Imagine Gallery

I have different events and various works to show and I am trying to decide what to write and show, I felt that they should all be in correct order.

But no, I will have to record today's event as it is still fresh in my mind and had made such an impression on my thoughts.

Every day, of every week of each month and year I am searching for new artists,

trying to find work that intrigues and moves me.

It is a little like prospecting for gold or that is how it seems to me, which is a little silly as there are many many fantastic artists working in all mediums out there,

but I am just searching for "my" gold and that is a little different.

I discovered one such artist [as had many others before me] maybe a year or so ago.

A young man named Will Teather.

I found his work so intriguing and desirable that I decided that it would be a waste of time trying to make contact with him.

He seemed to be in demand everywhere, was winning awards and was showing in so many

top class locations.

"Too late again", were my thoughts.

I moved on but never forgot his work and I would often search to find what he was up to.

I have explained that some artist's do also search us out, in the same way as I search them.

Serendipity? Is that the word I'm looking for.

One afternoon I had a call from Irene: "what do you think of that artist"?

"What artist"?

"Have you checked your mail today"?

"No".

"You had better, there is someone who is 'right up your street' who has mailed you".

To my surprise and great delight there was a mail from Will Teather.

He wanted to know if I would have an interest in his paintings as a friend had told him

that we were meant for each other.

After running around the gallery punching the air and saying "yes, yes", to myself

for a while I eventually gave him a call.

Some two months later [don't ask why] I eventually made the trip to his studio this morning.

With the aid of my SatNav I eventually found myself somewhere that I knew must be yards

from his studio, when I passed a very "up market" looking gallery.

"Bloody Hell", they had one of his paintings in the window,

I moved on to the next set of windows, made from curved sheets of glass.

"Just look at this place", I was thinking, then looking up I found an inscription on the glass.

WILL TEATHER

Purveyor of the Extraordinary.

So my journey in to the world [or studio] of Will Teather began.

He looked exactly as I imagined him to be, tall, bearded with long hair that fell about and hid his face.

A larger than life personality for a larger than life artist.

Although that was the exterior, the man himself was shy, gracious and very humble,

He kept thanking me for my "too" kind comments, and I knew that he meant it.

His studio? Disorganised chaos.

It was fantastic, a real Alladins cave, beautiful paintings were trying to be seen.

A fantastic leather mask was fighting for space next to a banana, a cycle helmet was beside the paints. Prints, objects, frames and artefacts were everywhere, and I mean everywhere,

I wouldn't have been surprised if there wasn't an Egyptian Mummy stored in there somewhere.

It was a beautiful mess, one only an artist can create.

But on every available wall space was an amazing painting, some finished and others with months or even a year of work still to be done before completition.

It was wonderful.

I loved it and would have been disappointed if it had been any different.

More will be told about the artist as I get to know him, as I am sure that there are a wealth of tales to tell, so that is something for me to look forward to.

There were some particular pieces of Will's work that I was really keen to see.

Like many, many other galleries I wanted to see his series of paintings concerning

'Maudeline Spacks'.

The tale of Maudeline is too long for me to tell

[I shall ask Will for an abbreviated version that I can post at a later date],

but suffice to say that she performed the

Worlds greatest vanishing act.

She appeared on stage in Sydney and London simultaneously with a televised link between

the two locations, the event was attended by many celebrities and was being recorded by all the media, it was to be her "big break".

Appear she did, but only to vanish, somewhere between the two locations.

The dress that she wore at the performance still remains, and it is this that has formed the focus of Will's paintings.

True, untrue? I know that there is a lot to tell and that Will has researched his subject well.

Either that or he made the bloody lot up.

But the story and the artefacts connected with it are fascinating, and his paintings and those in progress are beautiful, and I know for certainty that those unsold are being sought after

by various galleries and publishers.

The one thing I know for certainty is that Will Teather is going to be a name we will hear a great deal more of in the future. I stood in front of his paintings and felt that I was viewing something very special.

I came home with a few of them today.

Will told me to choose what I wanted, so I suppressed by greed and desire and chose four

smaller studies, along with a limited edition print

A print of the first of his work that I had come across, that was a lovely feeling.

So here we have them.

The first is the original painting that introduced me to Will the others are from the

"Maudeline Spacks" series.