neos cafe in Cockermouth

Freeman & Fine Exhibition in Neos, Cockermouth. Cumbria graduates’ exclusive first show.

Exquisite drawings, shadow motion and exclusive video works, can all be seen in artists Rebecca Freeman and Adam Fine’s first solo exhibition, created fresh for Cumbria. Comprised of film, digital video, photography, drawing and print, the show, entitled simply Freeman & Fine, will be held at THE HIP Gallery at Neo’s in Cockermouth, previewing on Friday, January 30th, 2009, and running through to February 28th.

Showcased in this exhibition is the new animation, In you, everything sank. For the filming of this project, Rebecca Freeman traveled from England to Dallas, Texas to meet Adam Fine in November of 2008, spending roughly ten days gathering on-location footage, and filming projected paper cutouts in the laborious process of stop-motion. For this process, they used a vintage Canon super 8 camera, obtained from eBay, and shot on Kodak Vision-3 film, bought in California. Fine’s garage was made into a makeshift studio for the two to complete the six minute and twenty second film. The film, encompassing both stop-motion footage and live-action footage from the US and UK, was transferred to a digital copy for editing purposes. Providing the soundtrack for In you, everything sank, is Courtney Lain and Chad Merritt’s musical project, The High Seas, based in Louisiana.

This animation follows up their first collaborative film, Cemetery of Kisses, which has shown at Carlisle’s “Lowther Arcade Project” in late 2008, and “On Wednesdays, We Draw Monsters”, in June of 2008.

Rebecca Freeman and Adam Fine decided to begin collaborating in late December 2007, while at the Blackfriars Pub, having just left the Tate Modern in London. They both left an exhibition featuring artists including William Kentridge and Kara Walker, thinking they would like to begin producing animation. Freeman, who works primarily in drawing, print, and silhouette, and Fine, who works predominately in film and video installation, discovered that they left the exhibition with the same feeling, whilst discussing the exhibition over their respective pints. Sketches were drawn at their dimly lit table, and they began to work off each others’ strengths to achieve their final means.

Freeman and fine both Graduated from the University Of Cumbria’s Fine Art Course in Carlisle and during their time in the county became very involved in the local art scene and community. Both as students volunteered for FRED and the Carlisle Arts Festival and spent time working in Loweswater. Debbie Taylor, manager of Neo’s is herself a graduate of the former Cumbria Institute of the Arts and set up Neo’s in 2004 with the aim to provide an artist led space, adding to the hub of creativity situated 'over the bridge' in Cockermouth.