'The Deer Whisperers' by Cristina Schek and Leigh Warnick | Window Display
Delighted to present our most recent Window Display titled ‘The Deer Whisperers’. A beautiful collaboration between artists Cristina Schek and Leigh Warnick.
Open to the public Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm. Sundays by appointment only. 3 New Broadway, Hampton Road, Hampton Hill TW12 1JG | Phone: 020 8943 0786
All artworks available in various sizes, with frames of choice, provided by Leigh Picture Gallery. Enquiries: leigh@leighpicturegallery.co.uk
Spring passed, summer ended, and now as the light takes on a translucent glow and the first gusts of autumn ripple the waters of Longford River (*), changes become visible in the deer.
This is the time when instinct compels the males to clash. They become fierce, wounding each other ferociously, one would never imagine how peaceful they usually are.
With the arrival of autumn, a layer of golden fur grows over their bodies. Golden hairs emerge, in slight patches at first, until at length, the whole coat is gleaming gold. They shake their heads, as if trying on a new suit, thrusting antlers into the high autumn sky.
It takes no more than a week from start to finish for this ritual to take shape. They begin their metamorphosis almost at the same time. Almost at once they are done.
Within a week every deer has been completely transformed into a stag of gold.
Golden in the purest sense of the word, with not the least intrusion of another hue. Theirs is a gold that comes into this world as gold, and exists in this world as gold. Poised between all heaven and earth, they stand steeped in gold.
Unmoving, like statues set in place, they wait with lifted heads until the last rays of the day sink into the chestnut trees.
'Bushy Park' by Leigh Warnick. Perspex face mounted print. 60cm x 34 cm
'Bushy Park' by Leigh Warnick. Perspex face mounted print. 60cm x 34cm .
Autumnal & Wintery Deer in Bushy & Richmond Park by Cristina Schek. Signed, Wax-Sealed Limited Edition Prints, Framed. Available in various sizes, with frames of choice, provided by Leigh Picture Gallery.
In due time, autumn too vanishes. Its stay was too brief, its departure too abrupt. The deer begin to lose the sheen from their coats, their golden hue turning slowly white. An announcement that winter draws near.
There is an instinctive withdrawal for the sake of preservation, a closure that assumes the order of completion. Winter is a season unto itself.
Almost meditative in their stillness, their breathing hushed as morning mist, the deer are still. No one hurts other, no one fights. Life is uneventful, but full enough in its way. Everyone is equal. No one speaks ill of anyone else. No one is jealous of anyone.
They take a short rest, legs folded under them, they huddle low to the ground, their antlers thrust upward. All peacefully unaware of the thick coat of snow that has fallen upon them.
All artworks available in various sizes, with frames of choice, provided by Leigh Picture Gallery. Enquiries: leigh@leighpicturegallery.co.uk
Open to the public Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm. Sundays by appointment only. 3 New Broadway, Hampton Road, Hampton Hill TW12 1JG | Phone: 020 8943 0786
References:
The Deer Whisperers accounts are based on modern deer psychology, developing a rapport with deer, using methods said to be derived from observation of the natural behaviour of free-roaming deer. They are also a tribute to H. Murakami’s wonderland world.
Linked to Hampton Court Palace by the Longford River, Bushy Park is famed for its mix of waterways, gardens and grassland, and roaming herds of red and fallow deer.