Visual Arts: London Christmas shopping at Flowers East
London Christmas shopping at Flowers East, 199 Richmond Rd, E8; Jason & Rhodes, 4 New Burlington Place, W1; The Fine Art Society, 148 New Bond Street, W1; James Huntington- Whitely, 27 Cork Street, W1
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Your support makes all the difference.Winter collections, Christmas selections: something about this time of year concentrates art dealers' minds and commercial galleries fill up with last-ditch attempts to woo the picture-buying public before the year is out.
The Flowers East gallery in Hackney is the expert and this year presents its 14th Small is Beautiful exhibition in which 100 artists respond to a given theme with work not bigger than 7 x 9 inches. This year, the theme is sex, which has brought a cheerful and cheeky mixture starting at pounds 100.
Small may sometimes be beautiful, but it isn't always cheap. In the West End, Jason & Rhodes have a show of Small Sculpture, including new work from David Mach and Peter Randall-Page. Smallest, and for my money best, are Randall-Page's unique bronzes in his usual seed pod shapes, but at pounds 3,000 each they are hardly stocking fillers. Downstairs in the same gallery, an exhibition of sombre but rather beautiful etchings by John Virtue offers value for money at prices from pounds 500.
Christmas Contemporary round the corner at The Fine Art Society has a more festive feel. It's a mixed bag of little knowns and old hands with the younger generation coming off best, particularly Jeffrey Blondes and Harriet Mena Hill whose highly covetable paintings start at pounds 650 with etchings from as little as pounds 80.
Get in early at Jason & Rhodes who will close on 21 December. The others will close around mid-afternoon on 24 December, while James Huntington- Whitely at 27 Cork Street will be plying the mince pies and madeira until 4pm on Christmas Eve. Good luck and good shopping.
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