Gary Hodges
Encyclopedia
Gary Hodges is also the name of a member of The 4-Skins
.
Gary Hodges (born 1954) is a British artist
and publisher much admired internationally for his graphite pencil
wildlife art
. His original drawings and limited edition prints have sold widely in the UK and throughout the world and is collected by large numbers of ordinary citizens, many not previously seeing themselves as "art collectors". During his career he has sold over 105,000 limited edition prints from 122 editions. His popularity has influenced and encouraged many other artists to develop intricate styles with pencil. He has a close connection to various environmental and wildlife conservation groups for whom he provides considerable financial support.
in 1954 he is the son of a fishmonger and secretary. Surrounded by pets as a child he grew up with a strong passion for animals and was given wildlife books which gave him considerable knowledge of many different species. He was also influenced by his love of comics such as X Men and Spiderman and at school he was encouraged to pursue his love of art, especially drawing. During this time his mother fell ill and died. He gained "O" level qualifications early but went on to unsuccessfully study for "A" levels and left school at the age of sixteen for a job in the printing trade.
In 1978 he met his civil partner, professional photographer and environmentalist Dave Currey
. This introduced him to the world of conservation and environmental activism. In early 1980 he left his printing job and they travelled to the western USA and Mexico where they saw wildlife such as whales, sealions, ospreys, and dolphins. It was his first real experience of wilderness.
In 1981 and 1982 he was commissioned to illustrate two articles in Wildlife Magazine. He picked up other work to design a leaflet and illustrate many press releases for WWF. His drawings were exhibited at the Hampstead Open Air Exhibition in 1981 and the Henry-Brett Galleries in Chelsea, London
and Gloucester
in 1982. By this time he started working with children in Brixton
, south London, moving to run and help build an adventure playground in Elephant and Castle
, a deprived area of south London. In 1983 his drawings were highly commended at the Wildlife Illustrator of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum
, London and he had his first solo show at the Everyman Foyer Gallery, Hampstead in 1984.
In 1987 Greenpeace
commissioned the first two of nine limited edition prints over the next few years. His father was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1988, a loss which caused him to re-evaluate his life. The huge sell-out success of the first Greenpeace editions encouraged him to concentrate on his art.
Hodges has described his technique to the public while artist in residence at the prestigious Nature in Art
museum in Gloucester, UK over many years. He has also provided access to his drawing through time-lapse photography in two of the films made about him and in magazines. He uses a range of graphite pencils from grade 8H to 5B, a scalpel knife for sharpening the pencils, trimming paper and creating a bevel on plastic erasers which he uses to bring out highlights. His references have usually been his own photographs, and in more recent years largely taken from the wild. He has expressed real concern over conditions and the ethics of zoos. A drawing may take him many months, with them taking longer in more recent years. He draws on Fabriano 5 paper, also reproducing images as limited editions on the same paper to maintain quality.
His early Greenpeace drawings of Green Turtle (1987) and Narwhal (1987) have become collector's pieces with the prints first selling for £8.50, more recently the Green turtle exchanging hands for £3,500.00 on the secondary market
. During this time Snow Leopard (1993) became his fastest selling print (edition of 850), although this has since been surpassed. Its scarcity created a secondary demand with it selling for around £3,000 many times and has reached £3,200. The investment potential of his prints has attracted additional collectors to his following.
He became fairly prolific in this period exhibiting at various shows including the Medici Gallery, London, the Mall Galleries, London and the Robin des Bois Gallery, Paris - all in 1989.
, Virginia McKenna
and the late Bill Travers
, in 1989 at the Society of Wildlife Artists' annual exhibition in London. He states that he was "a little overwhelmed and shocked when they wanted to buy my Eléphants Africains drawing." McKenna and Travers had set up Zoocheck (later to be known as Born Free Foundation
) to press for closure of zoos.
Soon after this meeting, George Adamson
, the true-life character in Born Free, was murdered in Kenya. Hodges received a call from McKenna asking him to accept a commission to draw Adamson in time for a memorial service in London. Working from old videos and photographs Hodges created George Adamson with Boy and Christian
(1989), Adamson's favourite lions. Virginia Mckenna loved the drawing and Hodges stated this gave him greater confidence as an artist.
Hodges and McKenna have remained friends with Hodges supporting the Born Free Foundation for many years. McKenna said of the drawing "A picture of love and trust. Lord of the Lions George Adamson with Boy and Christian. The living spirit of the animals shines through their eyes and the beauty of their physical presence leaps from the paper. An artist who understands."
. The owner of the shop was so impressed with Hodges' art he asked to stock the prints in 1990. It turned out that this shop was part of the Fast Frame franchise and when the prints sold really well Croydon contacted the other Fast Frame shops around the UK. Before long his limited edition prints were being sold in around 75 framing shops.
Hodges was already being recognised for his art winning the WWF Fine Art Prize at the Society of Wildlife Artists
' annual shows in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 he held a highly successful solo show in the Medici Gallery in central London and his prints were being sold in charity shows as well as all the retail outlets.
In 1992 he drew Bengal Tigress and Cub especially for the UK televised charity appeal ITV Telethon
, prints of which were sold through the Fast Frame franchise. These prints, the first ever for this television charity, raised about ₤20,000. Soon after this the franchise went into liquidation and Hodges built individual relationships with the remaining shops.
, near Trafalgar Square
and Buckingham Palace
.
Already associated with two wildlife groups - Born Free Foundation
and the Environmental Investigation Agency
(EIA) (his partner Dave Currey
a founding director) - he decided to donate the proceeds to these two organisations to aid their work. The show took place from November 24 to December 5, 1994. At the private view the queue to enter tailed down the Mall and inside there was a constant line of people trying to buy originals and limited editions prints. The event was on local television, an auction was held, and a number of notable UK celebrities actively involved themselves in helping and buying his art. It was described by the gallery as the first time they had seen so many people at a solo show.
