Wonderland takes you on an exclusive preview of the THRIVE art exhibition at The Sanderson Hotel
After attending the private launch of THRIVE at The Sanderson Hotel, we’re starting to feel like other art exhibitions are going to have to up their game. As if the striking artworks weren’t enough – or the fact that we got to rub shoulders with Jimmy Choo and Jaime Winstone (just sayin’) – every painting, sculpture and illustration on display is going to be auctioned off with all the proceeds going towards the Save Wild Tigers charity. That’s right ladies and gentlemen; it’s art with a heart.
THRIVE is the culmination of twenty artists coming together to produce tiger-inspired artworks for a good cause and thanks to the exhibition curator Lauren Baker, this showcase includes a diverse mix of emerging and established artists. “I was trying to steer away from the more obvious, photo-realistic works that you might expect to see at this type of show and instead I’ve chosen artists whose work really pops,” she explained.
Amongst some of our favourites were Chapter’s pop-Gothic tiger skull and Chris Wright’s ‘He Ain’t Heavy’ black and white print. But the pièce de resistance has to be Baker’s Crystal Tigress – a life-size tiger head sculpture with rose gold stripes that’s been embellished with over 50,000 Swarovski crystals. Baker tells us that the Tigress is in for quite a journey. After touring London she’s going to be exhibited at the National Gallery in Malaysia as well as on the Eastern Orient Express train, before finally being auctioned in Kuala Lupor in October 2014. Check out the previously unreleased images exclusive to Wonderland with Charity Ambassador Jaime Winstone below.
Like Baker, we were previously unaware that there are now only 3,400 wild tigers left in existence. “It’s been really heartening inspiring the creative community to join forces to help save wild tigers,” she says. “Within ten years wild tigers could be extinct, but we’re aiming to reverse this by trying to double the amount of tigers in the next ten years instead.” It’s easy to see why THRIVE has already garnered a great response as well as some impressive bids, and with the Tate gallery’s Curator describing Baker as “an artist we’ll definitely be watching out for in 2014’’, we advise keeping an eye out for more of her philanthropic work in the future.
Bids will be accepted on THRIVE’s silent auction until tomorrow, when all the artwork will be sold in aid of Save Wild Tigers during the tiger dinner at The Mango Tree restaurant.
Email lucy@savewildtigers.org with online bids: open until 6pm on Tuesday 20th May.
Words: Samantha Southern
Photographer: Thomas Knights
Stylist: Liz Mendez