Launching Artcore Gallery’s opening show post lockdown, exhibiting the work of prominent artist and sculptor, John Newling. Newling is a pioneer of public art with a social purpose and his newest show ‘The Sharing Of Uncertainty’ explores his ever-expanding relationship with nature and the human species. Join us on Friday, 25th of September at 5:00 pm for the launch at Artcore Gallery, Albert Street.
Artcore has marked two significant milestones this year with its 10th year in operation in Derby, UK and 25 years since the birth of Artcore in India. The passion for art has turned this organisation into an artistic and creative movement, migrating from that city of Vadodara, India to Derby, UK. Since then, Artcore has established itself as a pivotal entity within art and culture bringing visual arts to diverse communities in Derby, East Midlands and beyond.
During lockdown John Newling and Artcore collaborated on a blog, exploring ideas of common values, uncertainty and a series of Dear Nature Letters. The show is entering a physical space with a variety of medium from Newling’s Soil Book sculptures that depict his everyday habitual walk in his garden. They resemble book-like stacks of panels of processed soil with the leaves, pressed and gilded, on the surfaces which are then stained with watercolour to Eliot’s Notebooks, which involved shredding several hundred copies of T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, combined with coffee grounds and other kitchen scraps to make a soil that can sustain vegetative growth – thus the opposite of waste. In a reverse process, Newling used the soil to make paper for his Eliot’s Note Books, 434 paper sheets reflecting the 434 lines in Eliot’s poem that, if placed in the earth, would grow and sustain life.
On display will also be Newling’s piece A Language From The Garden (Nymans language), an engraved marble piece which is also a downloadable and free font created by the artist. As well as ‘Dear Nature’, the letters and the film. With Newling’s recent publication having released this month, his book ‘Ecology Works’ which is the first comprehensive survey of John Newling’s Ecological Works, will be on-site to purchase.
Newling has collaborated with some of the world’s leading farmers, scientists, bakers and gardeners which has informed this extraordinary body of work. The book documents major artworks and exhibitions including recent shows at Turner Contemporary, Welcome Collection and Nottingham Contemporary and new work recently shown at the Ikon Gallery Birmingham, plus rarely seen work from the artist’s archive.
This is our first show post lockdown and we are passionate about continuing to keep contemporary art in Derby City Centre thriving. We are looking forward to celebrating this milestone with the opening of the ‘The Sharing Of Uncertainty’ so do book your tickets via Eventbrite.
“We are excited to open the gallery space, complying with COVID-19 Safety Guidelines, launching with John Newling’s show, a pioneer artist of public art and social and ecological practice. 25 years is a big milestone and we have come a long way from where we first started. Having an artist with such an expansive career and innovative ways of educating and commenting on the state of our world is not just an honour to mark this significant moment for us but also a necessity for our audiences right now.” Zahir Shaikh, Artistic Director, Artcore “With the “The Sharing Of Uncertainty” I wanted to share previous works that explore what we value, want and desire. I also wanted to share a few ‘Dear Nature’ letters that are, in some ways, influenced by listening to people about the possibility of common values and the necessity of forming a better relationship with the earth that we live on. I do believe that we can develop or, perhaps regain, ecologies of value that review our relationship to the environment we share. Such reviews can help in driving our social, economic and political realities; they can lead to renewed possibilities. Such possibilities will never be easy to fold into our daily lives but it is worth trying. In some ways it is a sharing of uncertainty but that, I believe, is what we need right now as we reflect on where we are.” John Newling, Artist