Gary Hodges (born 1954) is a British artist and publisher much admired internationally for his graphite pencil wildlife art."Drawn to the Soul" Wild Press, Introduction by Simon Trapnell, 2010, 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 110,000 limited edition prints from 130 editions.Wildscape Magazine Vol.10 No.2 "Black and white doesn't sell" interview with Gary Hodges, 2010 http://www.wildscapemag.co.uk His popularity has influenced and encouraged many other artists to develop intricate styles with pencil.Wildscape Magazine Vol.8 No.2 "Depths of Tone" by Angela French 2008 http://www.wildscapemag.co.uk/ Wildscape Magazine Vol.2 No.3 "Collector's Corner – Pencil" 2002 http://www.wildscapemag.co.uk/ Wildscape Magazine Vol.9 No.1 "Discovering the joy of coloured pencils" by Jonathan Newey 2009 http://www.wildscapemag.co.uk/ "Gary Hodges Wildlife Drawings" Introduction by Robert Gillmor, Pres SWLA 1984–1994, 1994, He has a close connection to various environmental and wildlife conservation groups for whom he provides considerable financial support."Through the eyes of Gary Hodges – A catalogue of his wildlife prints", Foreword by Tony Belcher, 2000"Wildlife is his life" by Gillian Thornton, My Weekly No 4365 9 August 1997
Early life and influences
Born in South London 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.Society of Wildlife Artists website http://www.swla.co.uk/SWLAmembers/hodgesg/HodgesG.htm
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 US 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.Wildlife Magazine, date, etc. 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."Drawn to the Soul" Wild Press, biography, 2010, 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."Gary Hodges Wildlife Drawings" "Exhibitions", 1994,
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.
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 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."Drawn to Wildlife", film documentary, 1998, http://www.theproductionzone.co.uk/, broadcast on Animal Planet TV ChannelGary Hodges "Wild at Art" with Rula Lenska documentary, 2003, http://www.theproductionzone.co.uk/ 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."Textures of the natural world" The Artist's and Illustrator's Magazine, Issue 57, June 1991"The Power of the pencil" the Artist's and Illustrator's Magazine Issue 68, May 1992
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 art market (the resale of art following its original acquisition from the artist).Nature in Art newsletter Sept 2010 www.nature-in-art.org.uk 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.Gary Hodges Wildlife Art, Snow leopard, http://www.garyhodges-wildlife-art.com/snow_leopard_27.html The investment potential of his prints has attracted additional collectors to his following.Gary Hodges Wildlife Art – official website, secondary market http://www.garyhodges-wildlife-art.com/secondary_sales_24.html
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 Free, 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.""Drawn to the Soul" Wild Press, George Adamson with Boy and Christian (1989), 2010, 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."The Life in My Years" by Virginia McKenna (Oberon books) p119, 2009, 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.""Gary Hodges Wildlife Drawings" "George Adamson with Boy and Christian", 1994,
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, Surrey. 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.Gary Hodges Wildlife Art – official website "Detailed Bio p2" http://www.garyhodges-wildlife-art.com/detailed_bio_2_25.html
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.WWF News – 2 articles "WWF Fine Art Award" and "Fine Art Award" 1989/1990 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.
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 ICA, near Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace.Mall Galleries website http://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/index.php?pid=89
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 24 November – 5 December 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.Cumbria Wildlife website, Peter Wilde http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.wilde3/ghprints.html "Drawn to the Soul" Wild Press, Lion (1990), 2010,
Wildlife drawings 1995–present
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, India, an orang-utan research project in Borneo and a tiger campaign.Gary Hodges Wildlife Art official website, page "Jaff" http://www.garyhodges-wildlife-art.com/jaff_36.html