Artists: Robert Proch
Location: The Outsiders - Newcastle
Dates: Friday 24th of February 2012 to Saturday 14th of April 2012
From Europe's own tiger economy of Poland comes an urban artist unlike any other. Robert Proch's abstract, colourful figurative work has already gained considerable traction in central Europe. Now The Outsiders brings the 25 year-old to Newcastle for his first ever UK solo exhibition. Proch's style is inspired by state-of-the-art animation as much as classic caricature, and impressionism as much as modernist graffiti.
But rather than being 'gritty' or downbeat Robertʼs work is dynamic, arresting and often strangely encouraging: he presents an augmented emotional reality that remains pleasing to identify with. Proch's huge outdoor frescos stop traffic wherever they appear, but are equally suited to a gallery interior. The paintings are made with acrylics on canvas and range from 30cm by 30cm square to 100cm by 100cm. Also a successful animator, Proch's grasp of movement and the distinct manner in which he employs it is central to the beguiling nature of his work, and The Outsiders Newcastle is thrilled to be screening a selection of these film works as part of this exhibition.
Artists: Alaric Hammond
Location: The Outsiders - Newcastle
Dates: Friday 20th of January 2012 to Saturday 18th of February 2012
Upon arriving in London during the summer of 2000, Alaric Hammond quickly established a reputation for innovative image making and art direction. He soon found both like minds and a home for his talents within the highly influential Insect Collective, marking the start of a collaboration with founder Paul Insect that was to continue long after the studio closed in the final months of 2007. The most notable results of this are celebrated in the pairʼs abundant packaging and poster designs created for innovative hip-hop producer DJ Shadow.
Alaric's ʻWonderlandʼ exhibition (his debut) represents the death throes of Pop Art. “The laws of our society are fluid,” says the Newcastle-based artist, “and I believe the anxiety we feel right now is because weʼre looking for new answers. Iʼm appropriating Pop Art, which expressed those feelings at the start of the consumer societyʼs life cycle, and re-inventing it for the end of that era.” Employing a carnival of urban pop-trash imagery and marginalised characters, ʻWonderlandʼ wilfully appropriates and subverts the motifs and tactics of late twentieth century pop, challenging political and corporate artifice.
Hammond employs a variety of acid bath techniques to corrode the metal plates bearing his work for this show. No less than 450 different plates combine together to make the pieces in the show. The process dramatises an effect of decades of wear from the natural passage of time and weather, and the hand of man in the form of pollution and neglect. These meticulously-crafted plates then bear long-established icons of our age: Prozac anti-depressant pills, fast food, designer brands, stilettos, and cartoon characters bastardised to appear ripped to the tits on human growth hormone.
Embrace end times in a rictus of ecstasy at Alaric Hammondʼs ʻWonderlandʼ exhibition, taking place at The Outsiders Newcastle.
Artists: Prefab77
Location: The Outsiders - Newcastle
Dates: Friday 20th of January 2012 to Saturday 18th of February 2012
Prefab77 is an art collective based in the North East of England who over time have developed a distinct, dark feeling to their work which is often satirical of British life and it’s fading institutions. Much of their imagery has a British slant, a satire on modern british living, celebrating and mourning the passing of our great institutions.
‘Lightning Strikes Twice’ is their second show at The Outsiders Newcastle gallery and finds them experimenting with and exploring the use of light in their work. They are pioneering a new technique employing oralite film, a substance used to coat road signs and police cars for example, using a ubiquitous urban material as a medium to reflect their fast, hard-edged, stripped down artwork. Oralite strongly reflects light, lending an arresting glow to the works in question. The ubiquitous but little-known element of the urban environment ideally suits Prefabʼs hard-edged, stripped-down art. The effect is both haunting and beautiful.
Active since 2007, Prefab77ʼs depictions of a contemporary protest movement can now be recognised as balefully prophetic, auguring the appearance of rioters in Greece and Oakland, California during 2011. The consistent theme in ʻLighting Strikes Twiceʼ is that of the masked protestor, his or her visage obscured by scarves, balaclavas, or a hastily-arranged disguise. “This has always been a visual signifier of ours, but over the past couple of years it has also been played out across the media in crucial, dramatic and in some cases ʻlife or deathʼ scenes,” they state. “Weʼve seen people stand up for their beliefs, take to the streets to let those in charge know they have a voice... But due to varying degrees of danger, they have to remain anonymous. Images of people all around the world covering their faces to make a point will be something we may see even more of. It is time to stop believing in authority and start believing in each other.”
Artists: Pete Hawkins
Location: The Outsiders - Newcastle
Dates: Saturday 3rd of December 2011 to Saturday 7th of January 2012
Pete Hawkins presents childhood dreams painted on genuine school desks. But viewers can forget flared jeans, Spangles boiled sweets or digitised 80s TV presenter Max Headroom. Artist Pete Hawkinsʼ notions of nostalgia come in the classical mould – harking back to the golden ages of exploration, space travel, and breaking convention. Mountain climbers scale towers of wooden bricks; Airfix models spar in imaginary dogfights; and one little princess dreams of riding her trike alongside Denis Hopper and Peter Fonda.
The art is poignant, affecting and certainly nostalgic, but more melancholic than sentimental. “Thinking back to childhood is very comforting, but also with hindsight quite frustrating,” says Hawkins. “You can end up sitting at a desk in an office dreaming of being a fighter pilot.” Hawkins is also keen to point out that the works donʼt just dwell on traditional childhood expectations. “I hope they resonate beyond that, to include a ʻDavid and Goliathʼ aspect of mounting the insurmountable. The boy dreaming of becoming an astronaut has set his sights high, and thatʼs inspiring.”
Artists: Borf
Location: The Outsiders - Newcastle
Dates: Friday 21st of October 2011 to Saturday 19th of November 2011
BORF is one of the brightest young talents in art. Heʼs an angry young man in the finest tradition but his refreshing work makes insurrection delectable. Formerly a notorious Washington DC graffiti artist, 24 year-old BORF gracefully dodges street art clichés in his gallery shows. He favours watercolours, oil sticks, drawings, sculpture, photography and film over stencils and spray- paint. The Outsiders Newcastle is honoured to host his first ever UK solo show, 'See Something, Say Something' this October. Whereas BORFʼs subject matter is pitiful and angry, his manner is melancholic and idealistic. Rebellion has a romance once more.
