The NeoArtists are their own collective who have their own studio spaces that people pay to use and have facilities such as screen printing (with a machine taken from MMU mind!) and plastering. The group also hold group exhibitions and put on workshops around schools.
On the Monday we not only visited the studios but had a look around the exhibitions the group had in Bolton at the moment. The work was mainly painting and the work that interested me most was by one artist who used only black gloss paint. With the work in the gallery it was a curved canvas, curved around a corner, covered in black gloss paint with the paint then dripping down the wall and hitting the floor and skirting board. I not only liked the fact that the gloss paint looked like it had it's own elasticity but also that the piece was done in the gallery space which I think changes the relationship between the gallery and work as usually the gallery is merely a space for the work but here it is part of the work. Obviously, this is easier done as the space that the piece was exhibited is owned by the NeoArtists. In fact the whole gallery space was used in such a way with the exhibition title being 'Source' and the artists were looking at the ways that work occupies it's space.
When visiting the studios I later saw more work by the same artist, again working with black gloss paint where he had experimented with how the paint can manipulated...dripped, stretched etc. One piece I liked was a big map that worked like a jigsaw, which was sheets of MDF stuck together, the edges sanded into a curve and then covered in black gloss paint which gave it a very smooth and finished look. At first, I thought it was all made from plastic so I was impressed by the sleek, professional finish that the paint gave it and I would like to work with gloss at some point in my projects.
As usual, I forgot to take a camera but some photos were taken to prove I was there, and despite my face I had a good time...
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