Dream No Small Dreams, Ronchini Gallery

This week I stumbled across a rather intriguing exhibition at London’s Ronchini Gallery, entitled Dream No Small Dreams. The show features the work of three artist; Adrien Broom, Thomas Doyle and Patrick Jacobs. All three share an obsession with small-scale fantastical worlds, each using different techniques to create their own miniature, magical alternative realities.

An installation view of Dream No Small Dream: The Miniature Worlds of Adrien Broom, Thomas Doyle and Patrick Jacobs, Courtesy of Ronchini Gallery

Broom’s Frame of Mind photographs portray imagined landscapes inhabited by tiny ‘Borrowers’ style figures. They are cinematic in their scope, if teeny-tiny in their execution.

Left Over Things, Adrien Broom, 2010, digital C-type print, 60 x 40 in, courtesy the artist and Ronchini Gallery

Thomas Doyle’s sculptural scenes of destruction, disaster and mayhem are intricately detailed and beautifully executed, all of them housed in elegant glass domes. They present a bizarre, unsettling world where typical suburban homes are swallowed up by sink holes, lifted off the ground by hurricanes or smothered in overgrown Cinderella-esque vines. Meanwhile, the pint-size protagonists who inhabit them seem blithely unconcerned by the strangeness that surrounds them.

Beset, Thomas Doyle, 2013, mixed media, 17.5 x 14.5 x 14.5 in, Courtesy the artist and Ronchini Gallery

My favourite exhibits in Dream No Small Dreams were without a doubt the hyper-realistic sculptures by Patrick Jacobs. Embedded into the wall and viewed through tiny ‘fish eye’ portholes, these glowing landscapes have more than a hint of the fairytale about them. Jacobs’ teeny weeny dioramas feature sublime vistas of trees, meadows and rolling hills, and are created from an unusual selection of media, including styrene, acrylic, ash, talc and hair. The skill involved in creating these unfeasibly realistic scenes, with each leaf and blade of grass perfectly and fully formed, is astonishing. It isn’t an overstatement to say that I could almost feel with warmth of the summer sun on my face as I gazed through the tiny windows into these magical, miniscule panoramas.

Stump with Curly Dock and Wild Carrot Weed, Patrick Jacobs, 2013, Mixed Media, Courtesy the artist and Ronchini Gallery

Check out Patrick Jacobs’ website here for more wonderful works. It’s hard to get a true impression of their impact from photographs, so if you ever get the chance to see his sculptures in person I recommend you take it. You won’t be disappointed.

Stump with Red Banded Brackets and English Daisies (detail) , Patrick Jacobs, 2013, Mixed Media, 77 x 123 x 80cm, Courtesy of the artist and Ronchini Gallery

Dream No Small Dreams, curated by Bartholomew F. Bland will be at Ronchini Gallery London from 6 September to 5 October, ronchinigallery.com.

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The Photography of Amanda Hughes

I discovered these amazing photographs by Amanda Hughes in a recent exhibition at Bonhams the auctioneers in London’s New Bond Street. Her distinctive shots of deserted interiors are incredible, their glowing colours capturing the magical atmosphere of these intriguing, rather melancholy places.

Chateau

I needed to find out more, so last week I spoke to Amanda about her work.
“I first started photographing derelict buildings in 2010, and often I come across the buildings by looking at images, or newspapers and articles describing how the buildings have fallen into disrepair. I enjoy reading up on the history of the buildings to see what’s happened there, and why it has come to be left forgotten,” she told me.

Solitude

“I try not to reveal the locations of the buildings I photograph, many buildings have code names used by photographers to protect them from looters and people who may cause damage to them by smoking in the building, or graffiti. I have seen many buildings deteriorate through the intervention of people, not just nature taking its toll.”

Stronghold

“Most buildings I have visited are not creepy. A lot of images I see of derelict buildings try to give this impression, but that is not what my work is about. I want to celebrate the beauty of these lost buildings and give them a new lease of life through my work.”

Reflection

I don’t need to add much to that – these beautiful pictures speak for themselves.

Passage

All Images Copyright Amanda Hughes
http://www.splashshotstudio.co.uk