The show was a complete sell-out. All 21 originals and over 900 limited editions prints sold and raised £90,000 for the two organisations. Although Hodges was already well established, after this huge success his prints became more in demand, editions sold out in weeks and secondary art market prices increased.
In late 1995 his pet border collie died and he went back to an older drawing (1986) he had completed of Jaff and worked on it more. This was to become quite common for him in the following years - updating older pictures before releasing them as prints. The limited edition print Jaff (1995) was released in December 1995 and he and his partner decided to sell the prints for charity. It raised about £34,000 which went towards feeding starving working elephants in Kaziranga National Park
, India, an orang-utan research project in Borneo and a tiger
campaign.
This was a very difficult time for Hodges as his and his partner's friend Paul Delapenha fell very sick. In 1996 Hodges spent time with Delapenha and his family in Jamaica
before they returned to the UK where he died. Hodges was unable to draw and in early 1997 he and his partner moved out of London to Wiltshire in the English countryside.
Although throughout this period Hodges was much less prolific than in his earlier years, he spent a lot of time updating older drawings and releasing them as limited edition signed prints. When in 1997, following his friend's death, Hodges drew Supreme (1997), a Siberian tiger, it was to become his largest edition size of 1,950, selling out before being issued. The drawing was dedicated to his friend Paul Delapenha and named Supreme because of Delapenha's love of the motown group The Supremes
. The original was sold at Christie's
Auction House London in 1998 for £16,215. His originals have continued to sell for high prices at auction. The head of wildlife art at Christie's, Fiona Osbourne-Young, said of Hodges art "Everything is perfection ... to get this from a pencil leads pencil drawing into a completely different dimension."
Between 1996 and 2003 he achieved incredible limited edition print sales and was recipient of a number of awards. Many of his prints were sold to retailers "on allocation" - only providing a percentage of their requirements. This no doubt added to his collectability.
Slowly starting to draw again, Hodges completed a tiger drawing Pride and Joy (1998) and started on Nile Crocodile (unfinished) (2000). The crocodile drawing was featured in a film documentary "Drawn to Wildlife" in time lapse photography, showing the painstaking detail and technique of Hodges as an artist. It was also released unfinished as a limited edition print (1,500 copies) and over subscribed. The launch event supported by Cygnet's gallery raised £24,000 for the Born Free Foundation.
In 1998 Hodges joined his partner Currey in Indonesia, where he was working to protect orang-utans and stop illegal logging
. They travelled through Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo
which was (at the time) being heavily illegally logged, met with primatologist Birute Galdikas
who has worked with orang-utans for decades, and interacted with rehabilitated orang-utans. During this trip footage for the documentary "Drawn to Wildlife" was shot by Currey of Hodges in the field. Hodges states this trip had "an incredibly powerful effect" on him and it resulted in a new drawing Plea for the Rainforest (1999) - an evocative portrait of a baby orang-utan peering over its mother's head who is pleading to the viewer. Time lapse photography of this drawing was shown on National Geographic TV in "Wild Vision" in 1999.
His last drawing completed in the UK was Serenity (2001) a clouded leopard. In 2000 he and his partner moved to Spain, although keeping a base in the UK. Serenity was reproduced as Hodges' 100th limited edition print (1,750 copies).
In 2002 one of the public's favourite drawings, Sabu (2002), a snow leopard, was the first drawing to be completed in his Ibiza
home. The print edition sold out before release and Hodges states it hangs in 1,300 homes, including some of his celebrity collectors such as Martina Navratilova, Kiki Dee
, Pam St Clement and Rula Lenska
.
Working with the same film producer that had made "Drawn to Wildlife" in 1998, David Felber, Hodges travelled to Kenya with actress and friend Rula Lenska to make a new DVD based around his drawing of elephants. They visited Daphne Sheldrick
and her orphaned elephants in both Nairobi
and Tsavo National Park
s and filmed their interactions with these elephants. This was a return visit to meet Sheldrick for both Hodges and Lenska. On return to Ibiza, Hodges drew, again filmed in time lapse for the "Wild at Art" DVD, Joy (2003) of young African elephants running towards a waterhole.
In 2004 and 2005 Hodges created three new drawings linked to charity. Little Foxes (2004) resulted from a visit to Wildlife Aid
, a British charity made famous on the TV show Wildlife SOS featuring Wildlife Aid founder Simon Cowell
. Queen of Diamonds (2004), a green turtle, was his contribution to a set of transformation playing cards in aid of the Marine Stewardship Council
. Other artist contributors included Damian Hurst, Quentin Blake
, and Dame Elizabeth Blackadder
. The Born Free Foundation contacted Hodges in the autumn of 2004 asking him to draw Elsa the lioness
to celebrate their 21st anniversary as a charity. The Spirit of Elsa (2005) was the result, drawn from old grainy photographs of Elsa, a lioness which had died when Hodges was a child. He states that he listened to Matt Monroe's version of the theme tune of "Born Free" playing in the background on repeat, sometimes changing it to Kiki Dee's acoustic version. He believes the drawing has "a touch of innocent, child-like quality to it." This was Hodges' first drawing he reproduced on canvas as well as paper.
One of Hodges' personal favourites is his drawing of a family of meerkats Family (2005) which he states represents a new group of friends from many nationalities he and his partner made in Ibiza to add to his old friends in the UK and elsewhere. Angel Eyes (2005) was dedicated to his stepmother Ann who died in October of that year.
