WAKEFIELD.- A new exhibition by the award-winning British video artist Stephen Sutcliffe will open this summer at The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire’s major art gallery.

From 18 June until 2 October, The Hepworth Wakefield will present the artist’s first solo show in Yorkshire and will feature a new video installation, to be housed in The Calder, a contemporary art and events space housed in a Victorian mill in the gallery gardens.

In Sutcliffe’s signature style, Twixt Cup and Lip combines archive footage of the workings of a TV studio floor, chat show interviews and pithy commentary with photographs from the original, Royal Court production of The Contractor (1969), by the Wakefield-born author David Storey.

The former professional rugby league player turned playwright, novelist and artist has long been an inspiration for Sutcliffe, who first encountered his work at comprehensive school in North Ossett during the 1980s.

Stephen Sutcliffe said: “I’ve been an admirer of David Storey’s work and attitude for many years and I remember an enlightened teacher at my comprehensive school introducing us to This Sporting Life, something which has had a profound effect on me.”

Andrew Bonacina, Chief Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield said: “Sutcliffe’s film draws the viewer into the era and ideas of David Storey at the peak time of his creativity. It’s an abstract piece, a collage from his archive, which leaves it to the viewer to piece together the narrative.

“For Stephen it’s also about a return to Wakefield, delving into the physical places and cultural history that shaped him. Because of the tension between his background and the circles he later moved in, David Storey often said he didn’t feel accepted in either the north or the south.

“Stephen Sutcliffe has expressed similar views and so his film looks at the contradictions between the world – and, importantly, the Wakefield – that made both of them and where they subsequently fitted in, or not, as artists.”

British artist Stephen Sutcliffe, is a video artist who was born in Harrogate, and raised in Gawthorpe. His work includes a strong research element and is characteristically collaged from existing footage and archive material. Recordings made from the television or radio, clippings from newspapers or books, are run together to either contradict each other or find an unlikely common ground. His short films often employ several sources simultaneously, obscuring part of the footage or layering soundtracks to undermine the integrity of the original and instill a notion of doubt.

Stephen Sutcliffe: Twixt Cup and Lip will be on display concurrently with a new exhibition of art work by David Storey. From 11 June until 5 October A Tender Tumult: The Art of David Storey will showcase for the very first time more than 400 small-scale works by the Wakefield-born writer.