Peacock's have a new space on Union Street and its a veritable delight for the senses!
The Peacock Print Room is a new print focused temporary space located at 252 Union Street and is part of the Outer Spaces initiative which looks to utilize empty shop units and filling them with artists. The initiative is open to any charities and you can find out more details about the scheme here.
Even before The Print Room had opened a rustic easel adorned with a beautifully framed print appeared in the window with a simple QR code next to it. It did make me chuckle a little, the idea of the old charity shop frequented by pensioners now hosting an artwork with a hefty £3500 price tag in its window. A bold statement as news outlets began to flag the cost of living crisis and the fear mongering took centre stage across the UK. Indeed these difficult moments are usually when we see people divided, rallying against the things they see as superfluous as apposed to rallying against the politicians and councils who fritter away our tax money (e-bike schemes launching in November, in Scotland?). But how do we understand and measure cultural & artistic value? Is any artwork worth more than the cost of materials and time to produce it? How do you ascribe value to a persons history, the skills they've built up or even the nuanced and personal histories that often inform an artwork?
It recently made me wonder about the Tories and cutting back on funding for arts education in schools, if there's no real value in art, why do doctors, bankers and those apparently in valued jobs fill their homes with paintings and artworks? Matt Hancock, man of the moment often appeared on TV from his home office, complete with a Damian Hirst in the background. I've certainly never heard of someone returning home, pouring a glass of wine and staring at a framed up Excel spreadsheet or relaxing with a copy of Maratime Law. So there has to be some value in art but why is it often the preserve of the rich? Or is that just part of the myth, another facet to the class divide that's become ever more transparent in recent months with the rail strikes and now nursing strikes? I'm sure a hundred people would give you a hundred different answers which adds to the complexity when trying to distil things down into specific pigeon holes.
But perhaps a better question is who gets to decide what that value is and where that value lies? Perhaps Peacock Print Curator David McCracken has some answers. A staple of the Peacock print workshop for over 25 years, David's wealth of knowledge and experience, both in the curatorial sense and the print production sense is quite impressive. Having joined the organization when its doors were open to artists like Ralph Steadman, David has become one of the few constants through ever shifting face of Peacock Print Studio, Peacock Visual Arts and its latest incarnation Peacock & The Worm. Another constant has been the quality production of beautiful prints, artworks in their own right which can command hefty sums. Peacocks has always pushed the possibilities of print and has expanded their scope with the addition of a digital Riso Printer helmed by Neil Corral, while working with artists like Tom Hammick see's the perfect merging of digital tools with analogue applications as laser cut wood blocks are inked up, blurring the lines between old and new.
The Print Room see's Peacocks continue to celebrate the power of print and their extensive collection featuring work from notable names like Barbra Rae, Steadman and personal favourite Adam Bridgland. But a quick look through the print racks also reveals a wealth of uncovered works, some dating back to the 1980's while work from Peacocks Master Printmaker Struan Hamilton and even Frances Walker (who continues to work on new editions in the print studio) brings the print rooms offering bang up to date. Although that's sometimes the interesting thing with art and music, something old gets new life when seen by fresh eyes and ears. I had it a few years ago when I discovered the work of Ian Howard for the first time with its incredible depth of layers and imagery. Sometimes the art just takes you and holds you for a moment like a new love or an old friend.
With a Peacock members show coming up and the current 'Printmaking Sans Frontiers' exhibition (which is excellent and ill be doing a post about it too) the Print Room provides space to appreciate artist's old and new, in a new old space that's seen many uses over the years and although it will soon return to being another empty shop unit on Union Street, perhaps the print room gives us a glimpse to a new way of being, a new way to create spaces for people and those people need some art!
Check out a few of my favourites from the Peacock archive below.
