Category Archives: News

Humble As Hell

(A discreet exhibition of some importance)

21 October – 18 November 2017, Kurt Schwitters Merzbarn, Elterwater.
Opening event from 6pm, Saturday 21 October.

Susan Collis, Neil Gall, Roland Hicks, Nicky Hirst, Paul Housley, Duncan Macaskill, Stephen Palmer, Cathie Pilkington, Joel Tomlin, Richard Woods.
Curated by Roland Hicks.

The artist Kurt Schwitters was once described by the writer and curator John Elderfield as ‘curious for being so self-effacing and so supremely self-confident at one and the same time’.  Humble As Hell brings together ten contemporary artists whose works address this same paradox in a number of different ways. The exhibition takes place at the site of Schwitters’ final creative project, in the English Lake District.

www.rolandhicks.co.uk
merzbarnlangdale.wordpress.com

 

Vicennial

Nothing to do, graphite on pencil, 29.7x21cm, 2017.

13 July – 19 August 2017, Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne

Opening hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12-5pm

Vicennial celebrates twenty years of Vane with an exhibition of work by gallery artists: EC Davies, Michael Davies, Kerstin Drechsel, Jorn Ebner, Mark Joshua Epstein, Nick Fox, Simon Le Ruez, Dodda Maggý, Jock Mooney, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Josué Pellot, Narbi Price, Morten Schelde, Matthew Smith, Alison Unsworth, Barbara Walker, Miranda Whall, Flora Whiteley.

vane.org.uk

Vane in Berlin: Second Glances

23 July – 3 September 2016. Michaela Helfrich Gallery, Herrfurthstrasse 29, 12049 Berlin, Germany.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 4-8pm, Saturday 2-8pm

Michael Davies, Nick Fox, Stephen Palmer, Narbi Price, Flora Whiteley

The five artists in ‘Second Glances’ each approach the figurative in art with a unique vision. What they share is a fascination with popular culture; with taking the plethora of imagery and narratives produced by the mass media – often starting with source material that is either printed or photographic – and through the processes of painting and drawing discovering a way of exploring deeply personal concerns, thus creating a sense of purpose and identity from the everyday and things that are often considered ephemeral or are easily ignored. Often it takes a second reading – or glance – to more fully begin to understand the artists’ intentions.

www.michaelahelfrich-galerie.com

Ten

Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 25 July – 5 September 2015

Preview: Friday 24 July, 5-8pm

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of Vane gallery, ‘Ten’ showcases the work of nineteen international artists represented by Vane. With artists from Germany, Denmark, Iceland, South Africa, the USA, as well as the UK, working across painting, drawing, sculpture and video, ‘Ten’ provides a snapshot of each individual artist’s practice.

EC Davies, Michael Davies, Kerstin Drechsel, Jorn Ebner, Mark Joshua Epstein, Nick Fox, Simon Le Ruez, Dodda Maggý, Jock Mooney, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Josué Pellot, Narbi Price, Morten Schelde, Matthew Smith, Alison Unsworth, Barbara Walker, Miranda Whall, Flora Whiteley.

vane.org.uk

 

 

Vane at Volta NY

5-8 March 2015, PIER 90, West 50th Street at 12th Avenue, New York, NY 10036, USA.

Vane presents a solo exhibition of new works by Stephen Palmer at the eighth edition of Volta NY.

Stephen Palmer’s most recent paintings feature second-hand copies of albums by iconic male singers. Palmer partially obscures the original cover artwork by placing the record’s inner sleeve over it so that little more than the face of the recording artist is visible. By highlighting the inner sleeves with their additions of personalised messages and texts, hand written by their one-time owners, Palmer creates a conversation between our idea of that artist and their work and the ‘unknown’ person who once eagerly scrawled or carefully printed their thoughts thereon. Are they a serious ‘collector’ cataloguing works, a love-struck teenager, or a football fan declaring support for their favourite team as they listen to the album?