Still very popular Hodges has managed to maintain a loyal following over the years. Soulmates (2007), a drawing of snow leopards sold for ₤16,500 at the Society of Wildlife Artists' annual show in 2007 also winning the 2007 Visitors' Award out of over 400 exhibits. The limited edition print sold out completely. In recent years he has concentrated on a series of wild cat portraits starting with a tiger, Majesty (2009), followed by a cheetah, Grace (2009) and then in 2010 he released a limited edition print of an unfinished part of his next cat portrait which he called Fire (2010) - a jaguar. The finished drawing is expected to be completed in early 2011.
His contribution to art was recognised in September 2010 by Nature in Art
, the world's first museum dedicated to art inspired by nature. Two of their five galleries were used for a five week major retrospective show of his art called "Drawn to the Soul" with forty-five Hodges' originals on display. His book of the same title was published to coincide with this show.
on many occasions with notable elephant drawings, big cats other African wildlife gaining inspiration from the wild. Particularly relating to actual moments were Nile Crocodile (2000) after an experience in Samburu National Park, Kenya
, and Joy (2003) from Daphne Sheldrick's elephant orphanage in Tsavo National Park
, and Baby Love (2008) from a moment in the rain in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area
, Tanzania
.
He created a number of drawings including Owl Butterfly (1994), Green Iguana (1993) , Sunlight and Shadows (1994) and Young Caiman (1993) after two visits to Venezuela
in 1992/93. An evocative piece Iberian Wolves - hope for the future (1994) was inspired by a 7 day trip to the Iberian Wolf Recovery Centre in Portugal
. Plea for the Rainforest (1999)came after travelling in Borneo
, Indonesia
and inspiration for the wild Asian animal drawings was boosted in Nepal
in 1995. Most recently Hodges has photographed and observed green turtles on the Great Barrier Reef
in Australia
and states that he really wants to draw these soon.
, founded by Virginia McKenna
and Bill Travers
and The Environmental Investigation Agency
co-founded by his civil partner Dave Currey
.
His art has touched many people including a celebrity and influential following. In the introduction to the latest book on Hodges, Simon Trapnell, Director of the prestigious Nature in Art
museum in Gloucester which held a retrospective of his art in 2010 wrote: "Picasso said that Drawing is a kind of hypnotism: one looks in such a way at the model, that he comes and takes a seat on the paper. Gary is an artist whose subjects take a seat on the paper. They are alive. Right in front of us. His drawings are his way of speaking, and his way of empowering the subject to speak for itself. A few strokes of Gary's pencil invariably hold much more than mere form and line, they can hold immensity. They can't help but draw us to the soul."
Dame Daphne Sheldrick DME
has said of Hodges "Gary Hodges' depth of feeling for animals manifests itself in the perfection of his art and his generosity and support for the cause of wildlife conservation. His drawing of two of our orphaned elephants, Ndume and Malaika, hangs in my house, and is one of my most treasured possessions. To me it is the work of a Master, not only accurate in every detail, buit subtly portraying the character of the animals with deep sensitivity."
Jenny Seagrove
, actress and trustee of Born Free Foundation stated “There’s something that goes straight to some very deep part of your soul, straight from the pictures … If ever art was poetry, this is poetry.”
Wildlife Foundation.
Hodges has been a regular artist in residence
at the Nature in Art museum in Gloucester since 1991.
Some of his major awards:
His solo shows including:
He has exhibited most years since 1989 at the Society of Wildlife Artists' Annual Show at the Mall Galleries, London, UK. His art is held in the British Council collection
and the Nature in Art permanent collection.
across the elephant with each side adorned in ripped parts of his own prints. The shape of the river twisting through London is also famous because of the opening credits of the British soap opera Eastenders
, which Hodges felt appropriate since his friend Lenska had appeared in this show and another collector Pam St Clement has starred in it for many years. He admits that working in collage and media such as PVA glue were outside his experience. One side of the elephant is a complicated collage of his prints while the other, is humorously and more simply designed around meerkats taken from his drawing Family (2005).
The resulting elephant named Tattoo - Born to be Wild (2010) was displayed in a "herd" in London's Green Park
facing Buckingham Palace
in the warm summer of 2010. It was later auctioned for £12,500 in aid of the Born Free Foundation. Along with 259 other elephants, mainly in aid of the charity Elephant Family
, £4 million was raised for Asian elephant conservation and it was London's biggest ever outdoor art event.
He has produced two books on his art, Gary Hodges Wildlife Drawings 1994 and Drawn to the Soul 2010, each in limited editions.
Three film documentaries have been about Hodges: "Drawn to Wildlife" broadcast on Animal Planet Channel, "Wild Vision", broadcast on the National Geographic Channel and "Wild at Art" sold as a charity DVD.. "Drawn to Wildlife" and "Wild at Art" were produced by David Felber and presented by Rula Lenska. An out-take from "Wild at Art" was shown on "Alright on the Night's All Star Special."
After years of shunning the web Hodges launched an official website with almost 70 pages of information about his life, art and inspirations. It also provides updated information on his latest art.
The 4-Skins
The 4-Skins are a working class Oi! punk rock band from the East End of London, England. Originally composed of Gary Hodges , 'Hoxton' Tom McCourt , Steve 'H' Hamer and Gary Hitchcock , they formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1984 – although new line-ups formed in 2007 and 2008...
.
Gary Hodges (born 1954) is a British artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and publisher much admired internationally for his graphite pencil
Pencil
A pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....
wildlife art
Wildlife art
Wildlife art is one of humanity's earliest art forms, dating back to prehistoric cave paintings such as those found at the grotto of Lascaux in France....
