EXHIBITION: Randolph Caldecott and Red Dot, Liverpool Academy of Arts

May 8 2008 by Philip Key, Liverpool Daily Post

TWO important exhibitions in a single gallery is quite a coup for the Liverpool Academy. And make no mistake, they are important.

Randolph Caldecott was the Chester-born Victorian book illustrator whose work still sums up childhood for many. His many picture books like The Frog He Would A’ Wooing Go and The Queen of Hearts are still reproduced today (only recently I purchased a biscuit tin with the wooing frog).

They are beautifully done, the animals created like real animals – they just happen to be but wearing clothes.

The exhibition shows a full range of Caldecott’s work, which had an influence on Beatrix Potter, ranges from childhood illustrations, to books, letters, reliefs, sculptures and even an amusing piece based on the characters at the "Royal Agricultural Show, Liverpool".

His large oils are, frankly, not very good, rather pasty images of people on horses, etc. But they do allow us to see the full range of his work.

The show is put together with the help of the Randolph Caldecott So- ciety and offers a rare opportunity to see the collection, some belong-ing to the society, many items owned privately.

Interestingly, students from the North Wales School of Art and Design at Wrexham have created their own images inspired by Caldecott. They are modern, fun and capture much of the Caldecott spirit.

In stark contrast, the Liverpool artists’ collective Red Dot offer some mostly challenging and intriguing works in its show Hearts and Minds.

Among the 72 works are the late Peter Oakley’s wall studies in oils are well realised while John O’Neill’s large oil Grand Old Duke of Regeneration shows Liverpool as a gaudy, sleazy city populated by wild people.

Alice Lenkiewicz’s Starlet con- struction features images of Hollywood’s female icons but Leon Jakeman’s – of plastic doors – is a real oddity.

Perhaps the most personal piece is Jon D Nash’s 4 Years at 20 a Day, a pyramid of cigarette stubs with a warning spelled out in fag ends across the floor. It is priced at £14,955, presumably to recoup the money he spent on cigarettes.

The shows continue until May 23.

philkey@dailypost.co.uk