Wish You Were Here?

‘Wish You Were Here?’ is an exhibition of artists’ postcards from 1960s to today selected from art writer and novelist,  Jeremy Cooper’s remarkable collection. This touring exhibition is a unique opportunity to see works from the collection, some for the first time, before its donation to the British Museum Prints and Drawings Department in 2018.

Drawn from the collection which now consists over 2000 works, the exhibition features postcards created by over 200 artists including some of today’s most celebrated artists such as Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Bruce Nauman, Carl Andre, Gilbert & George,  Susan Hiller, Gavin Turk, Tacita Dean and Mark Wallinger amongst many others. Each has been produced with the idea and the function of the postcard in mind.

‘Wish You Were Here?’ looks at how artists have considered the postcard as a medium in its own right. Manipulated, collaged or originally produced, postcards are used in a variety of ways creating fictions, social comments, visual humour or simply exquisite small works of art.

The exhibition however goes beyond the cliche of its title and looks at the remarkable diversity of how artists have considered the postcard as a medium in its own right, through which we can trace important moments in the history of Modern and Contemporary art from the 1960s to the present day.

Berwick Visual Arts have also commissioned three artists to produce a series of limited edition postcards of Berwick-upon-Tweed for sale during the exhibition. The commissioned artists are Berwick based artists J & M Grant, Northumberland illustrator Daniel Weatheritt and Newcastle based artist Graham Dolphin.

‘Wish You Were Here?’ is curated by Jeremy Cooper in collaboration with Cynthia Morrison-Bell and is a touring exhibition organised and produced by Art Circuit Touring Exhibitions.

A few images may be unsuitable for children, please ask our invigilator for guidance