The opportunity to reflect on the achievements of a local personality or take pride in the success of one of your own is always a good way of bringing a bit of reverence to a region. After all, there is nothing like a good bit of back slapping. So, with that in mind, the decision by the National Portrait Gallery to distribute portraits of famous individuals in places of local significance throughout the North East of England is certainly a welcome one.
Ten culturally important venues from Middlesbrough to Berwick have been chosen for the exhibition, with prominent and talented faces including those of Sting, Ridley and Tony Scott and Reeves and Mortimer. It is a diverse cast, including talent from across music, comedy, film, sport, art and Journalism and acts as a good barometer of the talent which can be found in a relatively small area.
With nine of the portraits being loaned from the National Portrait Gallery and one more specifically commissioned by Tyne and Wear Museums featuring Kathryn Tickell, a renowned composer and performer of local traditional music, the exhibition seems to be a useful and inventive way of putting the focus back into regional culture. As I found myself face to face with local Teesside heroes Reeves and Mortimer at the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough, I was suddenly aware of the power that an image of such personalities in their own environment can evoke.
Steve Shipman’s 1993 portrait of Vic and Bob is indicative of the stark but vivid style in which the images have been taken. The sepia tone is used to strip back any overtly comic overtones such as an alligator wrapped around Vic Reeve’s neck, and replace them with a subtle charisma.
That very specific sense of humour being portrayed through a gesture or a knowing glance with Vic and Bob is enough to bring a broad smile across the face of anyone whom feels they have that same sense of regionalised irony running through their veins. I suspect that it is that same sense of relating to one of your own in ways that others can’t which will make the exhibition such a success.
North Face runs until 26th May across selected venues throughout the North East.
