Eclecticus is the latest body of work by Nick Banks. It captures moments, objects, memories, and forms across an eclectic breadth of subject matter. Using both drawing and sculpture, Nick presents this collection as a deviation from theme, developing ideas and imagery that have flowed to him ‘like figures emerging from the mist.’

The Drawings

The drawings show Nick’s dedicated and consistent exploration of tone. Each work is pushed and pulled through multiple, quite physical transitions of line and shade, worked back and forth before settling at a resolved state. The process challenged Nick to balance control with experiment, the reward of which can be seen in each drawing’s commitment to intricate detail. Despite their size, each one has been rigorously worked upon as if creating on a much larger scale.

The Sculptures

The sculptures have come from the notion that simple objects can have a potent charge. When studying Art in London, he was frequently drawn to the mysterious and modest domestic artefacts found in the British Museum. Nick’s memory of their timeless nature and lasting resonance was the trigger when creating these new sculptures.

Why Eclecticus?

The choice to name this exhibition Eclecticus came to Nick after agreeing to show it at Newcastle Arts Centre, which sits on the site of Milecastle 4, also known as the Westgate Road Milecastle. This small Roman fortlet formed part of Hadrian’s Wall, the defensive frontier constructed across northern Britain in the early 2nd century AD.

Its remains lie beneath the Newcastle Arts Centre at 67 Westgate Road, marking it as one of the easternmost milecastles in the system’s stone-built section. Milecastles like this one served as gatehouses and control points, typically garrisoned by a small unit of 32 soldiers, facilitating communication, surveillance, and access through the wall’s gateways.

The title Eclecticus reflects a variety of aspects; the chance finds of archaelogical digs, much like the artefacts that inspired Nick from the British Museum, as well as the dig that unearthed the Milecastle at the Arts Centre; homage to the site’s ancient history, as well as the timeless quality that Nick embues in his pieces; the variety of theme and subject matter blended across this collection of works, and that inhabits our past.