. His original drawings and limited edition prints have sold widely in the UK and throughout the world and is collected by large numbers of ordinary citizens, many not previously seeing themselves as "art collectors". During his career he has sold over 105,000 limited edition prints from 122 editions. His popularity has influenced and encouraged many other artists to develop intricate styles with pencil. He has a close connection to various environmental and wildlife conservation groups for whom he provides considerable financial support.
Early Life and Influences
Born in South LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1954 he is the son of a fishmonger and secretary. Surrounded by pets as a child he grew up with a strong passion for animals and was given wildlife books which gave him considerable knowledge of many different species. He was also influenced by his love of comics such as X Men and Spiderman and at school he was encouraged to pursue his love of art, especially drawing. During this time his mother fell ill and died. He gained "O" level qualifications early but went on to unsuccessfully study for "A" levels and left school at the age of sixteen for a job in the printing trade.
In 1978 he met his civil partner, professional photographer and environmentalist Dave Currey
Dave Currey (environmentalist)
Dave Currey is an environmentalist, writer and photographer. A minister's son, he was born in Sussex in the UK and brought up in London. He gained a BA in Photographic Arts in 1976 following a passion in communicating visually...
. This introduced him to the world of conservation and environmental activism. In early 1980 he left his printing job and they travelled to the western USA and Mexico where they saw wildlife such as whales, sealions, ospreys, and dolphins. It was his first real experience of wilderness.
In 1981 and 1982 he was commissioned to illustrate two articles in Wildlife Magazine. He picked up other work to design a leaflet and illustrate many press releases for WWF. His drawings were exhibited at the Hampstead Open Air Exhibition in 1981 and the Henry-Brett Galleries in Chelsea, London
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
and Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
in 1982. By this time he started working with children in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, south London, moving to run and help build an adventure playground in Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
, a deprived area of south London. In 1983 his drawings were highly commended at the Wildlife Illustrator of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, London and he had his first solo show at the Everyman Foyer Gallery, Hampstead in 1984.
In 1987 Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
commissioned the first two of nine limited edition prints over the next few years. His father was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1988, a loss which caused him to re-evaluate his life. The huge sell-out success of the first Greenpeace editions encouraged him to concentrate on his art.
Wildlife Drawings 1987-1994
After visiting many potential art and book publishers in the 1980s Hodges could have been dismayed by their dismissal, stating that "black & white doesn't sell." Some encouraged him to work in colour. However, the huge success of the first five Greenpeace limited edition prints, selling out editions of 850 prints, helped him decide to publish himself. This was very uncommon at the time.Hodges has described his technique to the public while artist in residence at the prestigious Nature in Art
Nature in Art
Nature in Art is a museum and art gallery at Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, Gloucester, England, dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature in all forms, styles and media...
museum in Gloucester, UK over many years. He has also provided access to his drawing through time-lapse photography in two of the films made about him and in magazines. He uses a range of graphite pencils from grade 8H to 5B, a scalpel knife for sharpening the pencils, trimming paper and creating a bevel on plastic erasers which he uses to bring out highlights. His references have usually been his own photographs, and in more recent years largely taken from the wild. He has expressed real concern over conditions and the ethics of zoos. A drawing may take him many months, with them taking longer in more recent years. He draws on Fabriano 5 paper, also reproducing images as limited editions on the same paper to maintain quality.
His early Greenpeace drawings of Green Turtle (1987) and Narwhal (1987) have become collector's pieces with the prints first selling for £8.50, more recently the Green turtle exchanging hands for £3,500.00 on the secondary market
Secondary market
The page applies to the finanical term; For the merchandising concept, see Aftermarket .The secondary market, also called aftermarket, is the financial market where previously issued securities and financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold....
. During this time Snow Leopard (1993) became his fastest selling print (edition of 850), although this has since been surpassed. Its scarcity created a secondary demand with it selling for around £3,000 many times and has reached £3,200. The investment potential of his prints has attracted additional collectors to his following.
He became fairly prolific in this period exhibiting at various shows including the Medici Gallery, London, the Mall Galleries, London and the Robin des Bois Gallery, Paris - all in 1989.
Born Free
Hodges first met the stars of the iconic movie Born FreeBorn Free
Born Free is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilds of Kenya. The movie was produced by Open Road Films Ltd. and Columbia...
, Virginia McKenna
Virginia McKenna
Virginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
and the late Bill Travers
Bill Travers
William Lindon-Travers was an English actor, screenwriter, director and an animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.-Life and career:...
, in 1989 at the Society of Wildlife Artists' annual exhibition in London. He states that he was "a little overwhelmed and shocked when they wanted to buy my Eléphants Africains drawing." McKenna and Travers had set up Zoocheck (later to be known as Born Free Foundation
Born Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation is a conservation and animal rescue organization in the United Kingdom. It originated in 1984 as the "Zoo Check Campaign" by actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers along with their son Will Travers and four associates....
) to press for closure of zoos.
Soon after this meeting, George Adamson
George Adamson
George Adamson , also known as the "Baba ya Simba" , was a British wildlife conservationist and author...
, the true-life character in Born Free, was murdered in Kenya. Hodges received a call from McKenna asking him to accept a commission to draw Adamson in time for a memorial service in London. Working from old videos and photographs Hodges created George Adamson with Boy and Christian
Christian the lion
Christian was a lion originally purchased by Australians John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke from Harrods department store of London, England in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the African wild by conservationist George Adamson. One year after George Adamson released Christian to the wild,...
(1989), Adamson's favourite lions. Virginia Mckenna loved the drawing and Hodges stated this gave him greater confidence as an artist.
Hodges and McKenna have remained friends with Hodges supporting the Born Free Foundation for many years. McKenna said of the drawing "A picture of love and trust. Lord of the Lions George Adamson with Boy and Christian. The living spirit of the animals shines through their eyes and the beauty of their physical presence leaps from the paper. An artist who understands."
