Many thanks to all who came to the preview of SNIPPET

I would like to thank everyone who came to the preview of SNIPPET at Newcastle University last night. There was a great turnout, a really good atmosphere, and people were very generous with their comments.

Here is a little insight into what was a brilliant evening.




A fragment. A glimpse. A squint to unveil the work of artists exploring painting, sculpture, textiles, sound and video. Geometric colourful shapes along with abstract moving images and experimental sculpture are brought together in SNIPPET. The works shown are manifested from the tensions between painting and sculpture, society and technology.

A central feature to this exhibit is the artwork emerged from the exploration of new approaches to the artists’ usual practices.

Whether they are textiles or paintings, Mirela Bistran’s works start guided by instinct and intuition. Then evolve into journeys of emotions and feelings expressed through lines and marks or cut-outs and stitches. Sometimes playful, sometimes shy or bold and other times solemn and melancholic, they take on a personality of their own.

Starting with collages, Jodie Dunnil creates 3D models that help her understand the depth and illusion she later represents in painterly images that inhabit a space between figuration and abstraction. Her methodology explores the representation of space on a two-dimensional surface introducing sculpture and exploring ideas of perspective, depth and angle.

In a burgeoning momentum of excessive technological consumerism and electronic mediation, Bartira Sena's work attempts to juxtapose the idea of nature, spirituality and technology. Her installations create situations in which we experience alternative cultural representations.

Helen Shaddock’s playful approach invites us to enjoy surfaces, textures, forms and colour. Process is a central aspect to her practice, whereby she strives to make art that embraces chance and the unpredictable. Objects made from coloured plaster are juxtaposed with other, more mundane materials such as cardboard. Her work investigates dynamics between the audience and the space.

Yein Son is concerned in finding the right balance between consciousness and unconsciousness. She depicts images from the theme of absorption in art. Her artwork narrates with a confident mark, a very fluid and dynamic story that seems to have endless possibilities. In her new paintings, the atmosphere becomes more enigmatic and calligraphic.

Liying Zhao is motivated by her life experience and emotions which become the main characters in her artwork. She is interested in using video and different kinds of materials to create an illusory sense. The contrast between the real and the fantasy becomes more dramatic and amusing in her current artworks.

Interested in the bond between art and reality, Tan Zou creates documentaries about household affairs and level of societies. Currently based in Newcastle, the artist creates narratives through film and photography in an attempt to grasp the significance of her own experience in between two different cultures.

Qingchan Li explores the complexity of human emotions with an emphasis on enigma and horror. The artist uses different shapes and patterns to explore the delicate mental activities of human beings. Using simple shapes she presents us a video in which the sound takes on the main role. The purpose is to embark us on a frightful experience.