AN exhibition series which offers a platform for North West artists is making its return to Warrington’s Pyramid Arts Centre with a unique collaboration.
Steve Sutton and Jack Dickinson have teamed up to transform the building’s Atrium into ‘Portals’ – a dynamic exploration of identity and nature incorporating sculpture, drawing, painting and, most notably, the limbs and trunks of trees.
The exhibition runs until 5 May and is free to view.
Steve’s work may be familiar to some visitors as he recently exhibited at Warrington Museum and helped create an immersive, multimedia piece called ‘Trap’ for last year’s Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival produced by Culture Warrington.
He said: “The connections I’ve made in relation to my practice have been fantastic. Culture Warrington has been amazing and has offered me so much support. It’s been exciting to come to Warrington and have these opportunities alongside other artists.”
Steve’s eye-catching work mainly revolves around using wood from felled trees and reclaimed materials to challenge viewers to think about the balance we have with the natural world and issues like sustainability.
He met Jack at New Art Spaces: Warrington – the studio space in the former M&S store in Sankey Street – around 18 months ago.
Culcheth artist Jack is known for his abstract and figurative art, often drawing upon themes of religion and faith to give his work a deeper meaning.
But Steve and Jack’s combined work also takes on a fantasy element. The central piece, ‘Passage’, is made from a door brought to life with graphic images and entwined in roots and branches.
It invites viewers to imagine stepping inside in a similar vein to the wardrobe in to C.S Lewis’s Narnia.
Jack said: “The opportunity to exhibit work at the Pyramid has been a brilliant catalyst for creating collaborative art.
“Steve and I have made pieces together that we could never have created alone. Working this way has opened up a thread of artwork about our shared interests such as identity, spiritualism and nature. We are both excited to show this work to the public.”
Steve added: “Collaborations like this are a fresh challenge and make you look at your work in a new way.”
Recent exhibitions in Pyramid’s Atrium have supported Warrington artists like Sarah Harris and Cameron Brown.
The space has also played host to ‘Cold War Steve’ – a nationally renowned artist known for his politically charged satirical collages.
Jack Dickinson, from Culcheth