Fast Frame franchise
Virginia McKenna's secretary took a limited edition print of George Adamson with Boy and Christian into a framing shop in Croydon, SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. The owner of the shop was so impressed with Hodges' art he asked to stock the prints in 1990. It turned out that this shop was part of the Fast Frame franchise and when the prints sold really well Croydon contacted the other Fast Frame shops around the UK. Before long his limited edition prints were being sold in around 75 framing shops.
Hodges was already being recognised for his art winning the WWF Fine Art Prize at the Society of Wildlife Artists
Society of Wildlife Artists
The Society of Wildlife Artists is a British organisation for artists who paint or draw wildlife, founded in 1964. Its founder President was Sir Peter Scott, the current President of the society is British artist Andrew Stock....
' annual shows in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 he held a highly successful solo show in the Medici Gallery in central London and his prints were being sold in charity shows as well as all the retail outlets.
In 1992 he drew Bengal Tigress and Cub especially for the UK televised charity appeal ITV Telethon
ITV Telethon
The ITV Telethons were three charity telethons organised and televised in the UK by the ITV network. They took place in 1988, 1990 and 1992. Each lasted for 27 hours and all were hosted by Michael Aspel.- Thames Telethon :...
, prints of which were sold through the Fast Frame franchise. These prints, the first ever for this television charity, raised about ₤20,000. Soon after this the franchise went into liquidation and Hodges built individual relationships with the remaining shops.
Mall Galleries, solo show 1994
With his popularity growing, Hodges decided to stage a solo show of his work at the Mall Galleries in central London. This very large space is used for many different group art shows and is centrally positioned on the Mall next to the ICAInstitute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
, near Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
and Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
.
Already associated with two wildlife groups - Born Free Foundation
Born Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation is a conservation and animal rescue organization in the United Kingdom. It originated in 1984 as the "Zoo Check Campaign" by actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers along with their son Will Travers and four associates....
and the Environmental Investigation Agency
Environmental Investigation Agency
The Environmental Investigation Agency is an NGO founded in 1984 by Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton, three environmental activists in the United Kingdom. Its stated goal is to investigate and expose crimes against wildlife and the environment...
(EIA) (his partner Dave Currey
Dave Currey (environmentalist)
Dave Currey is an environmentalist, writer and photographer. A minister's son, he was born in Sussex in the UK and brought up in London. He gained a BA in Photographic Arts in 1976 following a passion in communicating visually...
a founding director) - he decided to donate the proceeds to these two organisations to aid their work. The show took place from November 24 to December 5, 1994. At the private view the queue to enter tailed down the Mall and inside there was a constant line of people trying to buy originals and limited editions prints. The event was on local television, an auction was held, and a number of notable UK celebrities actively involved themselves in helping and buying his art. It was described by the gallery as the first time they had seen so many people at a solo show.
The show was a complete sell-out. All 21 originals and over 900 limited editions prints sold and raised £90,000 for the two organisations. Although Hodges was already well established, after this huge success his prints became more in demand, editions sold out in weeks and secondary art market prices increased.
Wildlife Drawings 1995-2010
His success provided Hodges with the means to research his subjects in the wild more than ever. He had always felt uncomfortable using photographic references taken from zoos because of his opposition to the captivity of wildlife, although in some cases they remained his only source. But from 1990 he first visited East Africa and later many other countries.In late 1995 his pet border collie died and he went back to an older drawing (1986) he had completed of Jaff and worked on it more. This was to become quite common for him in the following years - updating older pictures before releasing them as prints. The limited edition print Jaff (1995) was released in December 1995 and he and his partner decided to sell the prints for charity. It raised about £34,000 which went towards feeding starving working elephants in Kaziranga National Park
Kaziranga National Park
Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. A World Heritage Site, the park hosts two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses. Kaziranga boasts the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and was...
, India, an orang-utan research project in Borneo and a tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
campaign.
This was a very difficult time for Hodges as his and his partner's friend Paul Delapenha fell very sick. In 1996 Hodges spent time with Delapenha and his family in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
before they returned to the UK where he died. Hodges was unable to draw and in early 1997 he and his partner moved out of London to Wiltshire in the English countryside.
Although throughout this period Hodges was much less prolific than in his earlier years, he spent a lot of time updating older drawings and releasing them as limited edition signed prints. When in 1997, following his friend's death, Hodges drew Supreme (1997), a Siberian tiger, it was to become his largest edition size of 1,950, selling out before being issued. The drawing was dedicated to his friend Paul Delapenha and named Supreme because of Delapenha's love of the motown group The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
. The original was sold at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
Auction House London in 1998 for £16,215. His originals have continued to sell for high prices at auction. The head of wildlife art at Christie's, Fiona Osbourne-Young, said of Hodges art "Everything is perfection ... to get this from a pencil leads pencil drawing into a completely different dimension."
Between 1996 and 2003 he achieved incredible limited edition print sales and was recipient of a number of awards. Many of his prints were sold to retailers "on allocation" - only providing a percentage of their requirements. This no doubt added to his collectability.
Slowly starting to draw again, Hodges completed a tiger drawing Pride and Joy (1998) and started on Nile Crocodile (unfinished) (2000). The crocodile drawing was featured in a film documentary "Drawn to Wildlife" in time lapse photography, showing the painstaking detail and technique of Hodges as an artist. It was also released unfinished as a limited edition print (1,500 copies) and over subscribed. The launch event supported by Cygnet's gallery raised £24,000 for the Born Free Foundation.
In 1998 Hodges joined his partner Currey in Indonesia, where he was working to protect orang-utans and stop illegal logging
Illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the...
