Here & Now Fine Art 2nd Year Exhibition

February 2010: students from across the Fine Art Subject Area at the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts mounted a display of their work, offering an exciting glimpse of young artists' progress as they reach the mid-point of their degrees. 

For the first time, 2nd Year students from the independent disciplines - Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking and Critical Fine Art Practice - exhibited their work together. Principle Research Fellow in Contemporary Visual Arts Barry Barker curated the show in collaboration with the students, drawing on the juxtaposition of ideologies and practices.  

Image: Hollie Brown, untitled tryptic, gloss on canvass (detail from central panel)

Image: Rosie Gamm, 'Sisters'

Building upon the vast traditions within art history, BA(Hons) Fine Art: Painting within the University of Brighton continues to explore one of the most expressive and direct means of communicating visual ideas, whilst BA(Hons) Fine Art: Sculpture seeks to push the creative boundaries of a highly diverse medium within contemporary art. In turn, BA(Hons) Fine Art: Printmaking utilises both traditional and state–of-the-art techniques, stimulating inquiry that stretches far beyond this single discipline.  

Meanwhile, BA(Hons) Critical Fine Art Practice engages with the thought-provoking relationship between art theory and art practice, reflecting on current ideas and discussion within the art arena. 

Image: Katie Greenland, 'Please don't ignore me' (detail) oil on canvass

Image, Emma Carpenter, Untitled oil on canvass (detail)

All these elements made for an unprecedented and electrifying show that filled not only the University of Brighton Gallery, but the lower floor of the Grand Parade site, allowing visitors to the site to walk through the displays, immersed in the artistic worlds of our second year students. 

Image: Samuel Regan, untitled oil on board.

Image: (from left) Emily Morey, 'Woman in Brothel' oil on canvass; Rosie Gamm, 'Lady in Article' oil on canvass; Robbie Fife, 'Snow' oil on canvass 180x150cm.

Image: Giovanna Recchia, 'Diary' acrylic on canvass (detail).

Image: James Graham, 'Far Off Tremors (Touchings and Feelings)' (detail). 

The show was curated to make visually exciting use of the space at Grand Parade. Works were arranged to surprise viewers as they rounded corners in the gallery and around the site, further enhanced by changing light through the large windows. Many of the artists used the properties of their work to make best use of this, with glass panels, gloss paint, innovative fabrics and mosaic transparencies on glass that looked out into the works in the quadrangle.

Image: (foreground) James Graham, 'Far Off Tremors (Touchings and Feelings); (background) work by Laura White, Jennifer Sinclair, Noe Baba, Rachael Waldon, Sam Gimson, Grace Ballantyne, Katie Greenland, Vicki Pattemore, Jack Naylor. 

Among the viewing pleasures for visitors to the exhibition was the range of style, dimension and focus, with cabinet displays and floor-mounted sculptures next to works which made use of the gallery stairway or climbed high on the gallery wall. Media was wide-ranging and included video installation and complex cabinet pieces giving a sense of texture alongside the visual impact.

Image: (left) Penelope Kenny, 'GMK' screen print, variable edition of 10, set of four; (right) Stephanie Thorpe, 'Transition II' linocut installation

Image: (left) Katie Greenland, '"Your values mean nothing to me" pt 1'; (right) Vicki Pattemore, untitled, thread on glass.

Included here is a small sample of the works in an exhibition which offered an exciting foretaste of the summer's graduate shows.

 Image: (foreground) Erica Yim Ha Tsui , '520 =)' mixed media; (background) Rebecca King, 'I guess I'll send mama a post card from somewhere' photographic etching, laser cut with screen print.