Becoming the Ouroboros art exhibit at University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is holding an exhibit from 29 October 2022 to 6 November 2022 at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies (see map), Becoming The Ouroboros. It is a collection of beautiful works by artists and musicians who once studied fine art at Leeds colleges.

Organizers explained, “In Leeds, art students searched for a more immediate, egalitarian form of art. Many of them turned from the visual arts to popular music. They formed bands from The Gang of Four to Scritti Politti, Soft Cell to the Mekons.”
“Leeds alumni Gavin Butt’s new book No Machos or Pop Stars charts this transition in depth, placing it in the context of the radical art education pioneered by both Leeds Polytechnic and Leeds University art departments.”

The exhibiting artists are united by history, the accident of being art students who turned to make music in Leeds during that turbulent time. Now their work is as assorted and heterogeneous as when they were students. Any similarities and preoccupations in their work today may be seen as a continued expression of those groundbreaking years.
Exhibiting artists include Jacqui Callis • John Diamond • Jacky Fleming • Tom Greenhalgh • John Hyatt • Jon Langford • Kevin Lycett • Jane Ralley • Mark White • Andy Wood.

“The Ouroboros is a snake like creature in ancient Egyptian iconography that consumes its own tail, representing the circle of life and death. Here it is hinting at a metaphor for the cycle from art to music and then to art again that this exhibition charts.”