Students' artwork displayed in city's new exhibition space
Monday 16 April 2018
ECLECTIC works by emerging artists from the University of Salford are being displayed in a new exhibition space in the city.
Students from the University’s BA Visual Arts programme working across painting, sculpture, film and sound, are having their work shown at the Reality: Tap To See More exhibition at Paradise Works on Thursday 19 April.
The studio, based on East Philip Street in Salford, opened last year and is a not for profit initiative which is currently home to 28 artists working across a range of disciplines.
Digital and physical worlds
The exhibition features new work by 12 second year students who were given a live brief in which they were asked to produce work to be shown at the exhibition, responding to the relationship between the digital and the physical world.
- *Liam Stevenson is inspired by the Vaporwave music and art movement, and debuts a sound piece influenced by this niche genre, alongside collage and sculpture.
- *Rebekah Beasley is interested in memories and the passing of time, and showcases an appropriated, analogue photography work cataloguing the past life of a stranger.
- *David Warrington presents a compelling installation of painting, sound and live performance. David’s interests lie in the spiritual and material world and how exactly that can be defined, taking inspiration from the renowned Belgian artist René Magritte.
- *Amy Brown focuses on the behavioural prompts of social media, and questions our online identities. Through painting, Brown asks how our online profiles intentionally and unintentionally limit our ‘real’ lives.
- *Mollie Balshaw’s sculptural series directly explore the dwindling need for physical objects in our current social climate. Inspired by Arman’s sculpture series of ‘Accumulations’, her work delves into the loss associated with redundant technology.
Will digital revolution affect our memory?
This is an exciting exhibition of new talent and the passion and creativity displayed by our students here is genuinely inspiring
Balshaw, who is one of the curators of the exhibition, said: “We’d really like visitors to ask how physical objects are becoming redundant. Or, if constantly looking at our phones will affect our memories in the long run. These are the type of ideas we’ve been thinking about in the lead up to Reality: Tap To See More.”
Brendan Fletcher, Visual Arts lead at the University of Salford, said: “This was an excellent example of a live brief in which we worked with a new studio space to provide our students with the opportunity to create new pieces to be shown for a specific event.
“This is an exciting exhibition of new talent and the passion and creativity displayed by our students here is genuinely inspiring.”