Galleries - June 2015

showed part of her ‘Made/ Unmade’ series at the Little Buckland Gallery. Her remarkable film, exploring her ephemeral sculptural work made in and from the fabric of the NW Namibian landscape in which she has been working in recent years, make for poetic viewing. At the same time the competition from Oliver Beer’s video film loop/ assemblage of French school children’s re-workings of scenes in a sequence from Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White’ (sic) and Mikhail Karikis’ audio-visual installation re-imagining a children’s take over of an abandoned workers’ village, also sound like distinctly intriguing entries. Blind Faith We often use the phrase “seeing in the mind’s eye” but rarely do we ever quite think through its full implications or just how much we do indeed do just that unconsciously. It takes an exceptional artist to remind us just how crucial an element it really is in the making of, and looking at, art. Sargy Mann, who died in April, was just one of those figures, a painter whose work always depended heavily on a direct response to the light and colour of the world around him but who, for the last two decades of his working life, was virtually, and then completely, blind. The paintings just continued to pour out though, filled with as much, if among others – the timing is immaculate too. Meanwhile the contents, ranging from John Piper’s original working model for the 1973 version of Britten’s ‘Death in Venice’ and a series of Ceri Richards’ drawings from his ‘The Music Room’ series of the 1940s via Peter Blake and Allen Jones’s Pop inspired works of the 1970s, right up to pieces by current English National Opera Artist in Residence Tom Hammick, cover a huge range of musical/artistic enthusiasms. Hambling, Trevelyan, Fedden and even Alternative Miss World impresario Andrew Logan are in there too – a wonderfully eclectic and entertaining mix and full of creative insights. Video Forward There is a strongly video, film and installation bias to the work of all three finalists in the shortlist for the latest iteration of the prestigious Daiwa Foundation Art Prize. Held on a triennial basis, previous winners have been the highly regarded Marcus Coates (2009) and Haroon Mirza (2012). The prize itself (to be announced this month) is an exhibition at Tokyo’s Aoyama/Meguro Gallery, a participation fee of £5000 and introductions to key individuals and organisations in Japanese contemporary art. I was delighted to note that one of the artists is Julie Brook, featured in the April issue of Galleries magazine when she 10 GALLERIES JUNE 2015 ANTENNAE Wild World Perhaps the first name most people think of when you mention wildlife art, David Shepherd has achieved an international reputation. This is not just for his art but also for the remarkable animal conservation projects his Wild Life Foundation has under- taken all over the world from Africa to the Russian Far East. Closer to home is their admirable scheme to encourage a less well known generation of wildlife artists to follow in his footsteps – the Wildlife Artist of the Year show – which is now very much a fixture in the London art calendar, this year taking place at the Mall Galleries (30 June to 4 July). With nine separate sections to enter – from younger artists to over 60s – this spreads the net admirably wide and, judging by the images, to very striking effect. Artists and Music Given that most of the music I have loved and valued over the years has come through my friendships with artists, the idea of an exhibition celebrating the importance it plays as both subject and inspiration for artists themselves, as currently on show at the Bohun Gallery, seems to me itself quite inspired. Taking place in an area alive with music in the summer – the Henley Festival of Music, Rewind South and Garsington Opera