What do the passers-by in Eastcastle Street, north of Oxford Street, think as they walk past and see that, through one window, they are being watched by a gentle naturalistic blue woman staring out at them, while in the next window, entirely-different bright, bold red heels and thighs blast out of the gallery.  Hopefully they will be intrigued enough to enter and investigate further…..

Two female artists, Tschabalala Self and Lisa Wright, from different continents and from different generations have taken over the spaces at 54 Eastcastle Street (Pilar Corrias) and 55 Eastcastle Street (Coates & Scarry) and it couldn’t be better if the two exhibitions had been planned together….

British artist Lisa Wright started her postgraduate course at the Royal College of Art in 1990, the same year as Tschabalal Self was born.  Her images, which have synergies with masks in the Venetian Carnival, but with a more environmental natural focus, link people and nature together and reinforce both the interdependency between the two and also the responsibilities we have to care for the natural world that is the basic support for our planet’s future and we destroy at our peril.

One of Lisa’s recent projects has been a collaboration with Tom Piper in the deepest depths of Thetford Forest in Suffolk, with six sculptures, guardians of the forest, reinforcing our responsibility to protect the forest for future generations and celebrating the centenary of the Forestry Commission.

New York artist Tschabalala Self’s work is bolder, more sassy, more of life in the city rather than out in the country, but she too is sensitive to the environment, in this case of the city and of black culture and the way that behaviours are shaped.  What you see is that black culture is fun, colourful energetic and we need to have more of it.  I never thought that artistically a pair of heels could have so many options…..