NEW ART WEST MIDLANDS 2015
New Art West Midlands returns this February to showcase the most talented and exciting emerging artists in the region. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Wolverhampton Art Gallery are this year joined for the first time by The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry, who together will present the four exhibitions that make up New Art West Midlands.
So what can you see? Expect a heady mix of painting, sculpture, photography, installation, performance and video work. What’s more, plenty of the work is on sale, making this a great place for collectors to pick up affordable original art.
New Art West Midlands is the idea of Turning Point West Midlands, the network which supports visual artists. Recent graduates from the region’s five art schools were invited to be part of New Art West Midlands: Birmingham City University, University of Worcester, Coventry University, University of Wolverhampton and Staffordshire University. The best thirty of these were selected by a panel of respected artists and academics, each nominee noted for the creativity and quality of their work.
If you’re interested in seeing what’s new and what’s hot in the world of contemporary art, New Art West Midlands is a great place to start.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery once again devotes one of its major gallery spaces to New Art West Midlands.
Audiences will not fail to spot a 6 foot sock monkey puppet created by Vicky Roden, plus large-scale animal hybrid sculptures by Jade Simpson and human-like sculptures by Lisa Marie Williams that are both humorous and unsettling.
We advise you to look out for work by Michael Carr, whose street map of Coventry references the city’s Ska heritage. There is installation by Adam Grüning and Reece Kennedy, light-boxes by James Turner, prints by Yasmin Rennie and vivid paintings by Jennifer Shufflebotham and Emily Sparkes.
There will be video and performance art too, with new work by Emma Starkey and Sarah Thorley, the latter made in response to time spent working with the museum’s cleaning staff.
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
As well as devoting its Lady Barber Gallery solely to New Art West Midlands, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts will be shaking up its collection galleries, placing new works alongside those of historical importance to create interesting juxtapositions: Sevven Kucuk’s photographic still lifes echo Dutch painting from the 16th and 17th century, and Lucy Dore presents The Idol Project, a display of 36 calico dolls created in the likeness of 21st-century idols.
Kathleen Fabre presents sculptures inspired by, and created from, inflatable bouyancy aids. Her work is joined by striking photographic prints by Alexandra Darby and Megan Sheridan, sculpture by Jodie Wingham and a performance and installation by Dan Auluk –The Lives of Others – which references the 2006 film of the same name.
There is further sculpture by Glenys Shirley, who playfully questions art collection with classical and kitsch ceramic figurines; and a DIY natural history exhibit made from found materials by Jade Simpson.
The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum joins New Art West Midlands for the first time in 2015.
Its exhibition includes a series of photo collage works by Joanna Fursman, the theme continuing with a 3D collage installation by Andrea Hannon. Amanda Pearce’s installation is inspired by time spent as artist-in-residence at Birmingham’s Pen Museum.
Visitors can expect to see new video work by Jakub Ceglarz and Josh Hazell plus Jade Blackstock’s performance work and paintings by Emily Sparkes inspired by Queer culture. Stark still-life photography by Sevven Kucuk contrasts with Megan Sheridan’s photographs of the British at leisure in Birmingham and at English seaside resorts.
Distorted screen prints by Jodie Wingham, intricate drawling-based sculpture by Carole Sherman and intriguing human-like sculpture by Lisa Marie Williams make up the presentation.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Wolverhampton Art Gallery bring together five New Art West Midlands artists for their 2015 exhibition, each working in a different medium.
Shijie Hai presents a graphic novel from his series Catsmountain, with each page enlarged to show the full complexity of his work. Also on display will be beautiful collages by Andrea Hannon and still life photographs by Sevven Kucuk which echo the classic Dutch painting tradition.
Alongside the prints and collages will be a video installation by Camilla Searle looking at environmental concerns of the future. The exhibition revolves around a central sculpture by Jessica Holt, an intricate work made of solid rock and fine steel.
What to look out for at New Art West Midlands
With thirty artists on show, this is the largest New Art West Midlands to date. Here we highlight some of the bright young things to be part of the 2015 exhibition.
Lucy Dore
Lucy Dore, from Birmingham City University, carried out a straw-poll social media survey where she asked friends and family to tell her about their personal idol. A few months later she emerged with 35 handmade dolls, each referencing one of the idols from the list. They are a diverse group, including Charles Darwin, Margot Fonteyn – and Bill and Ted. Dore made the dolls herself using calico before embellishing with embroidery to make each one unique.
Glenys Shirley
Staffordshire University graduate Glenys Shirley has an on-going fascination with ceramics, particularly discarded figurines of wildlife, gentlemen and ladies that she picks up from charity shops around Stoke-on-Trent. She reinvents her findings to give them new life, such as the painted ceramic lady seeming to slope off a cheap table on which she has been placed. You can find Glenys’ work at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.
Shijie Hai
Star illustrator and Birmingham City University graduate Shijie Hai makes graphic novels and artist’s books, including Catsmountain, which is on display at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. It is full of evocative stories with beautifully depicted feelings of anxiety and loneliness.
Jade Simpson
Another Staffordshire University graduate, Jade Simpson makes curious sculptures from cardboard, wood, fabric and fur. Her animalistic creations are akin to the specimens you might find in a natural history museum collection, but with a theatrical edge.
Michael Carr
Coventry University graduate Michael Carr takes inspiration from the changing ways in which people listen to music, from the old days of record players to today’s virtual playlists. A Message to you Rudy is an inked silhouette of Lynval Golding from Ska band The Specials transposed onto a street map of Coventry. It neatly referencing the musical heritage of the Ska revival associated with the city and the wider West Midlands.
Sevven Kucuk
Sevven Kucuk takes inspiration from 17th-century still life paintings to create exquisite contemporary portraits. The Birmingham City University graduate uses c-type photography to capture feeting moments in time, such as the two floating bubbles in Brevity of Life.
Reece Kennedy
Reece Kennedy came up with a novel installation for New Art West Midlands: a replica of a stand for the world-famous Frieze Art Fair, complete with backroom full of piled up artworks. The Coventry University graduate has recently opened his own print works in Birmingham and he’s made a pamphlet to accompany his artwork. Definitely a young talent to watch.
Jade Blackstock
University of Worcester graduate Jade Blackstock is part of the new generation of performance artists. Her video In, In, In sees her dress totally in white whilst being bombarded with white liquid foam, part of her ongoing interest into racial politics.
Alexandra Darby
Did you know that chryosophia means a fear of the colour orange? Alexandra Darby, a University of Wolverhampton graduate, devotes a series of photographs to the subject and in so doing has blurred the lines between fine art and fashion photography. Possibly the most surreal of all the New Art West Midlands 2015 entries.
