Tonight I’ve been at the opening of another art exhibition at the boutique Trafalgar Hotel on the southern side of Trafalgar Square. I attended an event a little while ago but this one focussed on Oscar Wilde’s creations, in particular the contradictions found in the personality of one Dorian Gray, called “Into The Wilde”.
As you might imagine therefore, the sculptures and paintings organised for the exhibition by the Jotta community (which showcases the work of arts students and recent graduates, primarily from the UK) were full of contradictions and hidden meaning. In particular I liked the work of Patrick Milsom, whose three line drawings in the downstairs bar area featuring a tiny masked figure lost in disturbing surroundings – his work is tremendously powerful and exhibits almost autistic levels of attention to detail. I was also taken with David A Smith and Arran Gregory’s beautiful but rather disturbing sculptures – as you take the stairs into the basement I found a particularly strange example of Smith’s work; a representation of an animal skull curiously reproduced in glistening metal…
My favourite artist however represented her work in an entirely different way – often using an animal theme, Abigail Box’s contributions were really startling. With two large canvases on the ground floor near the lifts and two in the basement Rockwell bar, these works had polar bear subjects in unlikely surroundings picked out in big washes of vibrant primary colours. I had the opportunity to speak to Abigail and discovered that we share a love of bears, basically because we both appreciate the contradiction that they represent – warmth and danger at one and the same time – a fitting match for the theme of the exhibition I’m sure you’ll agree.
I really do think that Abigail’s work in particular is worth viewing, and you’ll have until 5 September to visit. It might be a good idea to go across to the Trafalgar Hotel after you’ve spent an afternoon looking at the heavy and ever so serious works found in the National Gallery on the opposite side of the square at the National Gallery, but you might want to check whether you can view the art in the basement bar before you arrive, in case there’s a private event taking place on the particular day that you choose to go, so perhaps best to phone ahead…