The Meaning of Style - New Art exchange

Group show at Art Exchange Gallery / New Art Exchange. 2010
Date: 16 January, 2010 until 10 April, 2010
Curator: David Schischka Thomas
Organiser: New Art Exchange

The Meaning of Style: Black British Style, and the underlying political and social environment was a group exhibition of paintings and photography that sought to describe, comment on, and critique the image of the Black/African-Caribbean male in British society. Amongst the exhibitors, Vanley Burke was represented by a number of his vintage monochrome works produced in the 1970s and early 1980s, documenting the lives of Black Brummies and other people reflective of Birmingham’s changing demographics. Alongside these photographs were recent colour images documenting aspects of the manifestation and consequences of gang-culture in Birmingham. The two sets of images presented two differing manifestations of the Black British presence. Clement Cooper was represented by a selection of his striking, engaging portraits and other photographs of young people, youth culture in urban environments. Barbara Walker was represented by a number of larger canvases, paintings of young Black males, captured from the back, rather than as conventional portraits. The device was both striking and successful, allowing the viewer a particularly nuanced engagement with the individuals depicted, as well as the cultural points of reference with which these young men empathise, through dress, fashion, adornment, etc.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, there was a range of archival material - publishing, media, television that sought to contextualise the exhibition’s ideas.

»  The Meaning of Style: Black British Style, and the underlying political and social environment

Announcement relating to an exhibition, 2010