Art and Gardening; 2009 Chelsea set to be a Masterpiece
RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London SW3, 19-23 May
Drawing and digging, sculpture and secateurs, paintings and plants; designers at
the 2009 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, sponsored by Marshalls, are merging art and gardening
to create a masterpiece of a show. Designs at the world's most famous gardening
event will illustrate how the garden itself can be a form of art and ways to merge
nature and art in outside spaces.
One of the most provocative and mould-breaking gardens at Chelsea this year, Tony
Smith's creation for Quilted Velvet is likely to prove one of the main talking-points
of the show.
Tony describes himself as "somewhere between garden design and art", and this might
also describe the "Quilted Velvet Garden". This is a garden of contrasts: softness
is juxtaposed with hardness, sharp with smooth, and even the two halves of the garden
are inversions of each other: one half, densely planted and raised, while the other
is sunken and minimalist, negotiated via raised stepping-stones of slate and grass.
Luciano Giubbilei's creation for Laurent-Perrier, an Italianate garden for the 21st
century, is conceived as a geometric art form in itself, using strong lines to blur
the boundaries between nature, art and architecture. At the rear of the garden,
a monolithic stone wall is textured to resemble a hedge. On the wall, a 2 metre
sculpture in pre-rusted Corten steel by celebrated artist Nigel Hall explores the
relationship between geometry and landscape. Nigel's piece is called "Big Bite"
and is two counter-posed cones, which look like they have taken a ‘bite' out of
each other.
Sculpture is also a key feature in The Cancer Research UK Garden, designed by multiple
gold medal winner, Robert Myers. At the epicentre of the garden is a piece by Simon
Thomas, an artist known for his meditations on science and beauty, which appears
to have crashed into a reflecting pool. The shockwaves ripple out into the garden,
radiating across and from the water and spilling onto the paving and lawn.
In "The Foreign & Colonial Investment's Garden", designed by Thomas Hoblyn,
a stylised wave sculpture undulates through the garden. This wetland garden highlights
the bogs of North Carolina, one of the world's most threatened habitats, and the
artwork reflects the instability of the environment.
Swedish designer Ulf Nordfjell brings a blend of natural simplicity and Scandinavian
chic to Chelsea. Internationally acclaimed, Ulf's "Daily Telegraph Garden" includes
a minimalist garden building of glass and timber to showcase the work of Swedish
artists. Ulf says that seeing ‘nature and art as one' was one of the most important
things in his career.
RHS Chelsea Show Manager, Alex Baulkwill, says: "This is just one of the themes
emerging at Chelsea that will challenge and inspire visitors to think about the
different ways they can be creative in their own gardens.
"Chelsea is a world-class platform for the Royal Horticultural Society to engage
people with the diverse possibilities and opportunities that gardening offers. As
well as providing new ideas for gardeners, hopefully we'll also encourage artists,
who have never gardened, to be creative in their outside spaces as well."
Tickets now on sale:
www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows