet to research a visit, at www.galleries.co.uk; information is updated weekly and previews are available to subscribers via email, along with daily new show openings. If you have a clear idea of your specific interests, your hotel concierge can help you or contact art@galleries.co.uk directly, and you can be introduced to independent experts who can help show you around. Before returning home, if you have bought from one gallery, they will usually help you ship any art works. Otherwise a list of Packers and Shippers – as well as Insurers – is available in the Art Services section of Galleries . ART MARKET –Visiting the UK Art Market Paul Hooper