. They travelled through Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
which was (at the time) being heavily illegally logged, met with primatologist Birute Galdikas
Birute Galdikas
Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas, OC , is a primatologist, conservationist, ethologist, and author of several books relating to the endangered orangutan, particularly the Bornean orangutan. Well known in the field of modern primatology, Galdikas is recognized as a leading authority on orangutans...
who has worked with orang-utans for decades, and interacted with rehabilitated orang-utans. During this trip footage for the documentary "Drawn to Wildlife" was shot by Currey of Hodges in the field. Hodges states this trip had "an incredibly powerful effect" on him and it resulted in a new drawing Plea for the Rainforest (1999) - an evocative portrait of a baby orang-utan peering over its mother's head who is pleading to the viewer. Time lapse photography of this drawing was shown on National Geographic TV in "Wild Vision" in 1999.
His last drawing completed in the UK was Serenity (2001) a clouded leopard. In 2000 he and his partner moved to Spain, although keeping a base in the UK. Serenity was reproduced as Hodges' 100th limited edition print (1,750 copies).
In 2002 one of the public's favourite drawings, Sabu (2002), a snow leopard, was the first drawing to be completed in his Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
home. The print edition sold out before release and Hodges states it hangs in 1,300 homes, including some of his celebrity collectors such as Martina Navratilova, Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....
, Pam St Clement and Rula Lenska
Rula Lenska
Rula Lenska is an English actress. Best known for her work in the United Kingdom, she is remembered in the United States for a television advert that presented her as a celebrity, even though she was not widely known in the US at the time the advert was produced.She has appeared extensively on...
.
Working with the same film producer that had made "Drawn to Wildlife" in 1998, David Felber, Hodges travelled to Kenya with actress and friend Rula Lenska to make a new DVD based around his drawing of elephants. They visited Daphne Sheldrick
Daphne Sheldrick
Dame Daphne Sheldrick, DBE is a Kenyan author, conservationist and expert in animal husbandry, particularly the raising and reintegrating of orphaned elephants into the wild for over 30 years....
and her orphaned elephants in both Nairobi
Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya. Established in 1946, the national park was Kenya's first. It is located approximately 7 kilometres south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, with only a fence separating the park's wildlife from the metropolis. Nairobi's skyscrapers...
and Tsavo National Park
Tsavo National Park
Tsavo National Park may refer to:* Tsavo East National Park, a national park in Kenya on the eastern side of the A109 road.* Tsavo West National Park, a national park in Kenya on the western side of the A109 road....
s and filmed their interactions with these elephants. This was a return visit to meet Sheldrick for both Hodges and Lenska. On return to Ibiza, Hodges drew, again filmed in time lapse for the "Wild at Art" DVD, Joy (2003) of young African elephants running towards a waterhole.
In 2004 and 2005 Hodges created three new drawings linked to charity. Little Foxes (2004) resulted from a visit to Wildlife Aid
Wildlife Aid
The Wildlife Aid Foundation is a charity dedicated to the rescue, care and rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned animals. Based in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK, the centre operates Surrey County's only wildlife hospital and maintains a referral service for wildlife hospitals throughout Europe...
, a British charity made famous on the TV show Wildlife SOS featuring Wildlife Aid founder Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell (presenter)
Simon Cowell is a British television presenter and author who hosts the Animal Planet documentary series Wildlife SOS. He co-founded the Wildlife Aid Foundation animal rescue and rehabilitation centre, the organisation whose activities are the subject of the television series. Simon lives in...
. Queen of Diamonds (2004), a green turtle, was his contribution to a set of transformation playing cards in aid of the Marine Stewardship Council
Marine Stewardship Council
The Marine Stewardship Council is an independent non-profit organization with an ecolabel and fishery certification programme. Fisheries that are assessed and meet the standard can use the MSC blue ecolabel. The MSC mission is to 'reward sustainable fishing practices’...
. Other artist contributors included Damian Hurst, Quentin Blake
Quentin Blake
Quentin Saxby Blake, CBE, FCSD, RDI, is an English cartoonist, illustrator and children's author, well-known for his collaborations with writer Roald Dahl.-Education:...
, and Dame Elizabeth Blackadder
Elizabeth Blackadder
Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, DBE, RA, RSA is a Scottish painter and printmaker. She is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy....
. The Born Free Foundation contacted Hodges in the autumn of 2004 asking him to draw Elsa the lioness
Elsa the lioness
Elsa the lioness was raised by game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy Adamson in Kenya. Elsa and her two sisters, 'Big One' and 'Lustica', first came under the care of the Adamsons when only a few weeks old. They had become orphaned when George was reluctantly forced to kill their mother...
to celebrate their 21st anniversary as a charity. The Spirit of Elsa (2005) was the result, drawn from old grainy photographs of Elsa, a lioness which had died when Hodges was a child. He states that he listened to Matt Monroe's version of the theme tune of "Born Free" playing in the background on repeat, sometimes changing it to Kiki Dee's acoustic version. He believes the drawing has "a touch of innocent, child-like quality to it." This was Hodges' first drawing he reproduced on canvas as well as paper.
One of Hodges' personal favourites is his drawing of a family of meerkats Family (2005) which he states represents a new group of friends from many nationalities he and his partner made in Ibiza to add to his old friends in the UK and elsewhere. Angel Eyes (2005) was dedicated to his stepmother Ann who died in October of that year.
Still very popular Hodges has managed to maintain a loyal following over the years. Soulmates (2007), a drawing of snow leopards sold for ₤16,500 at the Society of Wildlife Artists' annual show in 2007 also winning the 2007 Visitors' Award out of over 400 exhibits. The limited edition print sold out completely. In recent years he has concentrated on a series of wild cat portraits starting with a tiger, Majesty (2009), followed by a cheetah, Grace (2009) and then in 2010 he released a limited edition print of an unfinished part of his next cat portrait which he called Fire (2010) - a jaguar. The finished drawing is expected to be completed in early 2011.
