Having had an original piece (Safe Harbour) selected for the Baltic Open X Fenwick exhibition, which is open now until September 1st 2024 I went along with some close friends, to the opening night preview party. Here are some reflections on the evening, the experience of featuring in a large multi-artist event, and some of my favourite pieces from fellow artists.
I'll admit to being slightly apprehensive about the scale of the exhibition, being one of over a hundred regional artists; including longtime comedy (now painting) idol of mine, Jim (painting-with-birds/big-night-out) Moir. This apprehension was quickly overcome as we entered the ground floor level with lots of welcoming faces and friendly staff.
The exhibition was extremely well attended and at times, it was one-in-one-out in the main exhibition room. It was so busy in fact, that I didn't even get a chance to see the entire exhibition. There were so many excellent and varied pieces, but as an abstract and modern painter, I was immediately drawn to the larger painted works. My three, absolute favourites were Ruth Bond, Pendulum of Tides, Holy Island Causeway 2023; Anthony Downie, Beacon Centre Fire Escape 2023 and Maria Motowylczyk, Forest Edge 2023.
Starting top left to clockwise and copyright of the artist: Maria Motowylczyk, Anthony Downie and Ruth Bond.
We ended the night with a walk across the Tyne for dinner at Victors restaurant to debrief on our favourite pieces and all decided that the exhibition was definitely worth a second trip. Who's in?