Fine Art All Levels Exhibition

NIFE RAT

Fine Art Show at The Ruskin Gallery

Private View 29 April 6:30-8:30pm

Exhibition opens 30 April and runs until 3 June

This lively show celebrates the work of 12 Fine Artists who meet every Tuesday in the art studio 901 at Working Men’s College. They have come together to share and develop their work and ideas, and this show is the fruit of their hard work and playful experiments over the last two terms.

The artists in the show come from a variety of backgrounds: some have completed diplomas and degrees and have several years of experience behind them, others have just started out. Quite a number of them work in new media – video, photography, and performance – yet others prefer traditional forms of painting and drawing. Many have joined the group because they need a space and focus for their work; others because they enjoy the support and feedback you get from a community.

But they all have one thing in common: an open and inquisitive mind. Throughout the months, ideas have been explored, embraced, tested, debated, materialised, reworked, questioned, critiqued, and then explored again. Fine Art is a funny business today, because it appears that everything goes, and yet it doesn’t. With the freedom to work in any media and materials you like – whether paint, film, rubbish, chocolate, or stuffed animals – comes the need for rigour, questioning, and self-imposed limits and frameworks. And these artists, whether just starting out, or continuing a long-standing practice, seem to have understood this balance well: they have embraced new ideas, materials, and working practices with open minds, yet never without rigorous testing and critical examination, which bespeaks a serious commitment to the discipline of Fine Art, here edgily retitled as Nife Rat.