Andrew Stock and SWALA (1 Viewer)

Well I thought the Andrew Stock exhibition was a crackin' show. I went back four or five times and was impressed each time. So, it seems, were the buying public, I would say 80% or more of the work on show had sold by yesterday lunchtime.

Andrew Stock is very much a wildlife artist in the old fashioned sense. His style is realistic and illustrative, indeed some of the smaller works were originally commissioned to illustrate articles in the Telegraph (I think). Particularly impressive were the larger oils of seascapes (with birds) and harbour scenes (without birds in most cases).

As the current president of SWALA his influence has begun to show at their annual exhibition. I think we are beginning to see a gradual leaning towards the type of work which most people would associate with the 'wildlife art' genre and it seems to me that Andrew Stock's work is the embodyment of that. No bad thing in my opinion.

There will always be room for experiment in art but I believe that the majority of people when they go to a wildlife art show want to see a more traditional approach. Loose, painterly, energetic styles work just as well as the tighter more detailed styles but when wildlife art starts to slip into the abstract it ceases to be wildlife art and becomes Art. Tricky to say what I mean here as I'm not saying that wildlife art isn't Art, or can be at least.

I suppose, since my style is a more 'traditional' one, I'm biased. It will be interesting to see what type of show SWALA puts on this year at any rate.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Mike

I tend to agree with you Mike. But as you say some of the abstract work is really clever,
allthough they tend to lean one way at the moment and that could be why some are not submiting their work.