Wildlife Artist of the Year - The Exhibition

Yesterday I wrote about the people who won the awards at the Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition - at the Mall Galleries until 4pm on Saturday.  (see Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - The Awards).

Today it's the turn of the people whose artwork caught my eye.

Plus I have a video of the exhibition - which you can see below and on my Making A Mark Channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/makingamark2)

So whose work caught my eye - apart from the award winners?

The exhibition starts strong - these are the first pieces you see as you enter. (I'm going to add in credits - but am rushing off out to an exhibition this morning so will do it later today)

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 Exhibition - entrance to the Main Gallery

The exhibition for the competition is split in two - one side (the Main Gallery) has all the colour - and it is very colourful......

A really colourful wall below the bookshop

.....and the Threadneedle Space has the monochrome pieces. 

I thought that visually it worked extremely well.

On the Threadneedle side this work got my camera out straight away. I absolutely adore the Meerkat Montage by Patrick Hedges. The picture is made of nine individual scratchboards mounted as one. It's a very clever way of producing a very effective image - the separation between each scratchboard really helps emphasise the different posture. I shall be expecting to see more of this in future.
Patrick is a Master Scratchboard Artist with the International Society of Scratchboard Artists and Signature Member of The Society of Animal Artists.

Meerkat Montage by Patrick Hedges

I'm a major fan of all things 3D when it comes to wildlife - and every media imaginable is represented in this exhibition. The sculpture gives the exhibition much more impact and life. Below  are some views of pieces within the exhibition.

Umberto - the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - didn't just have one black glossy bronze piece selected for the exhibition - he had two. They made a very impressive statement in the middle of the Threadneedle Space.

Foreground: Ribbon Eel (Bronze) £37,000
Background: Skyscraper (Bronze) £33,000
Both by Umberto - Wildlife Artist of the Year (for Ribbon Eel)

There are two more 3D pieces together in the Threadneedle Space which are 'standout'!

Top: Migration, Pure Theater by Simon Conolly (Stoneware 122 x 75 x 12 cm) £2,975
Bottom: Hitching a Ride by Jennifer Low £2,000

The toads are even better when viewed head on!

Hitching a Ride by Jennifer Low
Clay - group of 12 (180 x 115 x 18 cm - each one 33 cm long)

I also really liked the four pictures of Bees (in etching and aquatint) by Patricia Rozental

Bees by Patricia Rozental
etching and aquatint in editions of 20 

The other thing to note is how strong the paintings are on the wall in the background.  This is not an exhibition for the bashful! However the subtle paintings which were chosen had much more impact when surrounded by very strong pieces.

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 Exhibition

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 Exhibition

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 Exhibition

The exhibition continues at the Mall galleries until 4pm on Saturday. You can view all the works in the exhibition online. All sales contribute 50% to the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation for wildlife conservation projects around the world.