Art: Private View: Abigail McLellan Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London W1
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Abigail McLellan is a young Scottish artist who has made something of a name for herself as a painter of still lifes and simple, hard-edged portraits. I'm not totally convinced by the portraits, although I like the way she balances colour and makes strong, artificial horizons - and a recent double portrait of her dealer, Rebecca Hossack, with writer husband Mathew Sturgis suggests she's getting better.
On the evidence of Traceries, a new exhibition at Hossack's gallery, the still lifes are also getting more interesting. The subject is still plants and flowers, but the treatment is less conventional, more peculiarly her own.
Her repertoire still includes some fairly standard arrangements such as flowers in jugs and plant pots on table tops, but alongside these are a number of less orthodox compositions with a shifting sense of scale. It's as if McLellan's view of the world goes in and out from under the microscope, as curtains of phlomis stems appear almost pressed up against the picture plane, or a little pine tree hovers in the distance encircled by rings of tiny lines. These in turn could be detailed view of the tree's trunk, the rings that mark its age, or simply just a series of patterns. It makes for an unusual and engaging group of pictures.
Rebecca Hossack Gallery, 35 Windmill Street, London W1 (0171-436 4899) to 24 Dec
Richard Ingleby
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments