Thud, Crackle, Pop by Pete McKee

Following the recommendation of Sir Paul Smith, we went to his gallery space on Kingsway to visit Sheffield artist Pete McKee’s latest exhibition, ‘Thud, Crackle, Pop’, his first show in London in almost 4 years!

In a gallery space distributed as a record store and for two days only, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 May 2014, you could look through Pete’s new works as you were ‘digging’ through the racks, searching for LPs.That was precisely his inspiration for the new show, his love of music and from the culture surrounding record collecting- those who buy it, play it, sell it and create it.

‘It’s a celebration of all things vinyl. While music is audible, vinyl brings that physical quality to it. The whole process is a performance; flicking through the racks, carefully pulling the disc from the sleeve, flipping to your preferred side, placing it on the turntable and gently lowering the arm onto the spinning black disc. Hearing the ‘thud’, ‘crackle’ and ‘pop’ before the track begins to play, sitting back with the sleeve admiring the artwork and reading the lyrics. This is my homage to vinyl and the glory of the 12′ sleeve.’

As part of the exhibition, McKee asked some well‐known friends about their top ten albums of all time, including Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Irvine Welsh, Mary Anne Hobbs and Sir Paul Smith. These contributions then formed the basis of a huge painting of an ‘all‐star’ record store.

Alongside Pete’s signature style vibrant paintings, prints and sculptures, the exhibition incorporated listening posts and various new and limited edition McKee merchandise.