dready – group show, oxo tower, london may 2017

the weather, as is the want in england, was wet, but it couldn’t undo the view out the windows down the left side of the room – the thames 30 feet away, the embankment across the river, the inns of court ….

inside it was all colour and verve and light and whimsy … the dreadys glowed, the turtles on their oh so blue, the ‘moko jumbies’ on an impossible orange, a shocking orange …

not dready’s first showing in the uk – there’ve been corporate events and art for projects and fund raisers, children’s charities, restaurant link ups, and football clubs – but this was the first full on ‘art’ show, and my first in London.

three women chatted to me about the ‘seagrapes’ – a verdun like image of a seagrape forest, all trunks  … as if they’ve been bombed into non-existence …

it was an unintentional effect, I didn’t draw it to shock and sadden at all, it was mainly about the view that you see when you’re under the shade of the trees; but in fact the fate of coastal sea grape forests, giving way as they do, like mangrove woods, to coastal development mean destruction of the ‘roots’ that help hold the beaches together and the ecosystems that serve as breeding nurseries for wild life – the sea grapes are a sanctuary for crabs and birds.

the ‘5 turtles’, beautiful – the history of the caribbean is built partially on the abundance of turtles; the fresh meat they provided in provisioning ships heading back for europe, the shells for jewellery, containers, eyeglass frames … the men who chased them built communities …

the ‘moko jumbies’ – like me one man’s favourite part was the woman’s hand that just creeps in to the lower left of the frame … her hand is what started the whole story, I’d seen this hand in a photograph and liked it and imagined what, in my world, the character behind the hand, might be looking at …

the dawn sky in ‘a man in a canoe’ sparkled … conversation was light …

good show …