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Christian Newby: The drum, the chime, the scrape, the splash, the jerk

Christian Newby’s solo exhibition grabs our attention by way of a striking contrast between the expressiveness of hand “drawn” linework and references to mass production. I include the word drawn in quotation marks as the linework, here, is not created with a tool that would fit in an artist’s pencil pot, but instead an industrial carpet-tufting gun. In this exhibition, Newby’s work takes us full circle from capitalism to nature and craft to industry. Surprising elements of this exhibition are references to an international bank and William Morris’ trellis design through the medium of carpet tufting, yet they contribute to an unexpectedly readable narrative. Three key themes run through this exhibition concerning the choice of medium (carpet tufting), references to capitalism (through the titles and iconography), and the combination of geometric and natural imagery. American artist Newby studied at Virginia Commonwealth University, US, before completing an MFA at the Glasgow School of Art, UK, in 2009. He is currently undertaking a doctorate at Kingston University, UK, where he is exploring themes of craft and industrialization touched upon in this exhibition.