This quarterly publication aims to act as a critical forum for contemporary artistic debate with the activities at Gallery north serving as a catalyst for such discussions with an emphasis on emerging as well as more established artists.
PEEL ISSUE 3 AVAILABLE FROM 5TH APRIL FROM:
Gallery North Reception, Vane, BALTIC, Blackwell’s
As always folks you can have a peek below at the artists and items featured in this issue which includes a number of artists from the latest innovative arts and cultural hub Baltic 39, reviews of graduate exhibitions as well as write ups on recent and forthcoming exhibitions at Gallery North by a variety of artists and writers, enjoy!
Cast from Nature detail, Christine Borland, 2011. Comissioned by Glasgow Sculpture Studios. Image courtesy of the artist and Camden Arts Centre. Photo Andy Keat.
We speak to the new Baltic Professor and 2007 Turner Prize nominee, artist Christine Borland who will be resident at BALTIC 39. As such she will be presenting a series of events for the public and students from the venue later this year.
Christine Borland’s work elegantly, quietly confronts you with some uncomfortable truths. Her work is often inspired by the uneasy provenances of medical objects that have been sanitised of their histories. Like the grain of grit that irritates an oyster into producing a pearl, Borland’s work starts at the points where history snags…
BALTIC 39, Interior View, 2012. Image courtesy of Barry Nicholson.
31-39 High Bridge Street, Newcastle-upon –Tyne, NE1 1EW
Co-Editor Anna Jesson introduces the latest exciting art venture soon to be opening at High Bridge, BALTIC 39.
High Bridge is a narrow cobbled street flanked by tall buildings that neatly links two areas illustrative of Newcastle’s variety and life – the neon and bustle of the Big Market and the grand, golden sweep of Grey Street. It is where you will find the towns coolest independent clothing shops alongside a comedy club, a tattoo parlour and a couple of pubs. It’s a short but diverting street with a definite character of its own; turning off from the busy centre of town on to High Bridge, it feels like you’ve stumbled onto something a little different. The new High Bridge complex at number 39 is, from the outside, unassuming. While the building is tall, it seems too small to contain everything you have been told it will…
Helen Baker Studio Baltic 39, High Bridge, 2012. Image courtesy of the artist.
Peel Editor Louise Winter interviews Professor Helen Baker on the impact of the opening of Baltic 39
How do you think BALTIC 39 at High Bridge will impact on current and prospective MA and PHD students?
I think its going to impact in lots of different ways. First of all, it will make the course closer to a professional practice, if I can put it that way, and as such will help the students to understand themselves against the context of contemporary art not only in the area but also internationally especially with it being so close to what is happening with the Baltic…
The New El Dorado, HD Video Projection 2010 (21mins49). David Campbell. Image courtesy of the artist.
David Campbell
‘We smear the surface of serial minimalism with the curry sauce - laced with flecks of pie crust - of today’s Britain’. This was the provocative announcement by the collaborative artists’ group Common Culture in 1999 who today consist of David Campbell, Mark Durden and Ian Brown.
Common Culture exploits a variety of media to explore the construction of cultural identity through rituals of commodity consumption within popular culture. They seek to unsettle habitual conditions of cultural reception by staging strategic collisions between elitist assumptions attached to Art and its institutions, and the perceived commonplace and vulgar aspects of popular culture. Their current work addresses issues of alienation and exploitation of workers as the logical, but culturally invisible consequence of commodity consumption.
Grandma’s Chair detail, Siobhan Verrall, BALTIC level 2, 2012
BALTIC, Level 2, 9/2/12 - 28/3/12
Recent graduate from MA Fine Art and Education at Northumbria University, Siobhan Verrall was the 2011 winner of the Artist Teacher Award chosen by BALTIC Director Godfrey Worsdale. This culminated in the unique showcasing of the artist’s work in February, on Level 2 of the BALTIC and Peel couldn’t resist going along to find out more!
Paul Shriek, Image courtesy of Customs House Gallery, South Shields
Claudia Liefland, current MA student at Northumbria University, profile’s North East designer Paul Shriek and his recent showing ‘Leopard’ at the Customs House Gallery, South Shields.
Paul was one of the ‘enfant terrible’ in the 80s. His flamboyant and daring work earned him his wild reputation. The Punk Rock era was there to shock people. His work looked different and was pushed to extremes through his theatrical use of clothing design. His style adapted ordinary objects for a customised aesthetic effect. Tartan, PVC, leather, pins, buttons, metal studs and spikes still feature in his work today. He came back from London to Newcastle and opened his fashion shop on Dean Street as Newcastle was and is a fantastic place with a great support base and network. The exhibition ‘Leopard’ represents his artistic journey…
The Who of the I, Robert Casselton Clark. Gallery North 2012. Image courtesy of Barry Nicholson.
Robert Casselton Clark: A Silence that Never Was
Gallery North
3 Feb 2012-23 Feb 2012
Second Year Fine Art Undergraduate Zara Worth discusses Clark’s recent showing at Gallery North…
Casselton- Clark has been celebrated for his, ‘…unique brand of sensual, evocative and complex imagery,’ which in this exhibition also included sculptural and text works not previously seen. The works were grouped under the title A Silence That Never Was, a beautifully mysterious and ambiguous title, for a beautiful, mysterious and certainly ambiguous series of works…
Lisa Milroy, Mourning Geisha. Gallery North 2012.
Lisa Milroy: Ivory Lamp Vine Bone
Gallery North
Northumbria Graduate Fellow Kimberly Gaiger reviews London-based artist Lisa Milroy’s solo exhibition: Ivory Lamp Mars Vine Bone 6th March 2012-4th April 2012 and the integral use of the colour black.
An empty chair, a cup of coffee, cigarette ends, matches, sweet wrappers, a pen, a piece of paper… What to draw, what to paint? Started and re-started, the background worked over and over again. Does this show a mental block or just the constant process of creating and thinking? This painting entitled ‘Waste’ (2003) gives us an insight into the routine and constant re-working that artist Lisa Milroy goes through in order to create her paintings…
Helen Baker, Orange on Orange, 2012. Image courtesy of the artist.
Helen Baker: Colour as Material
Helen Baker solo exhibition ‘Colour as Material’ showing her most recent and past works taking place next month at Gallery North from 23 April 2012-10 May 2012. Helen will also be giving a lecture around the subject of Colour as Material Presence on Thursday 26th April @ 5pm Gallery North.
‘’The work has always been interested in visual forms that engage with production as it impacts on our perception of the world. Architectural block paintings are reminiscent of both Guston and Klee. Some appear to teeter on the edge of perspective, as if they are about to fall at any minute. Some offer the possibility of patched works, in both instances they are part of an ongoing interest in our relationship to the handmade and the industrial.’’ Helen Baker.
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