Luke Newton: A Consumer Product
8 October 2022 – 8 January 2023
Artist Luke Newton was born in Colne, an industrial town in the North of England. After studying art at Saint Martin’s College in London, he moved to France to pursue his artistic career. He now divides his time between Roubaix and Paris.
In the A Consumer Product exhibition, Newton targets the failings of our society with a typically British sense of humour.
His work uses all different types of media, moving freely between collage, sculpture and painting. As a visual artist, he particularly enjoys assembling materials which are usually considered to have little aesthetic value.
Food packaging is transformed into skulls, the curved outline of a heart turns out to be a sharpened blade and coloured pencils are packed together into weapons. Extremes are juxtaposed with quirky and off-the-wall results; observers are drawn into a visual game, where they are invited to question symbols encountered in everyday life.
With their streamlined forms and flawless finish, the works exhibited look as if they were manufactured on an industrial production line. A number of them are created in series, with slight variations introduced here and there.
The pop art and manufactured aesthetic lends Newton’s creations a strong conceptual dimension. At first glance, they may seem banal and ordinary. Upon closer inspection, however, we notice that their symbolic value has been subverted. The feeling of artificiality wanes and a troubling paradox rises to the surface.
As Newton says, “the key is to open the door.” Since the meaning of these works remains open to interpretation, indulging or even overindulging in a spot of reflection is positively encouraged!
Claudia Valencia, 2022
Curator: Sylvette Botella-Gaudichon
Designer: Cédric Guerlus / Going Design
Catalogue published to coincide with the exhibition (ateliersgalerieeditions)
The design was made possible thanks to generous support from the paints distributed by Tollens.
Luke Newton, Skull Crayons (Flat)002, 2020, Crayons de couleurs