Other new paintings expand on an earlier series of drawings transcribing newspapers clippings. The stories reflect on cultural, technological and scientific advances that have come to a definitive end: the closure of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World newspaper in The end of the World Pt 1; the last flight of the space shuttle in Shuttle’s last trip. Presented as if screwed up and discarded by the reader, the new works have a more sculptural feel than before. Does the artist wish to move on and be rid of those earlier, more careful depictions? Or does the discarding proclaim ‘this really is the end’?

www.voltashow.com
vane.org.uk
Catalogue

 

Art Auction

7-10pm, 12 September 2014 Old Shire Hall, Durham DH1 3HP.

Hosted by Vane and Breeze Creatives. Bid on contemporary artwork from a selection of internationally based and recognised artists. Artists include: Gemma Anderson, Johnny Bugler, Adam Burns, Alfons Bytautas, EC Davies, Michael Davies, Kerstin Drechsel, Elizabeth Eamer, Jorn Ebner, Nick Fox, Adam Hogarth, John Kippin, Simon Le Ruez, Keith McIntyre, Jock Mooney, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Morten Schelde, Matthew Smith, Tracey Tofield, Alison Unsworth, James Unsworth, Flora Whiteley.

Guest auctioneer: Ray Spencer MBE, Executive Director, The Customs House, South Shields

All proceeds go towards funding The Experimental Studio.

Art Fair: Old Shire Hall, Durham

Preview: Friday 29 August 5-9pm; Saturday: 30 August 12-6pm; Sunday: 31 August 12-5pm
Old Shire Hall, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP
Admission free

A contemporary art fair showcasing some of the most exciting galleries in the North East region, hosted by Vane and Breeze Creatives. The fair will include presentations by several Newcastle galleries, both long-established, including Vane and Globe Gallery, alongside more recent initiatives based in the city, including System Gallery, Praxis, and Breeze Creatives, as well as a significant presence from the burgeoning Middlesbrough arts scene, including Platform-A, Python Gallery and The House of Blah Blah.

Artists exhibiting with Vane include EC Davies, Kerstin Drechsel, Jock Mooney, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Narbi Price Matthew Smith and Flora Whiteley.

The fair is one of a series of events at Old Shire Hall in Durham over the summer that will raise funds towards the building and running of The Experimental Studio, a collaboration between Vane and Breeze Creatives to support a series of residencies for contemporary artists based at Vane’s gallery in central Newcastle. The residencies will allow artists in any field of practice to benefit from working in a concentrated time-period, at the end of which there will be opportunities to exhibit work in Vane gallery.

Between fact and fiction

Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 30 January – 1 March 2014
Preview: Wednesday 29 January, 5-7pm

‘Between fact and fiction’ juxtaposes artists who make work that documents real-life situations – Kerstin Drechsel, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, and Narbi Price – with those that construct their own imaginary or fantasy worlds – Nick Fox, Simon Le Ruez, Dodda Maggý, Jock Mooney, and Morten Schelde.

The theme explored within this grouping of artists expands on a duality that has existed throughout art history: whether an artist primarily explores the external, perceived world, or mines the internal, psychological world, both areas of aesthetic exploration that produce their own truths and reality.

vane.org.uk

Vane at London Art Fair 2014

Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH, 15-19 January 2014.

Vane is exhibiting in the Art Projects area the London Art Fair. Kerstin Drechsel, Nick Fox, Simon Le Ruez, Dodda Maggy, Jock Mooney, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Narbi Price, Morten Schelde.

www.londonartfair.co.uk
vane.org.uk

Vane at (e)merge art fair 2013

Vane_emerge43 – 6 October 2013, The Capitol Skyline Hotel, 10 “I” Street, SW, Washington DC 20024, USA.

Vane is proud to be participating in (e)merge art fair showing the work of EC DaviesKerstin Drechsel and Stephen Palmer.

The (e)merge art fair connects emerging-art professionals from around the globe with collectors, curators and cultural decision makers in Washington DC.