His contribution to art was recognised in September 2010 by Nature in Art
Nature in Art
Nature in Art is a museum and art gallery at Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, Gloucester, England, dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature in all forms, styles and media...
, the world's first museum dedicated to art inspired by nature. Two of their five galleries were used for a five week major retrospective show of his art called "Drawn to the Soul" with forty-five Hodges' originals on display. His book of the same title was published to coincide with this show.
Travel for References
Since early success Hodges has travelled extensively for inspiration and references. He has visited East AfricaEast Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
on many occasions with notable elephant drawings, big cats other African wildlife gaining inspiration from the wild. Particularly relating to actual moments were Nile Crocodile (2000) after an experience in Samburu National Park, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and Joy (2003) from Daphne Sheldrick's elephant orphanage in Tsavo National Park
Tsavo National Park
Tsavo National Park may refer to:* Tsavo East National Park, a national park in Kenya on the eastern side of the A109 road.* Tsavo West National Park, a national park in Kenya on the western side of the A109 road....
, and Baby Love (2008) from a moment in the rain in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a conservation area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The conservation area is administered by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, an arm of the Tanzanian government, and its boundaries...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
.
He created a number of drawings including Owl Butterfly (1994), Green Iguana (1993) , Sunlight and Shadows (1994) and Young Caiman (1993) after two visits to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
in 1992/93. An evocative piece Iberian Wolves - hope for the future (1994) was inspired by a 7 day trip to the Iberian Wolf Recovery Centre in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Plea for the Rainforest (1999)came after travelling in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and inspiration for the wild Asian animal drawings was boosted in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
in 1995. Most recently Hodges has photographed and observed green turtles on the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and states that he really wants to draw these soon.
Conservation Groups and People
From the beginning of his career Hodges has generously donated well over half a million pounds to a range of different conservation groups and other charities. Amongst these are the two he has supported the most, the Born Free FoundationBorn Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation is a conservation and animal rescue organization in the United Kingdom. It originated in 1984 as the "Zoo Check Campaign" by actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers along with their son Will Travers and four associates....
, founded by Virginia McKenna
Virginia McKenna
Virginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
and Bill Travers
Bill Travers
William Lindon-Travers was an English actor, screenwriter, director and an animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.-Life and career:...
and The Environmental Investigation Agency
Environmental Investigation Agency
The Environmental Investigation Agency is an NGO founded in 1984 by Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton, three environmental activists in the United Kingdom. Its stated goal is to investigate and expose crimes against wildlife and the environment...
co-founded by his civil partner Dave Currey
Dave Currey (environmentalist)
Dave Currey is an environmentalist, writer and photographer. A minister's son, he was born in Sussex in the UK and brought up in London. He gained a BA in Photographic Arts in 1976 following a passion in communicating visually...
.
His art has touched many people including a celebrity and influential following. In the introduction to the latest book on Hodges, Simon Trapnell, Director of the prestigious Nature in Art
Nature in Art
Nature in Art is a museum and art gallery at Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, Gloucester, England, dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature in all forms, styles and media...
museum in Gloucester which held a retrospective of his art in 2010 wrote: "Picasso said that Drawing is a kind of hypnotism: one looks in such a way at the model, that he comes and takes a seat on the paper. Gary is an artist whose subjects take a seat on the paper. They are alive. Right in front of us. His drawings are his way of speaking, and his way of empowering the subject to speak for itself. A few strokes of Gary's pencil invariably hold much more than mere form and line, they can hold immensity. They can't help but draw us to the soul."
Dame Daphne Sheldrick DME
Daphne Sheldrick
Dame Daphne Sheldrick, DBE is a Kenyan author, conservationist and expert in animal husbandry, particularly the raising and reintegrating of orphaned elephants into the wild for over 30 years....
has said of Hodges "Gary Hodges' depth of feeling for animals manifests itself in the perfection of his art and his generosity and support for the cause of wildlife conservation. His drawing of two of our orphaned elephants, Ndume and Malaika, hangs in my house, and is one of my most treasured possessions. To me it is the work of a Master, not only accurate in every detail, buit subtly portraying the character of the animals with deep sensitivity."
Jenny Seagrove
Jenny Seagrove
Jennifer Ann Seagrove is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and rose to fame playing the lead in a TV dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance and the 1983 film Local Hero...
, actress and trustee of Born Free Foundation stated “There’s something that goes straight to some very deep part of your soul, straight from the pictures … If ever art was poetry, this is poetry.”
Societies & Prizes
Accepted as a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists in 1990, Hodges has served three times on the council. One of the responsibilities of council members is to chose work for the annual exhibition. Since 2008 he has also been a judge for the Wildlife Artist of the Year competition organised by the David ShepherdDavid Shepherd
David Shepherd may refer to:* David H. Shepard , American inventor* David Shepard, Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives* David Shepard , American film preservationist...
Wildlife Foundation.
Hodges has been a regular artist in residence
Artist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....
at the Nature in Art museum in Gloucester since 1991.
Some of his major awards:
- Highly commended Wildlife Magazine Illustrator of the Year, Natural History MuseumNatural History MuseumThe Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, London, 1983. - Best Foreign Exhibit at the second International Festival of Animal Art, France 1993.
- Highly commended BBC World Magazine Wildlife Artist of the Year, 1991.
- Fine Art Trade GuildFine Art Trade GuildThe Fine Art Trade Guild is an organisation representing the fine art and framing industry. Based in London, the Guild operates primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also in a smaller capacity in New Zealand....
