Artists from Norfolk, Sweden, Canada, America and Finland on show at Greyfriars

A hard-hitting and powerful new exhibition featuring international artists opend in King's Lynn on Saturday.

A variety of media from video installations to paint have been used to illustrate the theme of Facing Hard Times and artists from as far afield as Canada and Sweden have contributed to the exhibition being staged at the Greyfriars Art Space.

Most of the artists are from Norfolk, but the organisers said they were delighted at the response to invitations to take part and reflect what has been happening in the world in recent times through art.

'I was very heartened to find that so many artists had found the strength and motivation to tackle a subject that so easily causes depression and anxiety in all of us. It made me think that this exhibition was needed to deal with those feelings. All the entries are brilliant and intriguing and this made our selection process very difficult,' said organiser and curator Joa Manninen.

Exhibits range from a red, white and blue representation of the recent inner city riots painted on a flattened-out cardboard box to a poster-style piece including recipes to help 'eat the poor'.

'I was blown away by how each of the artists uniquely addressed our binding concept of a world in economic and social crisis; from the confrontational to the political. The high quality work in this show is so strikingly memorable, clearly driven by the need from each artist to reflect the worrying times we live in,' said Phil Barrington, a Lynn-based artist and exhibition co-organiser.

The exhibition is being staged by the newly formed Out Of The Box Curators, of Lynn, which aims to promote bold, contemporary art exhibitions and provide an accessible way for people to appreciate modern art.

Miss Manninen said there had been 36 applications to take part in Facing Hard Times and 28 pieces had finally been chosen to go on show to the public. 'I want to thank everyone for their contribution,' she said.

Facing Hard Times will run at the Gallery, opposite Greyfriars Tower, until Saturday, October 11 and is open from Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. The majority of work on show is available to buy after the exhibition.

donna.semmens@archant.co.uk