John Newling

John Newling's works explore the natural world and the social and economic systems of society, such as money or religion. He belongs to a generation of artists whose work evolved from Arte Povera and Land Art, movements occurring in the 1960s. This is Newling’s first major survey exhibition that takes place at Nottingham Contemporary, presenting a selection of his work from the 1970s to the present day. The reason Newling  creates his works is because he believes it inspires a positive social change and playing with ideas of current issues.

These cabbage leaves are meant to represent a pair of lungs, ironic really as plants and leaves provide living beings with oxygen, allowing them to breathe. I think it's somewhat of a metaphor, without the build up of cabbage leaves to make up the image of the lungs, there would be nothing to show, just an empty canvas. Just like if there was no plants and trees, no oxygen can be created and used.

The artworks are inspired by the natural world and its ecological systems. Newling has previously produced sculptural artworks and he has worked with two plant species with extraordinary properties. Newling grew and harvested over eighty Walking Stick Cabbages (Brassica oleracea). These can be seen to change physically over time in the exhibition as they dry and harden. Newling became interested in their use value, the trunks have traditionally been used as walking sticks.
    In my opinion I am not too keen on his natural art works, I think it's the simplicity what catches the target audience, it's a very bold piece of work and you can see it go through stages, hardening up and discolouring all the time, however I do like the idea of the piece that represents a pair of lungs, it's very metorphorical with the message behind it. Apart from that, for me it lacks originality and its simplistic form is something I unfortunately cannot connect with.