The GALLERY PLATFORM features participating galleries in hotel rooms on designated floors. The ARTIST PLATFORM features a vetted selection of works by unrepresented artists throughout the hotel’s public areas and grounds. (e)merge’s two exhibition platforms inspire a new echelon of art collectors and provide curatorial access to the latest movements in emerging art.

www.emergeartfair.com
vane.org.uk

Multiple Choice

Multiple Choice – Contemporary Prints & Editions from Private Collections in the North: Part 1 – The Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 21 September – 15 December 2013; Part 2 – The Queen’s Hall, Hexham, 19 October – 23 November 2013.

2 part exhibition curated by Contemporary Art Society North that draws together art works from private, domestic contexts, and demonstrates that collecting art is not just for the affluent few. Includes works includes works by a broad range of artists including Louise Bourgeois, Layla Curtis, Tracey Emin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Tery Frost, Becky Haugton, David Hockney, Stephen Palmer, Kelly Richardson, George Shaw and Richard Wright.

www.berwickvisualarts.co.uk
www.queenshall.co.uk

Vane at VOLTA9, Basel

VOLTA9 – Basel’s cutting-edge art fair for new and emerging art.
10 June – 15 June 2013, Dreispitzhalle, Basel, Switzerland.

Vane is presenting new works by Michael Mulvihill and Stephen Palmer:
Michael Mulvihill and Stephen Palmer both make highly finished, meticulously crafted drawings that share an obsession with the decay of contemporary culture and a sense of anxiety for the future.

voltashow.com/Vane.7938.0.html
voltashow.com
www.vane.org.uk

A Thousand Words

The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 26 April – 18 May

Group exhibition curated by MA Art Museum and Gallery students at Newcastle University.

A Thousand Words explores the powerful relationship between text and art by showcasing a range of historical, modern, and contemporary artists working in a range of disciplines from print to installation. Works respond to literature, poetry, the mass media and iconic images. Recent works by Stephen Palmer from The end has no end series feature alongside those of Ian Hamilton Finlay, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alaric Hammond and others.

www.facebook.com/1000wordsorg

Luminous Language: Vane at Launch F18

Launch F18 373 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York NY 10013, USA, 5-10 March.

‘Luminous Language’, curated by Vane, explores the great variety of contemporary drawing through the work of 24 artists from the UK, Europe and the USA. Whether using pencil, paint, collage, photography or video, these works give us an insight into each artist’s working method and their individual artistic visions.

Artists: Héctor Arce-Espasas / Adam Burns / EC Davies / Michael Davies / Kerstin Drechsel / Jorn Ebner / Mark Joshua Epstein / Nick Fox / Nadia Hebson / Jonpaul Kirvan / Simon Le Ruez / Dodda Maggy / Jane Millican / Jock Mooney / Michael Mulvihill / Stephen Palmer / Josué Pellot / Narbi Price / Morten Schelde / Matthew Smith / Alison Unsworth / Barbara Walker / Miranda Whall / Flora Whiteley

www.launchf18.com
www.vane.org.uk

The end has no end

Solo exhibition at Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 7 February – 23 March 2013.

Solo exhibition including a new series of drawings based on newspaper clippings.
The selected stories are not strictly speaking ‘news’, but rather they offer a historic perspective on a number of topics including ufology, Cold War relations, space exploration and collecting.

For more information see www.vane.org.uk

Pop-up Festive Fair

Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA, 6 December, 12-9pm.

One-day pop-up shop for art books, zines, prints, works on paper, paintings and small 3d works from independent galleries including Aid & Abet, Peckham Space, Vane, Studio 1.1, Contemporary Art Society, Iniva, Autograph ABP and more.

www.rivingtonplace.org

Day In, Day Out

Day In, Day Out, Aid&Abet, Cambridge.

Day In, Day Out, Aid&Abet, Cambridge.

Group exhibition at Aid&Abet Bibliotheque, Cambridge, 11 October – 10 November 2012, of artists represented by Vane. Each artist shares a concern with the construction of new and/or personal narratives using sources ranging from found objects or images, the everyday, the playful and the subconscious. Michael Davies, Kerstin Drechsel, Jorn Ebner, Nick Fox, Simon Le Ruez, Jock Mooney, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Matthew Smith, Alison Unsworth and Flora Whiteley.

aidandabet.co.uk

Collecting Contemporary Art

5 May – 2 September.

New group show at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne of works from the Business Collectors Network collection that has now been gifted to the Laing. Includes two of my paintings ‘Baby Baby Baby’ and ‘Ned Loves Grace’, alongside works by Dan Holdsworth, Jock Mooney, Laura Lancaster, Michael Mullvihill and others.

www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing/

The nails, the colours, the mast

Kotti-Shop, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany, 27 April – 11 May

My work Melly Loves Lyn Forever is included in this group show in Berlin curated by Flora Whiteley, Christopher Rollen and Tim Greaves.

