I am a huge Vic Reeves fan, and was very excited to hear we would be getting to see his work at a gallery just a 10 minute walk from my house. It is only right to have his work here in Newcastle, as he grew up in the North East. The work even features important places in the region, such as Lindisfarne.
What shone in the exhibition for me was the comedic work. If you love the Vic Reeves from the telly, you will find him here in these paintings. One of my particular favourites was “Vic and Bob on a Moose,” which speaks for itself in it’s joyful absurdity, but also shows such excellent observational skills of the two of them. I also loved “The Wrong Chair”- you will have to see it for yourself to know why this chair is so wrong- and “Totally Topless Open Plan Office Environment 1987”.
A huge feature of this exhibition is also Jim’s gorgeous observational work of birds. At times I didn’t feel these two sharply contrasting groups of paintings worked together, but they did create a more quiet charm in the gallery with beautiful uses of colour and line. Though his observational work was stunning, I particularly enjoyed the more abstracted bird painting such as “Curlew.” It was definitely lovely to see this more earnest side of the artist.
I would absolutely recommend checking out this exhibition before it ends on 2nd April! It is free to enter, and it is fantastic to see the work of someone so important to the region’s culture. Whether you are a huge Vic Reeves fan, or just want to see some paintings that will make you laugh, it is definitely worth a visit.