HAPPY 95TH BIRTHDAY DERRICK GREAVES
Derrick Greaves, Towards a Walled Garden 2, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 134.6 x 223.5 cms, courtesy of James Hyman Gallery
It’s the last week of the Derrick Greaves exhibition, From Shangri-La to the Walled Garden at James Hyman Gallery in Mayfair, which closes on August 26. The exhibition was organised to celebrate Greaves’ 95th birthday, and includes work produced as recently as 2021.
Greaves, of course, has been one of the more influential figures of post-war Modern British Art, who initially gained acclaim in the 1950s, representing Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1956 with ‘kitchen-sink’ artists John Bratby, Edward Middleditch and Jack Smith. His style has constantly evolved since then: this exhibition draws from work he has done from 2003.
Most recent of that is his ‘Walled Garden’ series, meditating on the last two years of lockdowns and confinement. There’s a bitter-sweet duality to the work. As he explains: “The walled garden became symptomatic of something that could be threatening and enclosing but at the same time could be beautiful, floral and gorgeous.” James Hyman, who has represented Greaves since 2003, and staged many solo exhibitions of his work, calls the series “an exhilarating assertion of the extraordinary inventive energy of this major figure in British Art”.
James Hyman will be showing Greaves’ work at Stand 39 of the Fair, alongside works by Frank Auerbach, Tony Bevan, Bill Brandt, Peter Blake, Ivon Hitchens, Nigel Henderson, R.B. Kitaj, Edward Middleditch, Eduardo Paolozzi and Peter de Francia.