Northumbria graduate launches new exhibition at BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art

Northumbria graduate, Graeme Durant has launched his latest exhibition at BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art, entitled ‘When in Roam’.

Graeme makes sculptures, paintings, drawings and installations and is known as an eclectic gatherer of redundant domestic and industrial objects.

He has previously worked with Anthony Gormley and Joe Hillier. ‘When in Roam’ has been made in response to the Level 2 gallery space at BALTIC and is an exploration of colour and materials that is direct, playful and often humorous. Graeme’s ‘organisations of objects’ appropriate everyday materials with a collage mentality, from rugs to louver blinds and candles to tennis balls.

Through a process of recycling, improvisation and low-tech construction, his objects become invested with new meaning and imagination. The title of the exhibition ‘When in Roam’, refers to the various references in his work to Roman architecture and to his practice of appropriating and ‘pillaging’ while roaming the cultural landscape for material.

Graeme was a valued member of Graduate Studio Northumbria (GSN) between 2008 and 2010. Launched in 2006 and located in purpose built studios at Northumbria University in the heart of Newcastle, GSN offers graduate artists a professional studio resource to help develop their practice and activate professional contacts across the arts, business and community networks.

Professor Keith McIntyre, Head of Arts at Northumbria University said: “Graeme is one of the most significant artists to emerge in the North East. There is a wonderful unpredictability in his practice where ideas and the stuff of production are constantly tested through an intellectual larking process”.

The exhibition will run until 22nd February 2015 and admission is free.

For more information visit www.balticmill.com.

To find out more about Graduate Studio Northumbria visit https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/academic-departments/arts/galleries/