ARTWORK commissioned by rock star Sting is to return to Tyneside as part of an exhibition inspired by the North East’s industrial heritage.
The Police star commissioned the painting Northern City Renaissance to go on show in 2008, with more than 60,000 people coming to see it at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.
Now the piece is to go back on show in an exhibition of other pictures of the Tyne. The picture, which features landmarks such as the Sage Gateshead, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Millennium Bridge, will hang alongside 14 others.
Although it is a contemporary work – painted by top American artist Stephen Hannock between 2004 and 2008 – it harks back to the region’s coal mining and shipbuilding heritage.
This history will be celebrated in the exhibition’s other works, including watercolours from the early 20th century.
Paintings showing the Tyne at its busiest – brimming with ships and surrounded by industry – will bring the past to life.
Pictures taken in 1929 and 1930 showing ship launches will also feature in the exhibition, which will show the “grandeur of the Tyne”, according to Lesley Richardson, the gallery’s assistant keeper of fine and decorative art.
She said: “The painting was so popular in 2008 when we showed it that we thought we’d show it again and we’d present it alongside works from the permanent collection that relate to the themes highlighted in the painting.
“I hope that people will be able to connect the selection from the collection with the painting.
“It gives us an opportunity to show the collection in a new way and hopefully inspire interest by the public in the collection as a whole.”
But Sting’s painting will form the centrepiece. The work is designed to celebrate the cultural boom in the region since some of its coal mines and shipyards closed.
Hannock is one of America’s most famous artists. His work hangs in prestigious museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
“I think people enjoy the connection with a famous person as well, with Sting,” said Ms Richardson. “His music is obviously really, really popular and people came for that reason as well.”
She hopes that everyone will be able to relate to the painting in some way.
“It refers to the history of Newcastle so anyone who’s lived here for years and who has family here can connect to it, especially if they have any history of coal mining and shipbuilding in their family.
“But it also depicts the modern architecture that people have a sense of pride in now, even if they don’t have that family history.”
The exhibition runs from January 21 to May 6. Admission is free.
It gives us an opportunity to show the collection in a new way and hopefully inspire interest
