An ambitious art exhibition is being launched this Saturday night with a tryptych live improvisation between an artist, musician and light designer.

Expressionist artist Dave Nevard will be producing the final piece of artwork for a new collection, called Catalyst of Hysteria, live at the Pride and Glory Studio, in Leigh. He will be accompanied by musician Space Cat, creating a live soundscape of atmospheric music and light designer Andy Barak- Smith creating a live light display, with the three artists feeding off each other.

Catalyst for Hysteria is also the title for the exhibition to be held at the tattoo studio-cum-gallery on Leigh Road until the end of March.

The brand new collection by Nevard has never seen before, the artwork being fuelled by the fever pitched emotions in the final week before the show date as he battled to meet deadlines.

Dave says: “The last few shows I’ve done have been showcases of a variety of my work and I didn’t want to show it all again when it’s only just come off exhibition.

“But I was so focused on my last show at Freud, that the date of the show at Pride and Glory was suddenly looming and I hadn’t done anything.

“I always need to work on an emotional charge. Usually I create one piece at a time, based on something that’s inspired me for that piece, and when I’ve finished, I’ve got it out, it’s done, and then I’m onto something else, maybe a week later.

“The pressure of having to come up with a whole batch of newwork in a very short space of time was daunting, and then I realised that high pressured emotion itself had to be the concept for the show. It’s created a playful, manic vibe.

“I’m creating right up until the start date of the show, with the final piece being done live at the show. I’ve been spending whole days at a time, hours on end working, until the chalk and charcoal has dried my fingers up so much they are splitting, and I’ve had to keep going.”

“I’m really looking forward to how the three of us are going to feed off each other on the night.

Most of the pieces in this collection so far have taken me a couple of hours to finish, but on the night the final piece will have to be done within 40-45 minutes, which is obviously going to add to all the high pressure which’ll hopefully project onto the page. I’ve no idea what I’ll be creating, I want to leave it all to chance.”

Paul Blackburn, aka Space Cat, has been a musician for 20 years, and plays keyboards and synths, and has studied classical piano. For the last year he has been learning about electronics and building his own analogue synths and effects.

He says: “I hadn’t created anything for a little while, then went to Dave’s last show at Freud. I went home inspired and produced a couple of tracks based on his artwork, which is quite dark and twisted. I played them to him, thinking it might be awkward if he didn’t like it, but he got really excited and said he wanted to use it to produce some art.”

Andy Barak-Smith of iadwm Production Lighting, who has worked for Village Green, came on board. He says: “I was particularly attracted to this project because of the extra element of producing the final artwork live, under pressure against the clock. I've only heard a sample of what to expect from Space Cat's soundtrack and like Nevard, I only know the title of the final piece. I will have to react to visual as well as audio triggers - I have no idea what's going to happen! It's very exciting!”

Find out more about the artists at facebook.com/nevardart, facebook.com/iadwm and facebook.com/spacecatsynths