’s Best Selling Published Artist Award, 1997, only awarded to an artist once in their lifetime. Other awardees include Beryl CookBeryl CookBeryl Cook, OBE was an English artist best known for comical paintings of people she encountered in her home city. She had no formal training and did not take up painting until middle age.- Early life :...
, David ShepherdDavid ShepherdDavid Shepherd may refer to:* David H. Shepard , American inventor* David Shepard, Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives* David Shepard , American film preservationist...
, Mackenzie ThorpeMackenzie ThorpeMackenzie Thorpe is a British artist. Born as the first of seven children into the post-war industrial town, Thorpe initially took on work in the shipyards, such were his familial origins...
and Jack VettrianoJack VettrianoJack Vettriano OBE born Jack Hoggan , is a Scottish painter.- Early life :Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He left school at 16 and later became an apprentice mining engineer. Vettriano did not take up painting as a hobby until the 1970s, when a girlfriend...
. - John Solomon Trophy (twice) - "Best Selling Images by a Living Artist." Only other artists awarded twice are Jack Vettriano and David Shepherd.
- WWF Artist of the Year (1989 and 1990).
- Visitors Choice Award 2007, Society of Wildlife ArtistsSociety of Wildlife ArtistsThe Society of Wildlife Artists is a British organisation for artists who paint or draw wildlife, founded in 1964. Its founder President was Sir Peter Scott, the current President of the society is British artist Andrew Stock....
.
Exhibitions, Auctions & Collections
Hodges has exhibited his art at countless charity shows and auctions including:- Natural History MuseumNatural History MuseumThe Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, London, UK in aid of Living Earth 1990 - Natural History Museum, Caracas, Venezuela in aid of Living Earth 1992
- Barbican CentreBarbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
, London, UK in aid of Friends of the Earth 1990 - BonhamsBonhamsBonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. It has 700 employees....
Auctions, London, UK in aid of Rhino Rock 1992 - Sotheby'sSotheby'sSotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
Auctions, London, UK in aid of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 1991
His solo shows including:
- Robin des Bois Gallery, Paris, France in aid of Robin des Bois 1989
- Medici Gallery, London, UK 1991
- Mall Galleries, London, UK Gary Hodges Wildlife Drawings 1994
- PachaPachaPacha is a nightclub franchise with headquarters in Ibiza, Spain. The first Pacha club was opened in Sitges outside Barcelona in 1967. The Ibiza club, located in Ibiza Town, is the best known venue today. During 2009 Pacha acquired El Divino, near the marina of Ibiza la Nueva, which will be...
, Ibiza, Spain - the first ever artist to exhibit in this world renowned nightclub 2004 - Nature in ArtNature in ArtNature in Art is a museum and art gallery at Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, Gloucester, England, dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature in all forms, styles and media...
Museum, Gloucester, UK major retrospective Drawn to the Soul 2010
He has exhibited most years since 1989 at the Society of Wildlife Artists' Annual Show at the Mall Galleries, London, UK. His art is held in the British Council collection
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
and the Nature in Art permanent collection.
London Elephant Parade
Approached by friend Rula Lenska, Hodges agreed to decorate a life size fibre-glass baby elephant for the London Elephant Parade 2010. For him, this was a huge step outside his chosen art medium. He was very pleased with the ideas that came to him and after removing the living room door of his Brixton home to get the elephant in he lived with the elephant painstakingly realising his ideas. Since the parade was based in London he chose to add a splash of blue by painting the River ThamesRiver Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
across the elephant with each side adorned in ripped parts of his own prints. The shape of the river twisting through London is also famous because of the opening credits of the British soap opera Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, which Hodges felt appropriate since his friend Lenska had appeared in this show and another collector Pam St Clement has starred in it for many years. He admits that working in collage and media such as PVA glue were outside his experience. One side of the elephant is a complicated collage of his prints while the other, is humorously and more simply designed around meerkats taken from his drawing Family (2005).
The resulting elephant named Tattoo - Born to be Wild (2010) was displayed in a "herd" in London's Green Park
Green Park
-External links:*...
facing Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
in the warm summer of 2010. It was later auctioned for £12,500 in aid of the Born Free Foundation. Along with 259 other elephants, mainly in aid of the charity Elephant Family
Elephant Family
Elephant Family exists to save the endangered Asian elephant from extinction in the wild, along with tigers, orang-utans and all the other animals who share their habitat...
, £4 million was raised for Asian elephant conservation and it was London's biggest ever outdoor art event.
Books, Films & Website
Hodges work has appeared in a number of different publications including books by Virginia McKenna, Sir Timothy Ackroyd, Lissa Ruben and Peter Wood (Greenpeace).He has produced two books on his art, Gary Hodges Wildlife Drawings 1994 and Drawn to the Soul 2010, each in limited editions.
Three film documentaries have been about Hodges: "Drawn to Wildlife" broadcast on Animal Planet Channel, "Wild Vision", broadcast on the National Geographic Channel and "Wild at Art" sold as a charity DVD.. "Drawn to Wildlife" and "Wild at Art" were produced by David Felber and presented by Rula Lenska. An out-take from "Wild at Art" was shown on "Alright on the Night's All Star Special."
After years of shunning the web Hodges launched an official website with almost 70 pages of information about his life, art and inspirations. It also provides updated information on his latest art.
External links
- Gary Hodges' Official Website
- Hodges's partner Dave Currey's website
- Wild Press, imprint owned by Hodges & Currey
- Environmental Investigation Agency (UK) website
- Environmental Investigation Agency (USA) website
- Born Free Foundation website
- The Society of Wildlife Artists website
- Nature in Art museum in Gloucester, UK
- The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation website