DRIVE! opens at the Richard Demarco Gallery
Since late 2024 I've been working with Papple Steading and the new Richard Demarco gallery, in rural East Lothian.
The gallery programme aims to celebrate the vibrant legacy of Richard Demarco through exhibitions and events of contemporary and modern art practices from across the UK and Europe.
Our first exhibition reflects the passion of Papple Steading's Director, George Mackintosh.
DRIVE! is group show combining archival materials from the Papple Collection with contemporary artists looking at the automotive theme in fresh ways. Since its inception, the automotive industry has encouraged invention and imagination to push the limits of what is possible. DRIVE! celebrates and interrogates this invention: the skill and precision of racing driver champions, the creativity of customisation and the energy and vitality of driving culture.
Positioning archival photographs with contemporary sculpture, painting and video works, DRIVE! looks afresh at the themes which encompass automotive culture.
Original photography of Jim Clark, son of a sheep farmer from Fife who went on to become an acclaimed Formula One world champion racing driver, will sit alongside painted symbols of speed and power in the work of Jaime Gili. Go!, a painting by Sam O’Donnell of the car as a domestic space for lightness will sit next to Waffle Burger’s Burning Car series looking at cars in gaming culture. Harriet Bowman’s doughnut rings of fused glass, residue from smashed car windows, swept from roadsides, are placed alongside Naomi Frears’ films Cars and Girls, a kind of car park choreography film that celebrates different types of movement and the behaviour of women in cars. Becky Tyrell’s photography documenting banger racing culture in the SW of England will be displayed with Babalola Yusuf’s painterly investigation into the archetypal symbols of racing. Playful ceramic car multiples by Charlie Duck are positioned nose to tail in a traffic jam, while Toby Messenger’s life-size motorbike, a work born in part from nostalgia, leans in the middle of the space.
Re-defining the typical perspective of both the automotive industry and the rural farmstead, DRIVE! at Papple Steading encompasses the ethos behind the Porsche design philosophy. We are grateful for Porsche’ support and their values of innovation that are inherent in this exhibition hosted at a beautifully restored historic farm steading.
For more information and to see available works, head to the Papple Steading website here
The exhibition is open 27th March until 26th September 2026.
The Richard Demarco Gallery, Papple Steading
Haddington, East Lothian, EH41 4QD.
