Darren BANKS

‘I want to use video in the same way I would use a piece of string or an ironing board.’ – Darren Banks

Born in Orsett, Essex in 1978, Banks is a graduate of the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in both BA Hons and MA Fine Art. Banks is a resident of Newcastle and is represented by the Workplace Gallery that dwells in the iconic shade of “Get Carter Car Park”.

Banks works primarily within the framework of video, installation and the mechanics of found objects. The ocular aesthetic of Banks’ work is frenzied, irregular, humorous, playful and at times unnerving, as is evident in his film Interiors which explores the rooms of an old rickety house to the accompanyment of John Carpenter’s synth score from the seminal slasher flick Halloween (1978). Banks’ working strategies include breaking down and re-building familiar objects, tactics evident in his Roswell inspired Mothership (2005), an amalgamation of everyday kitchen utensils, and environments. The domestic hybrid Tea Shrine (2005) is imbued with a potent scent of uncertainty and nostalgia. His Palace Video (2005) at this years New York Art Fair was said to give rise to “…a mental blackhole sucking us into a world of throw-away VHS culture circa 1987.”

Banks unquestionably doesn’t aim to stick to a ceremonial approach, rather he keeps subverting the very bits and pieces we take for granted or that have perished with time, coating them in a impious veil of joie de vivre. As Michael Caine’s Jack Carter would say: “Now behave yourself!”

Ben Newell – New Norwich Times