Studio A and Studio B at the Bermuda Society of Arts at City Hall

THE two small shows to be found in the newly partitioned off spaces at the Bermuda Society of Arts’ Gallery at City Hall don’t seem as yet to justify their creation. Gallery A contains the work of six artists collectively described as Mark Fox and Friend>. Friends they may well be, but that is scarcely reason to hang their work together. Three of the artists, Mr. Fox himself, Vanessa Bean and Shakeela Smith, had work sufficiently stylistically related to justify related hanging. The other three artists were stylistically unrelated among themselves and with the related three.The related three were all represented by abstracts mostly composed of unusual materials. These ran from found materials to spray paint. Texturing was the hallmark of their work, interestingly achieved, often with the partial use of reflective paint.

Shakeela Smith’s Tors$>was perhaps the most original and interesting. The torso was composed of tubes, a little thicker than an average drinking straw, arranged horizontally in the shape of a bodybuilder’s torso. These were sprayed with a reflective silver spray paint that became less reflective when viewed sideways. Clear plastic was laid over this and boldly painted in black to represent the “six-pack abs” so beloved of bodybuilders.

Imaginative and technically well executed this work stood out among the others.

Ms Smith’s Emerald <$>, too, was among the better works. The texturing achieved from spray paint in this work was as remarkable as its evanescent light qualities. Her Ir<$>surprisingly realistic and painted in acrylic shows that Ms Smith has a way to go in mastering her media, but I would certainly encourage her on her artistic way in whatever media she chooses.

Vanessa Bean’s mixed media Golden k <$>used what I took to be tree bark in an interesting elongated and serpentine shape mounted on a textured background of muted, but partially reflective gold for an interesting result. Not as effective however, was her other work, an acrylic titled Worlind<$>.

The lead friend, Mark Fox was the most prolific of the group with seven works in the show. For me the best of these works was The RivNile<$> done in compressed charcoal/pastel. It was notable for its interesting texture effects.

So too were his three acrylics, St. David’s, The Blue Phoenix Wafall <$>and Blue HeadWrasse<$>. The titles baffled me, but the texturing was interesting. Less interesting were his three>Clouds<$> in neo pastel.

Gallery B was without catalogue or sign. By looking at the signatures on the works, they turned out to be by Angela Ming Bean.