Art- HQ Gallery Artwave Show

The highlight of my visit to the HQ’s Artwave show comes right at the end. It’s an eclectic mix of stuff, some of which I really liked. Local artist Nick Bodimeade has done a couple of Seville roofscapes which you can look at for ages. The larger one, in particular, is a masterpiece in perspective, a jigsaw of pleasantly muted colours. The roofs fill the screen: there is no sky, and there are no people, just washing and hatches and, to take you into the twentieth century, a couple of satellite dishes. Jonathan Smith paints boats and harbourscapes, often from interesting angles. In one, Low Tide in St Ives, he has created a powerful sky in a few brushstrokes. You get the feeling he works quickly, and decisively. They’re great. There are also some colourful childlike pieces from Joe Lamb: Disney characters and figures with semi-circular smiley faces. You wonder if there’s any darkness in them, then decide that, yes, there is. Perhaps.

The show spills out into the next house, where you can see wonderful pictures of alpine choughs by Vicky Furse. She captures the birds’ movement brilliantly. Their wings blur into the white background. I’m taken by them. As I’m about to leave, the pleasant woman at the desk tells me I haven’t seen everything yet. “I call this bit ‘Traitor’s Gate’ she says, and leads me into the garden. There are some shrunken bronze heads on sticks by Martin Hughes. You can move them around. They look chiselled, gaunt, medieval. Go see them yourself. AG