Review: Ham Darroch

The leafy, stone-clad villages of West Oxfordshire are about as far away, both in distance and appearance, from the ochre-red deserts and expansive vistas of Australia as one can imagine. And yet, from September to November, Australian artist Ham Darroch will bring the stark beauty of his native homeland to Delly End in Talisman and Attendant Spirit, a solo exhibition that marks the launch of M+P Art, a brand new private art advisory and project space set-up by art consultants and dealers Lucy Meakin and Ben Parsons.

The space itself is delightfully intimate in scale, providing the perfect setting for M+P's new consultancy model that puts emphasis on accessibility to both the art itself, and to Meakin and Parsons' extensive combined expertise in the industry. Basing their viewing space in the deftly renovated car port on the couple's property provides a domestic scale that offers a welcoming, convivial environment in which to view carefully curated works on a personable level often lost or overlooked by larger galleries.

Ham Darroch's interest in transforming household objects is the perfect opening act with which to launch a space so literally close to home. Based in Canberra, Australia, Darroch works regularly as a studio assistant to Bridget Riley, whose wealth of knowledge with regards to the history of painting has been of great influence to his work. This ability to absorb and observe has clearly informed his interest in the cross-pollination of cultures across the Australian landscape. Working in sculpture, performance and drawing, Darroch explores 'a different set of concepts which lie somewhere between painting and sculpture, figuration and abstraction, yet with a particularly Australian inflection'. He focuses on exploring the way in which nature affects and interacts with synthetic and man-made material. By infusing table tennis bats or household tools with bright and bold colour, these mundane, domestic props of his native Australia are transformed into conceptual sculptures with a pop art quality. Darroch says that 'the rusted and muddy surface of the tools reminded me strangely enough of Australia - where tools are exposed to the oppressive heat'. By combining colourful geometric shapes with these objects, Darroch is able to 'connect visually with [his] own history of the Australian landscape.'

Much like the Australian landscape itself, Talisman and Attendant Spirit will evolve over time, showcasing a collection of Darroch's paintings and sculpture. In keeping with the artist's penchant for the transformation of material, Darroch will craft a site-specific wall painting in M+P's space later in October. This art in action will be a performative process fusing live art with painting, and is not to be missed.

Having worked in more traditional settings as art advisor and gallery director, Lucy and Ben are launching M+P Art to create a relaxed, small-scale space which will enable buyers to interact with artists' work. Meakin started her art career with the auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's. She went on to work with a number of London galleries before setting up her own art advisory business in 2009. Meakin often writes for art publications on her special subjects of emerging and blue chip contemporary art. Meanwhile, Parsons started out as a practicing artist and has since worked in galleries and museums in New Zealand, LA and London. As Director of Karsten Schubert Gallery, Parsons formed a close working relationship with Bridget Riley and through this met Darroch.

M+P Art will host public exhibitions throughout the year, and their next show will include works by Bridget Riley, Phyllida Barlow and John Stezaker, some of the UK's leading contemporary artists. Those who are interested in contemporary art but are unsure of where to start collecting might find no better place than to call on the advice of Meakin and Parsons.

M+P Art is open daily by appointment, as well as Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9am - 12pm, and Sundays 12pm - 4pm.

Ham Darroch: Talisman and Attendant Spirit opens on 23 September and runs until 24 November 2018.