Darren Neave

I am an artist and researcher currently undertaking a doctoral award at Leeds Beckett University. My practice-led research navigates the preposterousness of olfaction with sculptural resurrection, with links to re-use, ecological demise, corporeal embodiment and memory. I link this research with consumerist delight and disgust, embracing commodification, the written word, a working-class and a queer background.

‘This oscillation provokes my practice, providing it with constant nourishment, not immediately apparent. As a neuro-divergent artist (I also have dyslexia), my style of art-production, writing, thinking and presenting is perpetually evolving and shape-shifting. Nothing is neuro-typical, discordance and anxiety becomes part of the questioning and how work is made’.

‘My research work acknowledges the sensorial re-purposing of objects as sculpture. I suggest a re-application of consumerist techniques in a more absurdist manner - resurrections incorporating the languages of visual merchandising, display, make-overs with audio-visual film techniques to harness and encapsulate, unlocking our senses and ensnaring us’. (A play on peacocking and eye-catching flagship-store presentations alongside the cinematic).

‘I connect with Laura U. Marks’ writing via film references and visual depictions of smell and how, through visual and audio languages, do directors depict the olfactory and gustatory through theatrical mise-en-scène, with gestures and antics?’

I currently co-direct (with Dale Wells) the turntable gallery in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. The first dedicated space for contemporary art within the town.

I recently gained an MRes from The Royal College of Art in London, I have an MFA from the University of Lincoln and a BA from the University of Leeds (Bretton Hall College)

I work between Grimsby, London and Leeds.

I have shown all over the world, including London, New York, Beijing, Berlin and Paris. 

News

Mobirise

PhD


This practice-based research examines the ways in which scent, via everyday (commercially available) items can be used to re-purpose unwanted objects (recycling or re-purposing) as a method for making artworks.

I like using specifically ‘smelly’ products or mass-produced perfumes and scented products.
Marmite has a unique and evocative fragrance, I have been investigating ways into how the smell can become sculptural and associating with existing artworks.

Mobirise

turntable & tt88 galleries

In March 2022, myself and Dale Wells opened up the turntable gallery in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. 18 months later (with the generous support of WE1 Heritage) we have opened up another space in the historic Grimsby Dock area. Our first show at tt88 featured work by the incredibly talented Chad McCail. ‘Even Rations’ featured work from his career and really brought to life both of our spaces. We hope to see you there!

Please find the galleries online at www.turntablegallery.uk
(Links to other social media platforms on there too).

Mobirise

Ingram Prize - Shortlist 2022

I was shortlisted for The Ingram Prize, last year, an annual purchase prize open to visual artists who are within five years of graduation from a UK-based art school.

The final selection was shown at Unit 1 Gallery and Workshop

in Bard Road, London in November 2022.

https://ingramcollection.com/ingram-contemporary-talent/2022-ingram-prize-shortlist

Copyright Darren Neave 2022
Design & technology by Stuart Shackleton