Following an open call-out which received submissions from 220 artists across the region in Spring 2021, The New Art Gallery acquired 32 new works by 30 West Midlands’ based artists. The Twenty Twenty exhibition portrays their individual responses to the significant events that shaped 2020.

The art works span a variety of media including collage, photography. drawing and painting. The exhibits respond to world events over 2020, a tumultuous year; from the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdowns to Black Lives Matter and Brexit, from class inequalities to climate change.

An extensive artist-led events programme will be offered alongside this latest exhibition, with The New Art Gallery continuing to support regional artists after an especially difficult period for the arts, with venues closed, projects postponed or cancelled, and financial insecurity experienced by many. This presentation will show how artists play a vital role in helping us shape, understand and respond to current and future events.

Councillor Garry Perry, Deputy Leader and Resilient Communities for Walsall Council said: “The New Art Gallery Walsall has taken an innovative approach to capturing the significant events of 2020-21 in order to commemorate a period of time which has impacted on everyone’s lives.

“Already renowned for its nationally significant Collections, exhibitions, valuable work with artists, and the efforts it makes to connect with audiences, I very much look forward to seeing the work of talented regional artists and their interpretation of the past 18 months, a demanding time on many levels, which have been acquired as part of our civic collection.”

Further details are available here.

Photo credit: Sherrie Edgar, Isolation Series 11, 2020, photograph. Courtesy the artist.