The first half of September sees two shows at Chris Beetles’ Ryder Street Gallery (www.chrisbeetles.com)

ROY HAMMOND & THE WAPPING GROUP, 1 – 14 September 2013 (closed Sunday 8 September)

HOUSEBOATS, CHEYNE WALK CHELSEA, THAMES
ROY HAMMOND (Born 1934)
SIGNED AND DATED 2000
SIGNED, INSCRIBED WITH TITLE AND DATED 2000 ON REVERSE
WATERCOLOUR ON TINTED PAPER
12 X 18 1/2 INCHES
EXHIBITED: ROY HAMMOND, TRAVELS ON FOUR CONTINENTS, SEPTEMBER 2000, NO 28;
‘ROY HAMMOND 2013’, SEPTEMBER 2013
£850

Roy is one of Chris’s popular gallery artists and is also a member, of some twenty years, of The Wapping Group.  The Group, consisting of twenty-five painters, was established in 1946 with the primary concern of recording the life and flavour of London’s busy docklands.  As times have changed they have expanded their catchment area to cover the river scenes from the estuary upstream as far as Henley.  They meet regularly between April and September to record the river in all weathers.

JOHN CLEESE: THE CALIFORNIA COLLECTION, 4^th – 14^th September, 2013, (closed Sunday 8 September)

CLOCKWISE, 1986
STUDIO STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER
SIGNED BY JOHN CLEESE
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT
21 X 17 1/4 INCHES
PROVENANCE: THE JOHN CLEESE COLLECTION
EXHIBITED: ‘JOHN CLEESE: THE CALIFORNIA COLLECTION 2013’, SEPTEMBER 2013
£450

California’s loss is London’s gain for after twenty years away John Cleese (surely he needs no introduction) has returned to London to live.  Sadly, for him, his art collection is too big for his new home and so he has decided to let others have the chance of living with the works he has enjoyed.  There is a mixture of 19^th and 20^th Century works in various media as well as Python and film memorabilia.  Some of the artists include John Bratby, Herb Ritts, Henry Moore, Albert Goodwin, Ronald Searle and William Fraser Garden among others.  A wonderful mix indeed!

TRANSHIPMENT TRINIDAD
ALBERT GOODWIN, RWS (1845-1932)
SIGNED, INSCRIBED WITH TITLE AND DATED ‘APRIL 1912’
WATERCOLOUR AND BODYCOLOUR WITH PENCIL ON TINTED PAPER
9 1/2 X 13 3/4 INCHES
PROVENANCE: THE JOHN CLEESE COLLECTION
EXHIBITED: ‘JOHN CLEESE. THE CALIFORNIA COLLECTION’, SEPTEMBER 2013
£22500

     These antique fairs are very popular and deservedly so since a wide range of antiques in all price brackets is available – porcelain, silver, jewellery, oriental works of art, miniatures, small pieces of furniture, lamps and many other things.  If you have not been before do go along!

For future dates look at the website: adamsantiquesfairs.com

   The Truscott Arms is a new gastro-pub at 55 Shirland Road, Maida Vale, London W9 2JD (thetruscottarms.com‎) which also provides great succour for the visual senses with its display of art in the public and private dining rooms.

The artist on show at present is the talented Nina Fowler. By concentrating on idolatry, fame and icons using images from the 1920s, 30s and 40s she explores the darker side of fame.  Some of her drawings almost transcend into sculpture.  Her frames, which she makes, evoke cinema facades and stage sets.

Illustrated here is the silent Hollywood film star Bessie Love, who did go on to make “talkies” too, many in Britain from the Fifties onwards.  She lived in a flat overlooking Clapham Common and died in London in 1986.

For further information on artists contact art@thetruscottarms.com

Part 1 – Asia House, 63 New  Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP, until 31st August

Part 2 – Albemarle Gallery, 49 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4JR, (www.albemarlegallery.com), until 31^st August

The Indian/Pakistani London-based artist Jamil Naqsh is well-known for his strong figurative paintings but what was not widely known, until now, is that he originally trained as a calligrapher.  Now he has returned to it with great verve in this two-part show of over four hundred works in a personal interpretation of Arabic script.

 They are a mixture of abstract, bold vibrancy, colour and texture yet are calming, spiritual and immensely liveable with.  I shall let the pictures (oil on canvas, 102 x 76 cm) speak for themselves.

There is also a limited edition clothbound book, including an original signed work on paper for £1,000.

Eye for One – 1970 – 1978 The Formative Years, until 31^st August  

 Original Gallery, Hornsey Library, Haringey Park, Crouch End, N8 9JA

Monday – Friday 1 – 7pm, Saturday 1 – 5pm, and Sunday 1 – 4pm.(Nearest tube: Finsbury Park)

These large paintings (acrylic on canvas) are early works by the American artist Ami Spangler.

Kites – 1974

They were painted in the 1970s when she was living in New York. They are very much of their time and it is fascinating to see a large group of them – indeed we are lucky because this is the first time the collection has been seen together.

Spangler was inspired by the jazz scene and her works reflect both the improvisation and lyricism found in jazz.  She says of her works “I wanted to share my passion for the ‘unseen’ dimensions – both the microcosm and the macrocosm, to experiment with the human shape (especially dancers) in a field of shifting patterns…as if the human figures themselves were starry constellations or subatomic configurations.”

Atlantis 1978

Although now living and working in the United States she lived in Britain for a number of years (1987-2005).  In May next year the second part of her artistic voyage will be revealed in Eye for One: New York to New Mexico at the Highgate Gallery.  The show will feature new works, including a collection of watercolours, painted in her studio in New Mexico.

Mu 1977