Interview: Harrogate gallery hosts brilliant new collection of art by Sheffield icon Pete McKee
Hailed by many as Yorkshire’s most popular artist of the 21st century, Pete McKee appeared in Harrogate in person for the launch of his latest exhibition which is short in duration but big in impact.
Talking to the Harrogate Advertiser inside RedHouse gallery at Saturday’s opening event, Pete McKee admitted the new work displayed in Viva La Nan was particularly close to his heart.
Consisting of more than 120 drawings on paper created in tribute to grandmothers everywhere, Sheffield-born McKee said the new almost ‘unplugged’ exhibition was like the “real me”.
"They are mostly pencil sketches and haven’t been worked on at all,” Pete told me.
“I wanted to create an exhibition celebrating the power of Nans and the love we have for them.
"But these works are just what I saw and felt at the time.
"The exhibition feels like the real me.”
Running at Harrogate’s RedHouse gallery on Cheltenham Mount until Saturday, October 4, Pete McKee’s artwork is often a celebration of the north and the warm hearth of the traditional working class.
Despite working with Noel Gallagher of Oasis in the past, McKee’s enduring passions of football and music scarcely feature in the new show, though he does say he is looking forward to gigs with Edwyn Collins and Horace Panter of The Specials.
A master of line and colour, shorn of his usual plains of pastel, the quick portraits of ”nans” retain Pete McKee’s trademark wit but also boast a deep affection for his subject rendered beautifully with the flick of the pen – or pencil.
Also on hand to mark the occasion was talented Liverpool poet Plazzybag (real name Louise) who read an impressive and moving poem about her own gran.
Famed for his murals in his home city, McKee recently enjoyed his first major museum show The Boy Name With A Leg Named Brian at Weston Park Museum in Sheffield, attracting upwards of 80,000 people.
As fantastic as that show is, Viva La Nan hits hard in a small but unexpectedly touching way.
A case of less saying more, the new show reveals McKee’s talent stretches even further than anyone suspected.
Viva La Nan also runs at the McKee Gallery in Sheffield for two days only on October 11-12 with a completely different selection of nans.
More information: www.redhouseoriginals.com.