The Hudsons, Family Ties: Claridge’s Art Space, Mayfair, London

In all their work, they are united in their deep understanding and fascination of nature and natural
forms. Their artistic practices all began to evolve at a similar time, though in remarkably different
directions, incorporating a variety of mediums and processes. Yet, crucially, all connect strongly with
the intricate and complex materiality of their mediums, involving physical processes that work earthen
materials with clay, plasticine, scagliola and wood.
From the elder Richard’s large-scale stainless-steel sculptures to Henry’s tactile mixed media works,
and Richard WM’s distinctive pieces made from natural foraged materials, the works are studied,
thoughtful reflections borne fundamentally from the artists’ formative time living on a farm. With the
elder Richard a farmer prior to his shift into design and art, alongside more formal art education at
school the boys would spend long periods of time with him, examining the intricacies of the nature by
which they were constantly surrounded.

The arresting forms of the elder Richard’s sculptures are at once both abstract and strangely familiar,
inspired by the micro and macro elements within nature and space. Drawing inspiration from sculptors
such as Henry Moore, Jean Arp and Constantin Brancusi, his refined yet organic work explores the
canon of Western sculpture and changing approaches to beauty. While he works in small scale in his
studio, first sculpting maquettes in plaster and clay, his monumental works are also cast in bronze,
sculpted in marble, or, as is most often, produced in monumental stainless steel. These polished,
smooth and sensuous forms then sit back within the landscapes that inspired them, using their
reflective surfaces to mirror the earth’s endless beauty.
Henry’s practice is renowned for his richly textured, fantastical jungle scenes, in which his ‘paintings’
are painstakingly sculpted with plasticine. For his newer works, however, presented in this exhibition,
he employs a distinctive new process, using scagliola, a fine plaster and glue used predominantly in
17th Century Italy. Working upside down on glass, he eliminates the prospect of predefining the final
result with his previous precision, leaving his subject matter alone to influence this in a game of
chance, or serendipity. Inspired by the reflections on the River Thames seen during his Covid walks,
and latterly other reflective landscapes, the works are quietly contemplative, becoming like silky
abstractions which embody the spirit of the water they reflect.

Richard WM combines various media in his work, often incorporating clay with wood or stone. While
more classically trained as a ceramicist, in recent years his work has become increasingly charged,
touching upon poignant themes such as nature’s own destructive power and the emergence of new
growth. Finding both inspiration and materials within nature, he often forages in the forest, finding
pieces of wood which he burns to expose their core structures. The results are haunting, beautiful
testimonies to the fragile beauty of our ecosystem.

Throughout the exhibition, the work of these three artists presents an ongoing, fluctuating meditation
on nature – in all its forms, in both its strength and vulnerability, as well as our own relationship with
it. Nature is painted as a physical space for solace and sanctuary but also as a mirror through which to
consider the various perspectives of our ‘human’ fields – of not only art, but also anthropology,
psychology and philosophy.