BRUSHES and bronzes are the focus of the spring exhibition at Talents Fine Arts in Malton.

Opening on Monday, March 26, the exhibition has the brief but intriguing title “2D, 3D”, encompassing a wide range of artistic work, from paintings, etchings, woodcuts and linocuts, to fine bronze sculptures.

Around 100 bronzes will be on show produced by three principal bronze casting companies. They range from a tiny wren to a soaring swallow and larger works depicting a pack of hounds and a Bengal tiger.

The human form also features, in contrasting activities of dancing and shooting.

This is the first time the gallery has mounted an exhibition of solid, or hot cast, bronze sculptures and is a rare opportunity to see such a range of bronzes, especially some of the larger pieces.

Many of these sculptors are perhaps less well-known than their artist contemporaries, perhaps because the finished bronze is the result of many processes and many hands.

Michael Simpson has modelled many of the birds and animals on display in clay. He comes from Stoke on Trent and draws on the modelling skills of the potteries and on his own drawings and photographs of his subjects.

Jonathan Saunders has spent much time in East Africa and this is reflected in the characterful elephants which are one of his specialties.

David Geenty, meanwhile, is known particularly for his lively horses, an interest to which he returned after a long spell as a naval architect.

The gallery is also showing the paintings of David Allen, an artist new to Malton but well-known especially for his pastels. He is the current chairman of the Fylingdales Group of Artists. David is also a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and winner of a number of awards. He regularly exhibits at the Mall Gallery in London and his work is much sought after.

He paints in pastels and oils and his favourite areas for painting are the Yorkshire coast from Flamborough to Saltburn and the Yorkshire Dales, but he also paints abroad, especially in Italy. Paintings of Venice and Yorkshire will be included in the exhibition. David says that he is inspired to paint in order to capture the wonderful quality of light, form and colour which he observes, especially in nature.

The exhibition line-up is completed by two very different artists who have established followings in Malton during the relatively brief period they have shown their work at Talents.

K J Bentley has loved art from childhood but her initial career was in other fields before returning to art after marriage and the birth of her first daughter. She has been a full-time artist since 2007 and says that she is inspired by the weather which is apparent in her work, with stormy seas and threatening skies over moody moorland scenes. Her work concentrates on North Yorkshire where she lives and where she finds plenty of material out and about on the moors and coast.

Meanwhile, Alison Read is a print maker, producing woodcuts, linocuts and etchings and her subjects are birds and animals of all sorts – domestic and wildlife of the English countryside and of more exotic places – depicted in a quirky but affectionate and humorous way. She was brought up on a farm and says that she got to know the characters of the cows, cats, dogs and chickens around her, giving plentiful background for her work.

Robert Brock, one of the gallery’s owners, said: “We are especially proud to mount this exhibition in Malton, giving people in Ryedale an opportunity to see an exceptional display of fine bronzes and a range of paintings and prints by three talented artists.”

The exhibition runs until April 21 and the gallery is open daily except Sundays and Bank Holidays, 9.30am- 4.30pm. Phone 01653 600020, email info@talentsfinearts.co.uk or visit talentsfinearts.

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