Art students sock it to us with degree show exuberance
Burgeoning talent on Tyneside
As another academic year draws to a close, the fine art degree shows are blossoming around us – a parting gift that students on creative courses bestow on the public at large.
A popular attraction on Level 1 at Baltic is the Northumbria University show where much of the work on display is easily a match for that of established artists on other floors.
Displayed without elaborate explanation or contextual blather, the work nevertheless packs a visual punch – and it’s incredibly varied.
One room is devoted to video with works by Kay Douglas (Between States), Alexandra Giacopazzi (Combatant) and Maddie Quinn (The Child & The Copy) running on a loop
In the main room there are some ambitious and eye-catching sculptures.
It’s my guess Lily Capper’s Cloth Mother (wood, sock monkeys, cloth, ladder, papier-mâché) is already an Instagram hit. Who doesn’t love a sock monkey?
Francesca Monaco, also working on a grand scale, offers a rival attraction in her monumental Where We Gather, made of polystyrene, wall filler and emulsion paint but looking as solid as Stonehenge.
Avery Thompson, with Terminally Online, has recreated a sort of Gen Z home entertainment hell with a hectic assemblage of Trump-esque iconography and discarded drink cans around a computer monitor that looks as if it’s never off.
A pair of discarded socks adds a touch of authenticity (no doubt Lily Capper could put them to good use).
In other works breadth of imagination is matched by deployment of sometimes unlikely materials. Out of Hand by Lucie Simpson boasts as its constituent ingredients mineral casting compound, steel brackets, braided cord and archival pigment prints.
Stan Gorse, meanwhile, deployed wood, eggshells, resin, soil, ink, shoes and spam mail in the creation of his floor-mounted A Warm Welcome.
In an adjoining room Poppy Marsden’s Face Not Recognised – Glitched Selfies (acrylic paint, wood) struck me as art very much of the here and now.
There is a lot more good stuff but the show runs only until Sunday, May 31 when Baltic closes at 6pm. Try to get along.
Newcastle University’s degree show is regarded as an annual campus highlight and this year’s, according to Dr Giles Bailey, lecturer in the school of arts and cultures, is up there with the best.
“It has been so inspiring to see this thoughtful and innovative body of work come together,” he says.
“The building is full of mind-bending energy and beautifully crafted artworks, making it a real joy to explore.”
And he adds: “This year’s cohort has come up with some truly ingenious ways to reimagine our department as an exhibition space and has worked collectively to ensure their degree show is an unmissable event.”
Exhibitors include Kathryn Lunt whose ingenuity led her to the university Dental School where she sourced waste products to incorporate into mixed media pieces exploring narratives around teeth.
Resembling a monster from a child’s nightmare come to life, her Toothbox has long arms and hidden teeth which are actually a 3D print of the artist’s own bite.
“There’s something very unsettling about teeth outside the body and I wanted to play around with that idea,” she explains.
“One of the pieces is a bed which I’ve constructed partly out of metal denture plates and plaster casts of teeth.
“Beds and teeth are linked usually in our minds through fairytales, but I wanted to explore more uncanny aspects too.”
Sandy Kiralawella’s installation features large cut-outs of mounted polo players juxtaposed with paintings of football, men celebrating and the English flag.
“I’m exploring ideas about contemporary masculinity, gender, sexuality, race and class.” says Sandy.
“The paintings consist of stills from Abercrombie & Fitch advertising, pornography, war archives and football match streaming.”
Her work, she says, is a representation of how divided she perceives British society to have become.
Molly Sale used about 2000 metres of seatbelt webbing for textile sculptures that came to life when she performed with four others at the exhibition’s opening event.
She says she wanted the viewer to feel they were stumbling across some organic happening with no evident extravagance or spectacle.
Oliver Boniface’s large paintings depict dreamlike landscapes which could be physical or imagined.
“I was fortunate to go on an exchange to Bologna for five months during my degree,” he says.
“It really opened my eyes and the art and the architecture I saw there, these giant frescoes, have influenced my painting.”
Eleanor Jones’ work features flags and wooden radiators.
Says the artist: “I’m interested in the aesthetic presentation of objects which communicate status within systems of power and of more forgotten items which convey a subtler message - the grease stain of a head against a wall, a radiator which no longer works.”
This one runs until June 5 (Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm) at the Hatton Gallery, King Edward VII Building and Boiler House, all on the Newcastle University Haymarket campus.
Then from July 10 to 14 it can be seen at the Candid Arts Trust, London.