Naomi Frears, Wish you were here, 2006. From Art Now Cornwall, Tate St Ives. © the artist. Photo: Vince Bevan

A commercial gallery in Penzance has sparked a debate in the run-up to neighbouring gallery Tate St Ives’ Spring Season, which begins on February 3 2007 and includes an exhibition of contemporary works by local artists entitled ‘Art Now Cornwall’.

Goldfish Contemporary Fine Art is to host a rival exhibition under the heading ‘Art Now Cornwall?’ with the purpose of questioning how representative the Tate show is.

Joseph Clarke, director of Goldfish, says he is pleased that Tate is supporting contemporary art in Cornwall, but criticises the focus of the exhibition, which he says is too narrow.

“Contemporary artists have for some time been living in the shadow of the important and much respected heritage of their locality, without adequate support,” he says in a statement. “So it is to be applauded that this opportunity has arisen, and encouraging that there is some support for practitioners to move out of the shadows of the past, so that the chronology continues.”

He goes on, however, to expound concerns that Tate’s version of ‘Art Now Cornwall’ has not received the attention and preparation it should have, and that it is not an inclusive and culturally reflective selection, as its moniker might imply.

Andy Currie (b.1977), My Lucky Star is a rubbish Scorpion, 2004. From Art Now Cornwall, Tate St Ives. © the artist. Photo: Ross Sanderson

“I am very concerned that this exciting and important theme appears, by their [Tate’s] own admission, not to have been given adequate time to be covered properly, either geographically or creatively,” he continued.

Mr Clarke aims to redress what he sees as an uneven treatment by running another show of contemporary art - from practitioners living and working in Cornwall - at his gallery, also opening on February 3.

Tate St Ives has responded that indeed, financial and time constraints meant their exhibition focuses on the Penwith area - but by no means has the curation been lazy. In addition, the plan is that this will be the first in a series of events looking at contemporary art in the county.

“It’s great Joseph Clarke is opening up a debate,” said Arwen Fitch, press officer at Tate St Ives and she welcomed the interest it had created around the exhibition.

She was also pleased that the discussions have raised the profile of Tate’s Art Now, which is a regular programme of exhibitions held at Tate Britain to highlight contemporary artists. “A series no-one expects to be definitive,” she noted.

Ms Fitch explained that the initial plan for the first Art Now exhibition in St Ives was to give a snapshot of art from the region stretching from 19th century works to the present, which would have sat well with the Bryan Pearce and Francis Bacon displays also in the Spring Season.

Yet it transpired that Penlee House, Penzance, was also planning an exhibition taking in the early period, so staff at Tate decided not to overlap the subject but look at the generation after the Modernists. The upshot was a concerted effort between Susan Daniel-McElroy, director of Tate St Ives, and curator Sara Hughes to put together a diverse collection of works.

“The director and curator made over 40 studio visits,” said Ms Fitch, “looking at dialogues they could create between works. They made curatorial decisions, and they’ve come up with a fun and interesting collection. It’s about how pieces work together.”

Andy Hughes, Gwithian Beach, West Cornwall, 2006. From Art Now Cornwall, Tate St Ives. © the artist

The exhibition will include works by 28 artists, and is described by Tate as a ‘curatorial selection … rather than a survey of artists’ practice’ which will raise awareness of emerging trends.

“We’ve got kinetic sculptures by Andy Currie alongside painting, video, photography – it’s a sampling of works that relate to each other,” said Ms Fitch of the show.

As an example of the way pieces were chosen to work with each other in the gallery she cites one room which will contain the work of three female artists – Harriet Bell’s cocoon shaped sculpture and tribal-style constructions in black wax, Cathy Watkins’ Barbie doll painting and Lucy Willow’s marble dust rug.

Art Now Cornwall? will be made up of two parts – one a curated selection of works by those not included in Tate’s show, and an installation including possibly hundreds of artists’ works of all varieties, according to Mr Clarke.

“I look forward to supporting the Tate show with a complementary exhibition which aims to expand on the chosen theme,” he said of the Goldfish show.

Feedback from visitors to the Goldfish exhibition is to be submitted to Tate, who will no doubt be pleased to have the information for developing further events on the theme, such as a symposium.

Where the Art Now Cornwall series heads next is not known, as a new director, as yet unappointed, will take over the reins of Tate St Ives this year.

Art Now Cornwall runs from February 3 to May 13 2007.

Goldfish Contemporary Fine Art is at 56 Chapel Street, Penzance, TR18 4AE.