INTERVIEW
Artwork by Gordon Dalton, Life is Hard that’s why no one survives. Exhibiting at The Auxiliary
MIDDLESBROUGH ART TRAIL CLAIRE DUPREE TALKS TO THREE GALLERIES IN MIDDLESBROUGH WHO HAVE JOINED FORCES TO PRESENT A TRIO OF SUPERB EXHIBITIONS Ordinarily, this month would have seen Middlesbrough Art Weekender bring art lovers from across the region to the town to visit a multitude of galleries, museums and unusual creative spaces. While we may not be doing ‘ordinary’ this year, MAW’s organisers couldn’t let the month pass without opening their doors and showcasing the array of arty goodness on offer, so the loosely themed Middlesbrough Art Trail has been revealed. The art trail will take place from Friday 18th September until mid-October at The Auxiliary, Platform A and Pineapple Black. “There is a very correlative and cohesive creative scene in Middlesbrough and it is really exciting to not only have three credible, independent art spaces in such close proximity, but also to harmonise on initiatives such as this. Pineapple Black has been re-opened for a while now and we can’t wait to celebrate our friends The Auxiliary and Platform A joining us on Friday 18th with a
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superlative programme of exhibitions.” Says Pineapple Black’s Bobby Benjamin. Pineapple Black’s contribution will see the work of sixty contemporary artists go on display in their Hillstreet Shopping Centre gallery. The artists have made new works in response to a postcard version of Diego Velázquez’s masterpiece Las Meninas. Titled Enough Is Definitely Enough, the Spanish painter’s work has famously been reinterpreted by the likes of Picasso, Richard Hamilton and Goya and the exhibition has been curated by Andrew Bracey as part of his PhD research at the University of Lincoln. “He is exploring how contemporary artists have used and appropriated existing paintings by other artists, through a position of using the metaphor of the parasite and symbiosis in connection with painting.” Artists taking part include gallery directors Bobby and Stephen Irving, as well as fellow locals Gordon Dalton, Raymond
