This weekend wraps up Only The Pigeons, an exhibition by Newcastle artist Benjamin Gallagher at Straitjacket Gallery.
The show is incredibly meaningful to Gallagher as it's a tribute to his late father Paul. The two worked together for 15 years as coppersmiths and heritage roof slaters.
Gallagher hopes with the exhibition he can acknowledge the finest man he's ever known. Paul was born in 1948 and died at the end of 2021. He was trained as a roof tiler but acquired slate, copper and sheet metal skills along the way.
The title Only The Pigeons came from a discussion Ben had with him, early on in his apprenticeship. They were discussing the value of doing a job correctly.
"From memory I'd been complaining about the volume of work and the arduous pain of repetitious labour," Gallagher says. "I objected to the fact that we had to hand cut thousands of slates with a specific stake and axe to achieve the perfect bevel for ideal drainage. I was convinced that a bandsaw would solve all our woes. Dad's response went 'It's only us and the pigeons whom will ever see this detail but that is reason enough to want to do it correctly'."
Gallagher sees the works in the exhibition as "wall reliefs." They're made up of strong materials like cast aluminum, copper, gold, nails, brass, bridle leather, bronze and steel. Some are also simpler, framed works called "roof moss" made up of ink and graphite.
He's also made an impressive set of castings in aluminium of tools he used in roofing.
The total package is extremely unique.
"It's object art in essence and there is a long line in art history of object artists that I'm interested in," he says.
"They're objects; they're scenes from the building industry, miniaturised," he says. "I'm a reductionist. I'm reducing the elements down to the most basic level and still trying to find poetry in that."
Through working with his father, Gallagher cultivated a love of the softness of heritage building. By the time the two came in contact with them, the buildings often had 100 years of use and exposure to the elements. This exhibition puts that softness into the modernist framework, but also recognises his father's influence. It is about the craft they shared as master and apprentice but also gentle encounters as father and son.
Gallagher recalls how the two would find themselves on the terracotta ridges of churches, catching their breath over views of the Upper Hunter.
"Without exception this brief period of respite would turn to casual discussion, and it's in these moments of interlude that we became the best of friends," he says.
On his Instagram, Ben explains the stories behind the works. Below is a part of his caption from Liturgical Matters.
"Whenever we worked on a church, Dad and I would take the time to sit within. We'd pull up a pew and enjoy the solace that these buildings offered. I never bothered to prey (SIC) and I'm fairly certain Dad was the same but we knew we were on sacred grounds and we felt humbled by it. On an aesthetic level I was in nirvana. All those arcs and strict geometry and then there were the windows. Oh my, the windows. This is the first of my Liturgical reliefs that will address details and/or symbols synonymous with church windows."
His father was a bit of a local identity where they lived in The Junction but also within the local building industry. "He had a way of endearing himself upon all whom met him and approached job and customer with a real gentleness, a trait that is mostly at odds with other tradies." Gallagher says.
Gallagher has studied industrial design, design and architecture. His creative outlet has always been exhibiting one-off products in galleries. Also, he is commissioned for jewelry. He loves industrial design and still consider myself as much of a designer as an artist.
His pursuit of art always happened on the side and after hours when he wasn't working with his father. If he had an exhibition, Paul would give him days off to get things done. His father was a classic tinkerer always with a project on the go as well.
"We would chip in help each other. Work was there; it wasn't the be-all-and-end-all, and we found freedoms," he says.
Gallagher also worked as an installer at Newcastle Art Gallery. He's recently taken to art full-time, and he's crossing his fingers with the new journey. Straitjacket will host a summer show which includes his work, and he's hoping to secure a gallery in Sydney.
Follow his upcoming art and exhibitions on instagram @maker.bgallagher.
