The Garden | Annual Summer Exhibition 2018: James Fotheringhame, Charlotte Hardy, Emma Jagare, Sarah Lacey, Dean Patman, Fletcher Prentice, Alison Pullen, Catherine Rayner, Sarah Spackman, Sally Stafford

'All gardening is landscape painting' - William Kent

This summer, Sarah Wiseman Gallery is pleased to present The Garden - a group exhibition which explores the enduring influence of horticulture and gardening on visual art.   The exhibition brings together painting, printmaking and sculpture from gallery artists renowned for their interest in the natural world.

Visual art and horticulture are two disciplines that share a long association.  Claude Monet was perhaps most famously influenced by his garden at Giverny, with later twentieth century examples of gardening artists including Derek Jarman and Barbara Hepworth. Gardening lends itself naturally to painting as a visual stimulus, but there are wider, more deeply felt implications to consider.  Gardening is cyclical; in a garden we witness new growth, but also its decline and decay as the seasons change. 

The Garden at Sarah Wiseman Gallery will include works by Sarah Spackman, who regularly makes paintings of her allotment produce; there will also be a new series of paintings by Alison Pullen, who will be working with Chelsea Physic Garden and Kew, painting on location in their glass houses and gardens.  James Fotheringhame, who has recently joined the gallery, has evolved his artistic practice through his work as an artist and garden designer.     

For many artists, nature is an irresistible draw, perhaps because it's endlessly changing, or because like creating a successful art work, a successful garden takes planning, experimentation, with plenty of time and dedication, with part of the thrill being that you can never quite predict the end result.

A fully illustrated e-catalogue featuring all the artists' works will be available to view prior to the exhibition opening. Please email us here to receive one: info@wisegal.com