Once again, members of the Oxford Art Society have filled the gallery at the Said Business School with the most amazing assortment of pictures and sculptures. Be assured the standard is as professional as ever. Indeed if I played my usual game and tried to decide which of the 114 exhibits I would save if someone suddenly shouted “Fire!” I’d be hard pushed to decide.
I’d certainly have to make a grab for David Jones’s Island Cow, one of those haunting pictures that turns up at exhibitions like this with that special something which is difficult to define, and yet definitely there. Alan Mynall has come up with an exceptional oil painting, The Green man, Peter and the Dryads, which is on a quite a small canvas, but size isn’t everything. The figure leaning over the gate, tattooed arms folded, pensive look upon his face, must be Peter, but what is he thinking, and why is he alone? The more I looked, the more I wanted to know about this man and the land around him.
Few could fail to be amused by Eleanor Clutton-Brock’s mixed media sculpture Deb’s Delight to Bark and Bite (pictured), of a wolf in man’s clothing swinging a beautiful woman high above his head. Great fun. Dog Walkers on a Steaming Beach, in pastel by Jean Somerfield, is an atmospheric work depicting dog walkers strolling along the sands. It’s such a simple study yet it really stands out as a work to be admired. John Sweetman gives us Japanese Picnic, Tokyo, a large oil painting of a group of picnickers under the cherry blossom, while crowds walking city streets swell the background.
I laughed out loud at My Dog’s Bigger than Your Dog, a really wacky sculpture, created from mixed media by The Man Programme, which foams at the mouth as it stares out through swirling eyes.
All in all, this show offers something for everyone, and certainly should not be missed. You have until October 30.
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