NEXT month, local artist Jed Buttress is set to curate a first-of-its-kind exhibition at Carlisle's Old Fire Station.

By Lauren Page ( email )

Picture the scene. It's 1996, an unidentified flying object is inadvertently photographed by a young father-to-be from Carlisle whilst taking picture of his wife. Half a century later, a young artist called Jed discovers that photograph. What followed was an investigation into government secrets, aliens and the city of Carlisle.

The resulting project, titled ‘Apocrypha’, is Jed Buttress’ upcoming art exhibition and book release.

The exhibition will run from Friday, April 14, to Monday, April 17, with the book launch on the Friday.

Jed said: "The project started with the entertainment of a single idea. What if aliens had visited Carlisle. This city seemed like the perfect place for such an event. For a long time, I had always thought that Carlisle was this dull, ordinary town that would serve as the perfect blank canvas for an alien story. That was my mistake. When you spend most of your life in this city you start to feel like nothing can surprise you and you eventually become bored of your surroundings.

"A lot of young people probably go through this. It’s restlessness. But after I began to research this city, I noticed these strange things throughout its recent history. I see Carlisle through this new, perpetually fascinated lens and I wanted to share that with people."

The exhibition will showcase a collection of photographs, films, artifacts and other pieces of supernatural ‘evidence’ and the accompanying book documents the thoughts and processes involved in conducting such an investigation. Combined, these provide an exciting window into the supernatural secrecy of Carlisle, and into the mind of the artist.

"I get asked a lot what Apocrypha actually means, and why I chose it as a title for the project. The rough dictionary description is ‘writings or reports that are not considered genuine’ and to me that means storytelling. The blurred line between fiction and fact.

"I think that this project walks that line. It also treads somewhere between sincerity and comedy, satire and homage. We live in this world of fake news and alternate facts nowadays and I want to see if I can use that for something good for once.

"I’m interested in the idea of verisimilitude. The appearance of truth. For centuries, artists would compete to create these lifelike pieces of work. Paintings of fruit bowls that look like you can reach out and eat from. I suppose my project is a tribute to that.

"If the viewers look at the exhibition and for a brief moment think that aliens could exist, and could have visited Carlisle, that’d be fascinating to me. It’s my trompe l'oeil."

The exhibition will take place at the Old Fire Station in Carlisle.

Opening times are;

  • Friday April 14 at 6pm - 10pm
  • Saturday April 15 at 10am - 5pm
  • Sunday April 16 and Monday 17 - 12pm - 4pm

You can take a look at Jed's work at www.mrbuttress.co.uk

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