A great exhibition dealing with all things anatomical! Both artists have been friends for a long time and they both share, though through different styles, a passion for anatomy.

Helen Whitley is, on top of being a fully trained artist, a medical student and Andris, as far as I can remember, is an artist focusing on the human body. His love for masters of the past (David, Delacroix, Gericault) and all things gothic makes his collection of work unique and authentic.

It was also great to see quite a new collection of paintings from Andris Wood, all produced this summer, such as the skull painting: “Started a last minute painting addressing the future state of humanity should it all go tits up between the States and North Korea,” which the artist concludes with: “have a nice day”…

Or the portrait of a woman’s back, perfectly rendered, or the portrait of an acid attack victim, where the artist managed to render both the horror of the act with the beauty of the person. Or a self-portrait in the nude, or, the portrait of a lung, nicely packed-up, like sushi ready to be eaten. I think that one is my favourite of his latest paintings. Somehow, I can see a lot of humour in it, a bit like the skeleton portraiture of Helen Whitley, in particular the hip bones which I found hilarious. There was also the painting of a skeleton on a sofa, in a nonchalant pose, funny yet reminding us of the brevity of life. The drawing of a skeleton seen from the back was absolutely beautiful in yet a very different style from Andris. But both artists share the same respect in representing the human body.

There were also older paintings from Andris, such as a small portrait of a man with a broken nose (you can find similar portraits in the Gardener’s Arms), or, “Snow White” a woman lying down, dead drunk (or just dead?) on the snow, holding a beer bottle, and a portrait of a beheaded man (a victim of Daesh?) inspired perhaps by Géricault’s anatomical fragments painting.

The most striking painting was the portrait of this young man, dying or already dead, reminiscent of the man about to be killed in Goya’s '3 May 1808': the same tones, the same shirt, maybe it is the same man, only minutes later… Once again, Andris Wood shows his mastery of painting the human body.

Definitely an exhibition to see!