Spellbound: Magic and nature by Daniel Ablitt and Flora McLachlan

Sarah Wiseman Gallery is proud to announce ‘Spellbound’ an exploration of myth and landscape by two prominent contemporary artists: Daniel Ablitt and Flora McLachlan.

‘We brought these two artists together as each works in their own distinct way tapping into and responding to landscape, but in a deeper sense, revealing the magic within real world settings,’ explains Sarah Wiseman, director of the gallery. 

Bristol-based Daniel Ablitt focusses on scale and wonder playing on the viewer’s sense of yearning and wanderlust. He creates fleeting, story-like scenes featuring distant figures engaged in conversation or small boats lit up on a starry lake. They give the impression of a story in progress, rather than a fixed narrative. His paintings are informed by his extensive travels across the globe, each work containing the awesome landscapes of Latin America, South-East Asia and the birch forests of Northern Europe.

Flora McLachlan is well known for her interpretations of myth and the embedding of ancient stories and legends in the land under our feet. However, more recently she has been exploring the playful magic in nature, immersing herself in the sappy, scented greenery that teems with life.  Flora’s latest work is looser and more expressive, exploring weedy ‘edge-lands’ that she recalls would cover over her head as a child, but now is waist high. To Flora, it’s a transformative place where she becomes rooted in its midst, eye level with the tiny beings that live there.

She says: ‘I can enter this magical world at will, loop myself with goosegrass and move empowered through the dew of every morning.’

We are pleased to include in the show new ceramic sculpture by Marina Bauguil. Inspired by spiritual ideas in Japanese culture connected to landscape and forces of nature, the new collection will focus on exploring the tiny, microcosmic feel of an individual flower found in the vastness of the surrounding landscape. Marina’s work is mostly figurative, creating serene, gently smiling spirit-like creatures. Each is individually sculpted in an intuitive way. Some have crowns or antlers, or are decorated with flowers. At the core of Marina's creative practice is a sense of animism, aiming to imbue her pieces with a spirit that will inspire the viewer to rekindle a connection with the natural world. 

Meet Flora McLachlan at Sarah Wiseman Gallery on the opening day, Saturday 10th September 12-4pm.