Matter of Fact opening next Wednesday 6-8pm

[42 New Briggate]

All are invited to the Private View of Matter of Fact next Wednesday
23rd from 6-8pm. There will be refreshments, and games from Bryony
Pritchard, and artwork by Yvonne Carmichael, Eva Rowson and Giuseppe
Lambertino. Documentation from the story of the Cottingley Fairies
will also be presented.

Matter of Fact
42 New Briggate Gallery

Thursday 24 April - Wednesday 21 May 2008
Gallery will be open Tuesday - Saturday 12pm - 7pm

Parent and Child Art Activity with Tim Curtis - Saturday 3 May 3pm -
5pm
Artist's Talk with Eva Rowson, Giuseppe Lambertino and Yvonne
Carmichael - Thursday 8th May 6pm - 7pm

To accompany Opera North's Shakespeare Resounding season, Matter of
Fact presents photography and installation work exploring our
willingness to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good story.
Inspired by the enduring relevance and timeless qualities of
Shakespeare's plays, this exhibition takes as its starting point the
intriguing relationship between eyewitness account and fiction.

Two specially commissioned works by contemporary artists are displayed
alongside photographs and documentation from the infamous Cottingley
Fairies story, forming an investigation into ideas such as 'evidence'
and 'proof' in art's attempt to enrich everyday life.

The photographs taken by Yorkshire girls Frances Griffiths and Elsie
Wright are now nearly 100 years old but time hasn't eroded the impact
of their playfulness. In 1917, it seemed as if the whole world was
taken in by their photographs of fairies in Cottingley Beck, which
were lent further authority by the patronage of Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle.

The exhibition will display five photographic prints of the Cottingley
Fairies alongside drawings and writings by Frances and Elsie.
Interviews with the pair nearly 60 years after the original fairy-
furore in a spellbinding documentary made for Yorkshire Television's
Calendar News programme in 1973 will also be shown. The mischief and
fantastical relish central to this true story is a perfect complement
to Opera North's production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Distant Relatives is a newly commissioned photographic series made to
accompany Opera North's production of Macbeth. Artist Giuseppe
Lambertino travelled to the far reaches of Scotland to document actual
sites relating to the real 11th century Scottish king, who may or may
not have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's play.

Love Capital accompanies Roméo et Juliette and displays the results of
artists Eva Rowson and Yvonne Carmichael's trip around locations in
Verona associated with the world's most famous lovers. The
installation will present their souvenirs with an artist's book
exploring the commercial opportunities created by Romeo and Juliet's
tragic but everlasting love.

Saturday 3 May Parent and Child Art Activity
Create your own legendary creature at 42 New Briggate Gallery on
Mayday weekend with community artist Tim Curtis. All artwork made
during the workshop will be exhibited in the gallery. Places are free
but limited; please ring 07815 780179 or email
enqu...@42newbriggate.co.uk to book places.

www.42newbriggate.co.uk