The Sapling Gallery
Tucked away in Mount Street Mews in Mayfair is a little jewel of a gallery.
The Sapling Gallery generously hosted a pop up for the HUE issue during FRIEZE London.
Sapling presented These here, quietly, a series of works by Angus McCrum in his first solo exhibition in London. Angus layers found materials such as rubber, glass and wood with oil paint and printed matter. His sculptural paintings are made in groups, each work is used as a tool to produce the next.
One might have been used as a crude mallet or a saw support, another a cutting mat and then a palette - a circular economy of materials, each bearing traces of their prior use and abandonment, this engenders a studio practice with very little waste and an interdependence between the works.
Brine Leat, 2021
The places where Angus finds materials help determine the works that follow - sections of crumbling wall from a Schrebergarten, 'repaired' with paint and glue, a roll of industrial vulcanised rubber is nailed to a board and used as a canvas, the drizzled paint and angular cutouts echoing the neglected steel works next to where it was found.
Collected leaflets from forgotten spa towns, hot dog wrappers, salt gathered from extant Gradierwerk, CD covers, twigs and rags, metal signage and dropped coins - all these elements contribute to the landscapes and drifting narratives presented in this exhibition.
Bright Garden, 2021
A message from Charlotte Call, curator and gallery owner
To the attendees of the Lab Mag event on Friday,
I heard the launch of the new edition went so well! Thank you for filling the space with joy, the good energy was tangible when I arrived the next day. As Lauren might have explained, I got caught up at a meetup for the Happiness Foundation with professors and tech creatives - so many dreamers in one space. I couldn't tear myself away from a particular philosophy professor who was blowing my mind about possible futures for art/humanity/interstellar travel.
Lauren kindly gifted me a copy of each version of the issue. The art direction is fantastic and the content so original and imaginative. What a wonderful project and I hope you consider Sapling a friend when thinking of future activations and collaborations.
For those of you who were curious about the art, I wanted to explain that you were surrounded by a solo show by Angus McCrum, a British artist who is based in Berlin, who with this show was exploring nature and wellbeing. He spent the last year roaming around Schrebergarten, which are allotments on the outskirts of town and integrated into the German understanding of nature's link to health. They were a source of solace for him during the pandemic, and by transforming the found objects from those gardens 'healing' them with paint. I attached the catalogue for the exhibition which contains a little more text about him and a run through of all the paintings in the show.
Wishing you all a wonderful week.
All my best,
Charlotte
We look forward to working with the wonderful Sapling Gallery in the future. A spontaneous, wonderful pop up filled with laughter and friends reunited among beautiful artwork.