Cultr

Vane Gallery – Gateshead – Free

16th to 18th January 2025

This exhibition taking place in Vane is a collection of works created by MA students who are responding to to themes relating to culture and identity. The opening night of the exhibition on 15th January was very well attended with the gallery being quite busy. It was inspiring to see all of the different people interacting with this artwork, asking questions about the artwork, and enjoying the evening as a celebration of the artists involved. Sadly this exhibition is only on for three days, but it is worth calling by to see.

This piece of sculpture takes pride of place in the centre of the gallery and is one of the first things which the eye lands on as you enter the gallery. This sculpture interacts with ideas of feminine identity and beauty by placing the end product, the aspiration on a lower pedestal than the route to the aspiration, which is placed above. This demonstrates that the artist is wishing the viewer to ponder on the use of cosmetic procedures and enhancements in the battle to achieve that pinnacle of feminine beauty which is aspired to. The entire work critiques modern toxic standards of beauty and femininity while at the same time demonstrating how this behavior is celebrated by society.

This artwork was odd to look at at first. There are several panels with layered text in different colours, jumbled together and only partly legible. This layering of the text gives a good approximation of the confusion that a neurodiverse person may encounter in certain situations, it demonstrates that pushing too much information leads to an information overlay, or overload and confusion. Bailey has provided glasses with red and blue filters in them so that the text can be read, and understood one layer at a time.

The text, read through the filters now makes more sense, there are two different thought streams here, different ways of thinking of, or processing a situation. The interesting manner in which she has us all experience the sensory overload and resolve it in each panel brings forth a new understanding of the idea of neurodivergence.

So, this one took me by surprise. It is big, and loud and takes up a side wall of the gallery, but the way in which the subject matter of these paintings is something that just didn’t initially make sense to me. The palette she has used is very pink, which, while a feminine colour loses its femininity somewhat when it’s used on such a vast scale. The bunny’s head hanging there, dripping blood is an interesting way to visualise the performative mental health issues that crop up on social media, it is something that by its nature has been constructed to draw attention.

This artwork, done in the style of collage journal is about sex work, independence, and the reality behind becoming an online sex worker in the digital age. The concept of the work appears to be to present sex work as a job rather than a way to make money fast, or something which is done out of desperation. Through several panels Lenehan touches on different aspects of the industry, presenting the challenges that are faced by those in the industry and presenting this is an easy to digest manner. Her work is nice, understandable, and challenges the societal expectations of a worker in the sex industry, instead presenting those women as the multi talented business oriented women which they need to be to stay afloat in the world of online sex work.

This fashion based offering from Sam Barley invites us to take a look into men’s fashion and masculine culture. His work references the fashions and fads of the football hooliganism of past generations. His contribution to this exhibition harks back to the era when luxury fashion brands first began to tap into this ‘lad’ culture in order to sell clothing. His work demonstrates the complexities of a society where those who are seen as outside of mainstream society begin to set the fashion trends of the next generation.

Lydia has chosen an interesting typographic style to demonstrate conflict. She has used slogans with a background texture designed to mimic torn up and pieced together posters. The execution of this work is fantastic, the initial confusion caused by the jarring conflict of the opposition of black and white gives us a way to think of conflict overall, and how unsettling and fragmentary that conflict worldwide can become. This artwork is designed to encourage people to think and learn about those global conflicts that media just doesn’t bring to our attention.

Through a series of photographs and some accompanying text, Sarah Reed takes the viewer on a journey with the participants in her series as they discuss problems they have had with body issues. She uses her documentary photography to focus on the journey as these people have used physical exercise and the gym in order to directly address their issues with mental health and body issues.

Through the use of textile art, Aimee Hughes has addressed issues of sex, sexuality and their perceived limitations though clothing. This exhibit uses multiple different clothing materials, with each garment being styled as an individual item with its characteristics being, often at odds with the manner in which that material may be perceived by others. Each of her individual pieces relate to differing aspects of sexuality and sexual culture.

The exhibition as a whole was nicely put together, thought provoking and challenged multiple ideas of sex, sexuality, identity and engage with the ways in which modern society integrates new ideas and practices into its cultural make up.

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Artist Instagram links.

https://www.instagram.com/graphicsbylydia/

https://www.instagram.com/georgiabaileydesign/

https://www.instagram.com/flowerclowndesign/

https://www.instagram.com/elsshite/

https://www.instagram.com/sam.barley.creative/

https://www.instagram.com/madeby.aims/

https://www.instagram.com/sarahjane_reed/

https://www.instagram.com/ojls.arts_/

Vane

https://www.vane.org.uk/