Full list of artists: Kit Craig, Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson, Kirsten Drechsel, Stefan Endewardt, Tim Greaves, Annette Knol, Mick McIlroy, Stephen Palmer, Christopher Rollen, Phoebe Unwin, Flora Whiteley.

www.kotti-shop.net/

The Collection

Globe Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 15 October – 26 November 2011, Wed – Sat, 11.30am -5.00pm.

Group show of works from the Business Collectors Network.

Artists include: Darren Banks, Eric Bainbridge, Catherine Bertola, Jo Coupe, Jorn Ebner, Dan Holdsworth, Laura Lancaster, Jock Mooney, Paul Merrick, Michael Mulvihill, Stephen Palmer, Mike Pratt.
www.globegallery.org
www.sponsorsclub.org.uk

Outcasting: A Century of Artists Films

Oriel Mwldan, Cardigan, 21 May – 2 July, Monday – Sunday 10 am – 8pm . Curated by Michael Cousin.

Outcasting is screening a hundred films from its archive of three years of programming. The films come from a variety of genres and styles and reflect the full breadth of artists engagement with this medium. Over the course of 43 days audiences will be able to see a truly international range of work with the 100 films being rotated throughout that time.

Featured artists include Edward Adam, Louise Adkins, Beard & Ferguson, Beck & Calvo, Birkbeck & Duffy, Anne-Marie Creamer, Herve Constant, Kim Fielding, Dave Griffiths, Anton Hecht, Richard Higlett,  Lemeh 42, Rebecca Lennon, Stephen Palmer, Robert Pearre, Guilherme Pedreiro, Yannick Puig, Nicolas Ramel, Giulia Ricci, Jennie Savage, Selina Shah, James Snazell, Lisa Stansbie, Alysse Stepanian, Jacki Storey, Jennie Thwing, Katri Walker, Kim Walker, Christopher Webster, Tina Willgren and Dawn Woolley.

www.outcasting.org
www.mwldan.co.uk

Art store

Idea Generation Gallery, 11 Chance Street, Shoreditch, London E2 7JB, 7 – 9 October, 10am – 7pm.

An exiting new collaboration between contemporary art galleries, the Own Art scheme and CultureLabel.com. Vane will be showing work by Nick Fox, Jock Mooney, and Stephen Palmer.

Browse and buy the work of established and emerging contemporary artists represented by some of the UK’s leading galleries… and spread the cost with Own Art Online. Own Art Online is an Arts Council England initiative developed in partnership with Creative Scotland.
See www.artscouncil.org.uk/ownart/index.html or follow Own Art on twitter and Facebook.

Business Collectors Network Exhibition

Gallery North, Newcastle upon Tyne, 6-17 July 2010.

Group show celebrating the end of the second year of the Business Collectors Network.

The exhibition celebrates the end of the second year of the Business Collectors Network which was set up to encourage businesses to engage with contemporary art and artists, and consider the benefits of having work in the working environment and the vibrant dialogue that contemporary art can bring to the workplace. Secondly it supports contemporary artists living and working in the North East by purchasing their work. The members of the network display the works in their offices during the year with the collection coming together annually for public exhibition.

The artists that have been purchased to date are considered emerging, although many have received considerable critical acclaim nationally and internationally, demonstrating the vibrant contemporary art being produced by artists in the region today. Artists include: Laura Lancaster, Jock Mooney, Catherine Bertola, Cath Campbell, Mike Pratt, Michael Mulvihill, Simon Parish, Eric Bainbridge, Jennifer Douglas, Paul Merrick, Jorn Ebner, Anne Vibeke Mou, Darren Banks, Jo Coupe, Stephen Palmer, Alex Charrington and Ben Jeans Houghton.

www.sponsorsclub.org.uk

A room inside them

Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2 July – 1 August 2009.

