8th March 24

Private View 08/03/24 6-9pm
Exhibition 08/03/24 – 17/03/24, 12-6pm

Images to Develop is a retrospective exhibition, celebrating the artwork of Barry Cunningham. Working across collage, ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography and textiles, Barry’s practice was eclectic and expansive. From studying at St Martins in the early seventies until his death last year there are themes and motifs that repeat throughout his work; common or household materials; the abandoned/discarded; a fascination with texture; the use of the grid structure and its rupture; the memento mori. Barry used mediums and processes to both invoke their specific cultural associations and to contradict them utterly. Underpinning all of his work is a deeply felt sense of social justice and an irreverent sense of humour.

The exhibition’s title comes from one of the many files in Barry’s studio. An avid collector Barry gathered source material in much the same way as he collected records to DJ with. Found images from ‘alternative cultures’ such as early 70’s alternative theatre, dance, ‘encounter groups’ or 60’s communes. The images are digitally manipulated, drawn from and recycled, abstracted as much by the continual remixing of their context as the digital or physical processes they’ve undergone.

All the works in the exhibition are for sale with 100% of the proceeds being given to Barry’s chosen charity, Medecines Sans Frontieres.