Thursday 17 June 2010

owls and other animals

I went to this exhibition yesterday. What do I know from art, but I think Gemma Anderson is special.*

The works are etchings, and they are drawn directly onto copper, from life, with no preliminary sketches. This gives them a quality I can't really describe and which looking at them via a computer screen absolutely doesn't prepare you for, and I nearly put up one up, but I didn't want to misrepresent it. There is a definiteness to them, and sense of depth that I don't want to use the word authenticity to describe because it's a debased word, but I can't think of a better one.

Go and see these. I loved the Ezo Owl, and Fernandina, and all the others.

* McCrum-style warning: Gemma is a friend of a friend, and I have met her once.**
** I think it was Robert McCrum who said that all reviews by people who know people should explain the connection. Whoever's idea it was, it's a good one.

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