Art by celebrities is often risible. But there is nothing unintentionally funny about the technically excellent paintings of Jim Moir, AKA Vic Reeves. Nor is he playing it for laughs. There are no jokes here, just precise, intense portrayals of birds.
Moir, a keen birdwatcher, has clearly spent a lot of time looking at nature, even longer finessing his style. His studies of wrens, finches, water birds, a red kite, a nightingale and more are finely observed, lovingly detailed works of ornithology. The studied objectivity of these avian portraits – nicely capturing the crinkly skin and claws of feet that grasp branches, the softness and structure of feathers and bright hues against the sky – brings back to life the Victorian tradition of meticulous animal art.
