Here today, sold out tomorrow – Hurry while stocks last…

“Come and get your seedless grapes, 2lbs for 80 pence” is one of the many sales pitches that welcomes you through the doors of Newcastle City centres’ Greenmarket, a bustling marketplace where people buy their weekly shop and meet for a friendly natter. On Monday 15 December the Greenmarket will receive a subtle but significant change, as amongst the stalls selling woollen socks, pick ‘n’ mix sweets and bunches of red carnations, will be Multiplus a shop selling affordable multiples of contemporary art.

When people consider buying contemporary works of art, they imagine having to pay staggering amounts of money. In recent years the value of artwork has risen by astronomical proportions, for example in 1999 an art lover paid 1,054,775.48 ($1,817,500) for a Jeff Koons sculpture entitled Pink Panther, and in 2002 someone bought a self portrait by Andy Warhol for 1,533,929.37 ($2,649,500), both were sold at auction by Christie’s New York.

The “temporary” Multiplus venture introduces the opportunity for the general public to experience and purchase contemporary art. In a part of the
country that has a vibrant and receptive contemporary arts audience who regularly enjoy ‘thought provoking’ exhibitions at various venues including the Globe Gallery, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Waygood. Mulitplus takes on the appearance of a shop, but when the shopper ventures inside they will realise it’s an art gallery. The supporters of the project are: Arts Council England, North East, Newcastle City Council and The Sponsors Club for Arts & Business.

Another aspect behind the project is the cultural swap-shop between the Greenmarket and Leeds Corn Exchange. Leeds’ Artsparkle will run in tandem with Multiplus using the same creative concepts.

Throughout the one-month contemporary venture, 30 artists will “swap” city centre localities to sell their ‘multiples’. It’s the perfect networking opportunity for the artists who will learn news styles of practice during the event.

“We aim to introduce the markets to something completely different. Something they’ve never experienced before,” says George Heslop, one of the Mulitplus curators. The project is ‘site specific’, which means the shop will compliment and blend in with its immediate environment. George, 44, a contemporary visual artist of Jarrow in Tyne & Wear, is the original brainchild behind the Multiplus concept that broke onto the North East arts scene in the spring of last year. This time around George is curating and co-ordinating the project with Mary Renner, a 37-year old contemporary visual artist of Sheildfield in Newcastle upon Tyne. George added: “We hope to engage new audiences with the project by door-stepping people while they shop, possibly introducing them to contemporary art for the first time.”

What is a multiple? - A multiple can be described as a small affordable three-dimensional object that artists stamp their own individual creativity upon. The contemporary pieces use modified high street style techniques, at first glance the product is familiar to the consumer but after closer inspection the item takes on a completely different identity. The prices range from 1 - 60, but one of the artists is exchanging his multiples on a barter system and is accepting personal objects for payment. A few of the Multiplus items include: An ‘installation in a biscuit tin’; Preview passports for North East contemporary art events; Colourful imitation ice-lollies made out of resin; Balm pots; a Christmas hamper of multiples and miniature “sawn off” sheep multiples - part of a series of multiples using children’s toy farmyard animals including cows, chickens and pigs (each a multiple of 10).

The locality of Multiplus was chosen using the theme of redevelopment. The curators sourced out the empty Greenmarket shop that will soon change as part of the 150m revitalisation of Eldon Square. The artists recognise that one of the lasting elements of the temporary project must be the value of traceage, being able to show something has existed.

One of the contributors to the contemporary event is Newcastle-based ‘xsite architecture’, they have produced a resin inkwell where the ink reservoir is a void shape of an architectural project.

Tim Bailey, Principal architect with ‘xsite architecture’ says of Multiplus: “xsite is intrigued by the relationship between space and object, which is placed within which? Multiplus has given the practice an opportunity to explore this relationship at an accessible scale.” ‘xsite architecture’ was established in November 2000 as a practice with high quality design principles at its core, offering architectural, urban environment, project management and design consultancy services.

Tim added: “Buildings, like art objects are usually one-offs for public consumption over years as part of the built environment. Producing a multiple offers a challenge in creating a discreet pocket object without a known context as opposed to the fixed context of the site.”

Multiplus will open its doors from 10.00 am – 5.00 pm, in Unit 18 on the Ground Floor of the Greenmarket from Monday 15 December and will run until Saturday 17 January 2004, for further details please visit www.multiplus.org.uk

END

Press-call:   The media are welcome to attend a preview of the Multiplus event at Newcastle’s Greenmarket on Monday 15 December at 11:00 am; there will be project coordinators and artists on hand to answer questions. Please inform Strictly Press on (0191) 2461614 if you wish to attend the preview.

Promotional photography: A selection of Multiplus promotional photography is available by contacting Strictly Press on (0191) 2461614 (Photography credit: JK Press).

Please note: George Heslop’s miniature sheep multiples are in NO way a direct visual reference to Damien Hirst’s Away from the Flock (1994), as they are a part of a series of multiples using children’s toy farmyard animals.

Notes to editors:    
1).   A full list of the Multiplus artists and contributors are as follows: Tanya Axford; Catherine Bertola; Anne Bromley; Rupert Clamp; Joel Fisher; David Hails; George Heslop; Steve Hines; Bernadette Hobby; Simon Jones; Paul Moss; Mary Renner; Topsey Qur’et and xsite architecture.

2).   Multiplus would like to thank the following supporters of the project: Newcastle City Council; Arts Council England, North East; The Greenmarket; The Sponsors Club for Arts & Business; Propagraphics.com; Germ; Strictly Press; and JK Press.

3).   Each artist decides the amount of multiples they will produce by their own personal ‘significant number’ and every multiple must be identically replicated in the production process.

4).   The Greenmarket started as an informal open air market outside St Andrew’s church on Newgate Street in Newcastle and at the end of the 19th Century it moved to Green Court. In 1976 the Greenmarket was re-opened as a new development as part of the Eldon Square Shopping Centre (information from ‘The History of the Greenmarket’). Further information about then redevelopment of Eldon Square can be found at www.eldon-square.co.uk