Greetings people’s republicans. Phig Billy hereby apologises for the delay writing this up, but I had an extremely eventful weekend including the rip-roaring success of my first all-day comic book workshop. (You know, for kids.) More on that later, but first…
On Friday I was invited to attend the launch night of the first xNorthcult exhibition “The Unknown” in the newly revamped lobby and bar of the Northcott Theatre. Due no doubt to the incomprehensible presence of a small letter “x” in the event’s title, I was expecting some kind of snobbish, super contemporary display of inaccessible installations. Instead, I was confronted with an intriguing range of often surprisingly edgy and genuinely compelling works by a variety of local artists. (My attorney now informs me that the x stands for Exeter and is a Northcott-wide branding thing… apologies Northcult.)
The theme for this event, “The Unknown” didn’t really ring true to be honest, but that’s not important. But yeah, some of the works were surprisingly edgy! I found Rob Portus of Blue Tungsten Photography‘s pictures to be bleak but witty and thought-provoking, especially his images of old tyres and electrical appliances falling out of the sky. Rob deserves extra kudos for co-organising the event.
Lawson E. Rudge’s paintings present a series of surreal and spine-tingling images, painted with an incredible vibrancy and energy which belie his 72 years. He displays a healthy obsession with stiletto heels and spooky cyclops-hares, and also spooky cylcops-hares wearing stiletto heels…
I had great fun chatting about mythology and the uses of roadkill with Shane Hahn, one third of the Dartmoor-based artists’ collective Darcane Arts, whose twisted sculptures were terrifying but exquisitely detailed and beautifully made.
Less visceral but equally intriguing were the massive abstract paintings of Lee Godfrey, and the dream-like compositions of Adam Bunce. Musical accompaniment was provided by guitar-maker and musician Andy Manson and his three-piece band. Andy played for us his mermaid guitar [see pic], the craftsmanship of which is simply breath-taking.
The event was organised jointly by Laura Robinson, another third of Darcane Arts and wearer on the night of a most spectacular dress, and Rob Portus, mentioned above, whose photos were included in the exhibition. Rob was also responsible for designing how the artworks were displayed and this was massively successful, particularly upstairs. I did feel that downstairs became a bit of a dead area and I’m sure the artworks down there were consequently neglected, but this is a very minor quibble. I bumped into my former Latin master (wot, me posh?) who really put his finger on it when he said that the installation of the artworks looked so good that it seemed crazy the Northcott had never done anything like this before.
And why hasn’t the Northcott done anything like this before? From chatting to various people, I got the impression that a criticism levelled at the theatre and a reason given for why funding was almost cut [until it won its reprieve earlier in the year] is that traditionally activities at the Northcott have not appealed to people of sufficiently diverse ages. It was specifically to redress this criticism, Laura told me, that the Northcult was conceived. This is reflected in the choice of artists and peripheral Northcult events: in addition to the hob-nobbing launch night on Friday (there were city officials with impressive sparkly medallions), the following day the theatre was hosting children’s workshops during the day and some new-fangled young people’s music (including Laura’s own band) in the evening.
Certainly there’s nothing like staring into the jaws of oblivion for giving you a new perspective on life. Funding crisis well and truly behind it, armed with a new chief executive, refurbished interior, and a gang of exciting new collaborators dubbed the Northcult, the Northcott is clearly aspiring to new heights. Certainly I found the launch party last Friday to be a success and I would whole-heartedly encourage people to drop in and support this free exhibition which is on until the August 29.
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Come and enjoy Devon – book a hotel and get away!
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