Following on from my visit to The Biscuit Factory last week I took the opportunity whilst at Newcastle to visit the Gallery of the North-East Art Collective in the Eldon Gardens shopping centre.
This is also a commercial gallery, but very welcoming and the staff let you wander around the gallery uninterrupted. It is a small space so every available wall is crammed with paintings and photographs. They have created several smaller rooms within rooms, some dedicated to one particular artist.
I have long been an admirer of Alan Reed after seeing his watercolours of local landmarks and streets in various publications over the years. He is described as “one of Britain’s leading watercolourists” and I can well believe it. His study of the river Thames and the London Eye is breathtaking.
The sky is beautifully washed with orange, the buildings standing starkly against the backdrop. None of the buildings have any detail but they are believably solid against the sky. They neatly divide sky from river and, just look at the river. The bright sky is reflected in the sparkling water. This is very cleverly done. He’s just left the white paper but it looks so real because of the pier and pontoon and the bridge behind. They and their shadow cut across the bare paper and complete the illusion. Alan Reed not only works locally but spends time in Italy and here, similar to The Thames painting is a masterful Venetian Canal scene, echoing the former with lovely sky and sparkling water.
I also found myself drawn to Kevin Day’s work. A fellow South Tynesider, born in South Shields. He is also working locally depicting local scenes but the two here appear to draw you into the scene. There’s a story going on here and you want to know more.
The woman stares forlornly out of the rain-streaked window. There’s a train approaching Newcastle Central station across the High Level Bridge. Or is she on the Gateshead side and the train’s leaving? Yes the train is leaving , see the rear lights. Perhaps it is taking a loved one away?
I know this pub. I think it’s The Centurion at Central Station, (or is it The Union Rooms?) was in there Saturday night. It was much busier than that though, can’t imagine it’s ever this quiet at five past nine. Could be a Monday night I suppose. What’s going on here? Do they know each other or not? Is he building up the courage to speak to her? She has a distant look on her face. Lovers tiff? Who knows, but the painting is trying to tell a story and it is very well done. The uplighting on the ornate pillars is particularly good.
As at The Biscuit Factory mining scenes appear here. This must be a local nostalgia thing. The hard toiling collier is unfortunately a man consigned to the history books now that all of the pits have gone. Coal mining and shipbuilding were major employers in the north. Now replaced by shopping malls and call centres so there is a collective nostalgia around here for the great industries of the past. I am part of this history. My grandfathers were miner and shipyard worker. My father started his working life in a shipyard and I was born and lived a stones throw from the river Tyne. The sights and sounds of shipbuilding were the backdrop to my early life so I love these depictions of hard grafting folk.
Tom Dack draws and paints scenes of industry and toil like “face workers”
You can almost choke on the coal dust here. The miners headlamps pierce the gloom as they bend uncomfortably to work the seam. Rendered in charcoal the gloom of the mine is well represented. He doesn’t have his own website but a peek at the gallery’s website shows Swan Hunter shipyard cranes and mining scenes. Fascinating to me I must investigate further.
Bonesymac Art 