4 Bed Detached Home of Metal At The New Walsall Art Gallery

This Summer there is most definitely a dark theme when it comes to our Midlands museums and art galleries. The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a Summer exhibition dedicated to Black Sabbath, and, running in tandem with this exhibition is the intriguing ‘4 Bed Detached Home of Metal’ exhibition that is on show at the New Walsall Art Gallery.

The 4 Bed Detached Home of Metal exhibition is part of the Home of Metal series of events and exhibitions that shine a light on Heavy Metal music and its foundations in the Midlands. The exhibition has been curated by Alan Kane and features metal in all it’s connotations, from it’s use as a material, and as the global music phenomenon. It features items from personal collections of metal memorabilia, as well as art work from the likes of Jeremy Deller, Jim Lambie, Sarah Lucas and Jessica Mallock, showing metal with a domestic feel, in living rooms and bedrooms, as a homage from fans and portrayed in art. A particular favourite of mine were the old master style paintings that actually portray Ozzy Osbourne. There is also a Coca Cola Zeppelin, bringing to mind another legendary metal band from the Midlands.

The exhibition is free to attend, and is a warm and loving tribute to a musical style that was born and bred from the foundries and factories that made up the Black Country and yet reverberated around the world. I love the reverent ways that the precious memorabilia has been presented, given a wonderful display space where it can be truly appreciated (the collection for the US band Halestorm owned by Kayleigh Archer, displayed in a bedroom,  is very impressive).

The 4 Bed Detached Home of Metal is on display at the New Walsall Art Gallery until the 1st September.

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