The Mall Galleries hosts two very different and distinctive exhibitions simultaneously this month.
Body Casting Olympians
The case can be made that the body of an Olympic athlete is a work of art, sculpted through years of training. Louise Giblin thinks so too and has created pieces based on the bodies of notable British Olympians including Kelly Holmes, Kriss Akabusi and Sally Gunnel. She covers their torsos in plaster and uses these casts to create writhing interlocking metal sculptures.
Yes, it's yet another Olympics tie-in that could only happen in 2012 (or whenever we next host the Olympics) but it's a truly unique approach to marking the games.
Louise Giblin - Body Casting Olympians is on display from 21-26 May. Admission free.
Wildlife Artist of the Year
It seems as if the art world is aflutter with animals. The animal art fair opens next week and Abigail Box had a recent exhibition of entertainingly surreal lion and tiger portraits.
This exhibition presents the entrants and overall winner of the annual competition held by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation to crown the top wildlife artist of the year.
Expect plenty of cute animal portraits and contemporary works re-imagining animal art.
Wildlife Artist of the Year 2012 & Wildlife Art Exhibition is on from 22-26 May. Admission free.
