Monkeys & Magnolias by Ardmore
17th to the 24th of May 2013, Patrick Mavros, London
The Patrick Mavros shop in the Fulham Road is proud to be hosting Ardmore Ceramic Art for the second year running from the 17th to the 24th of May for its Monkeys & Magnolias exhibition. The silversmiths from Zimbabwe and the ceramics studio from South Africa both pay rich tribute to the flora and fauna of the African countries from which they sprung and both ateliers were founded by artistic families – those of Patrick Mavros and his sister-in-law Fée Halsted of Ardmore.
During the summer of the 100th Chelsea Flower Show one will be transported to the tropics, bushveld and lush highlands of Southern Africa by the wondrous works of Ardmore Ceramic Art. Ardmore’s fifty Zulu, Sotho and Zimbabwean artists will magically unleash from their clay troops of baboons and monkeys who we hope will run amok and bring some witty nonsense to the dinner tables of London. Over the years the Ardmore artists have made monkeys a metaphor to portray the foibles of human error and like their real-life counterparts these ceramic monkeys make one smile at their child-like frivolity.
Whether it is the delicate floral painting of Wiseman Sithole, Siyabonga Mabaso, Virginia Xaba and Punch Shabalala, or the life-like sculpting of Thabo Mbhele and Bennet Zondo the art of Ardmore will bring back fond memories of the heady scents and shrill cries and calls of the African wild to the metropolis this summer.
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