Iconic

Sitting patiently

Today I visited The Sanctuary Artspace in Gateshead for the first time in ages (I keep meaning to go along, but keep getting side-tracked).

Anyhow, until Thursday, the Artist in residence is Gina Crowley, with her show "Iconic".

Gina at work and some of her paintings

Iconic is a collection of paintings and poetry that examines what makes us human. There are lots of Religious themes re-imagined using sometimes using Gina and her own family and friends as the Saints and heavenly beings. I was rather fond of the "Madonna and Child" painting, featuring the queen of pop "stealing all the African children".

She is also painting portraits of  visitors to the exhibition and I volunteered for this :)

This is the initial sketch of me, I don't want to give the whole idea away quite yet, I want to save something for when it's done, so I won't yet tell you which Saint I'm being!

I really like the re-imagining idea, and it's something artists have done through history. If you look at religious iconography from the middle ages and the renaissance, the people in them are people of those times (in clothing and surroundings) rather than historically correct people from 2,000 or more years ago.

It's a nifty idea, I like it, and if you're in the area I highly recommend popping along before Thursday :)