Presented as part of the first Northern Print Biennale, ‘A room inside them’ is an exhibition bringing together a diversity of approaches to printmaking by artists from the UK, USA, Germany and Denmark, each of whom shares an interest in how humans make a physical and/or psychological imprint or projection on the spaces, objects and beings that surround them. Show includes Paul Becker, Claire Davies, Kerstin Drechsel, Jorn Ebner, Nadia Hebson, Andrew McDonald, Jock Mooney, Stephen Palmer, Josué Pellot, Morten Schelde and Alison Unsworth

www.vane.org.uk

Rotate

Group exhibition at Contemporary Art Society, London, 24 June – 25 September 2009.

Vane directors Paul Stone and Christopher Yeats have curated an exhibition of seventeen artists from the UK, Europe and USA whose work is concerned with the construction of new and/or personal narratives. Their sources range from found objects or images, the everyday, the playful and the subconscious — whether drawn from popular culture/mass media, souvenirs, everyday ephemera, art history, mythology, politics, the environment (both built and natural) or science.

Artists exhibiting in Rotate with Vane are Héctor Arce-Espasas, Paul Becker, Claire Davies,  Graham Dolphin, Kerstin Drechsel, Jorn Ebner, Nadia Hebson, Simon Le Ruez, Dodda Maggy, Jock Mooney, Stephen Palmer, Josué Pellot, Morten Schelde, Matthew Smith, Alison Unsworth, Barbara Walker and Flora Whiteley.
www.contemporaryart.org

The dead and alive songs exhibition

Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 4 – 13 December 2008.

To accompany the release of The Dead and Alive Songs an exhibition of related works at Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, includes a new series of paintings featuring images of charity shop purchased 7 inch singles. Each of the records’ sleeves, all of which are the paper variety rather than picture sleeves, have been customised in some way by their former owners – sometimes simply by the addition of the song title or band’s name in a youthful scrawl, or in one case an attempt to recreate an entire picture sleeve, by hand, using felt-tip pens.

Read Robert Clark’s Preview, The Guardian, The Guide at www.guardian.co.uk

The Dead and Alive Songs

The Dead and Alive Songs is a limited edition 7 inch vinyl single and accompanying screenprint making reference to all the songs in my record collection that include in their titles the words ‘dead’, ‘death’, ‘die’ and ‘dying’, ‘alive’, ‘life’, ‘live’ and ‘living’. The vinyl single features two compositions demonstrating that in popular song optimistic proclamation is equally countered by dire pessimism: the alive side is a celebration of all the songs about existence while the dead side includes an arrangement based on all the songs about expiration. The Dead and Alive Songs is packaged in a full-colour sleeve accompanied by a 7 inch square screenprint featuring an image of by Sharpen Temple’s 1973 single of the same name.

Vinyl records have an interesting quality in that they are a kind of defunct technology that refuses to go away. The advent of MP3s has seemingly made vinyl more popular – if you’ve downloaded a track to listen to on your iPod but also want an object to add to your collection, vinyl records are somehow much more interesting and tactile than CDs, the artwork more appealing and the record itself a warmer and more fulfilling listening experience.

Purchase a copy now at www.vane.org.uk

Vane at Next Chicago

Next Chicago.

Next Chicago.

Installation view of Vane’s stand at Next Chicago art fair, April 2008, including 2 new works that didn’t feature in the ‘Worthless little tokens’ show. The works on the left hand wall are by Chicago based artist Josué Pellot.

Worthless little tokens

Solo exhibition at Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 25 October – 17 November 2007 ‘Worthless little tokens’ is a series of paintings cataloguing a collection of free, found and received objects: matchboxes picked up in pubs or in the street; pens received through the post from charities and credit card companies as an incentive to sign up to a particular product or scheme; sugar, salt and sauce sachets collected as mementos of trips to, and along the way to, places far and wide.

www.vane.org.uk