Art in Islington

As I'll miss Ray Atkins' show at ArtSpace Gallery in Islington next month, I wanted to go to the current exhibition to see what was there. And this is what I found (below). As usual, it is huge, and animated by such lively strokes of colour. I never cease to be enthralled and inspired by Ray's work.

The show of his work opens on 24 June. For a taster, the catalogue is reproduced online here, but his work really needs to be seen in the flesh. Photos just cannot do it justice.

In the same gallery there was also a painting by George Rowlett - paint so thick it looked like icecream, and I wanted to lick the colours.  This is titled Poppy Fields in Wind and Rain 2007

Then down the road at the Parasol Unit was Yinka Shonibare's  installation Jardin d’amour, originally shown in Paris. We walked through maze-like passages created by high, ivy covered trellis panels to find clearings with headless figures in scenes straight out of Fragonard or Watteau, dressed in elaborate costumes unsing Shonibare's trademark textiles, right down to ribbons on their shoes. It was beautiful, thought-provoking, exquisitely crafted work.

And somehow the fact that they didn't have heads only made you appreciate how much the gestures of the bodies made the story. Heads, and therefore facial features,would have been a distraction.