In The Company Of Monsters, New Visions, Ancient Myths

Bronze Art Award Review of In The Company Of Monsters, New Visions, Ancient Myths shown at Reading Museum. The exhibition centres on the concept of monsters and their depiction in classical mythology through art.

I visited this exhibition with my family in February, at Reading Museum in the Sir John Madejski gallery. I’ve always liked Reading Museum as we’ve been visiting it since I was quite little, so I was really looking forward to it. I was also excited as I’ve always been pretty interested in mythology.

The exhibition features work from four different artists: Eleanor Crook, Paul Reid, Minnie Jane Hardman and Michael Ayrton, although the bulk of the art was from the first two artists. Eleanor Crook is a British sculptor, who works in a variety of media. Personally, I found her work the most interesting. Paul Reid is a Scottish artist who specialises in oil and charcoal, creating very lifelike paintings. 

Once you enter the gallery, you immediately see Paul Reid’s work. His paintings are quite big and the realism is eye catching. I almost wondered if they were photographs, but I don’t think there are many photographs of cyclopses! I’ve never been as drawn to realistic art, but I actually really enjoyed Reid’s paintings due to the mythical element. In my opinion he really captures the emotion on his subjects’ faces, which really helps with telling the story of the myths. I think my favourite piece of his was Minotaur, I thought the composition of the painting was interesting and I liked the contrast between the red fabric and white fur. 

Further into the gallery you can see Eleanor Crook’s work. She, while primarily a sculptor, exhibited multiple paintings and collages and even a series of AI generated art pieces. I was surprised by this as I don’t personally think artificial intelligence can produce ‘art’ as I feel art is uniquely human, however, I did find that the pictures were striking and the concept was thought provoking. Crook had several sculptures, all bar one were made of bronze and the odd one out was constructed from ‘wax and mixed media’. Quite possibly my favourite piece from the whole exhibition were a series of three bronze busts of the fates by Crook. I found these fascinating, they were really emotive and the dark, almost black, bronze gave the sculptures a haunting, mysterious look. Crook also had several mixed media works, slightly resembling collages. I found these very engaging, the use of colour and the dynamic compositions of the pieces felt unusual. They were almost unsettling to look at, a little like something out of a fever dream. 

I thought the exhibition as a whole was presented really well, the information about the artwork was quite detailed and there were several pamphlets and even a short book with more details about the art, artists and depiction of monsters in mythology in general. There were also staff members on hand if you had any questions. One thing I might’ve changed about the presentation would have been to have more background information about the myths behind the pieces, as if you didn’t already know the story behind them you didn’t get the full effect of the artwork.  

Overall I really enjoyed the exhibition and it showcased a variety of art and seeing the different artists take on the myths was really interesting.

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Violet Davison

Violet Davison

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2 Comments

  • Linda Herbert

    On 16 August 2024, 18:03 Linda Herbert commented:

    Violet
    You obviously really enjoyed your visit to the exhibition In The Company Of Monsters, New Visions, Ancient Myths and have described the works in detail. I must say I too like the bronze busts by Eleanor Crook they look very mysterious. I wish I had been able to see the exhibition myself but will certainly look out for Eleanor Crook’s work.
    Thank you for your very interesting review.
    Linda

  • Jess Tilby

    On 16 August 2024, 20:54 Jess Tilby commented:

    I really like the detail you have given in your review.
    It makes me want to visit the exhibition.
    I too like mythology!
    Thankyou.

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