From UrbanCanvas…

Liverpool Resurgent -  a ‘live’ art event reflecting the changes in Liverpool’s cultural landscape

A massive piece of street art (Liverpool stylee) featuring prize winning artists from the 2008 James Carling pavement art event.

A Pre-cursor to The James Carling Pavement Art Competition 2010!

(Tues-Fri) 21st to 24th September 2010

More details to follow………

Also the deadline for event or artist Sponsorship of the James Carling competition is Friday 10th September. We still need sponsorship for artists from America, Mexico and Europe.

We’d like to thank Derwent Pencils: http://www.pencils.co.uk Wabbo: http://www.wabbo.co.uk and Editions Ltd : http://www.editionsltd.net for their continued support of the James Carling Pavement Art Competition!

There is still time to sponsor the event….visit the James Carling webpage for more info: http://www.urbancanvas.org.uk/jamescarling.htm

Ya’ illahi (God!) by Ayman Baalbaki

The Arabicity exhibition at the Bluecoat ends this Sunday 5 September 2010. I hope you don’t miss it, especially the large paintings by Ayman Baalbaki.

Arabicity: Such A Near East
at the Bluecoat
2 July – 5 September 2010
The opening of Arabicity coincided with the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival, a 10 day celebration of Arabic Arts and Culture. The exhibition curated by Rose Issa, Arabicity introduces six contemporary artists, Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Chant Avedissian, Ayman Baalbaki, Fathi Hassan and Raeda Saadeh, all from the Arab World who explore their cultural heritage from unique perspectives.

The exhibition is about representations of the self, projecting and protecting one’s own image and personal iconography. The manner in which the artists negotiate and mediate between various cultural codes and practices is one full of warmth, humour and poetry.

UK’s largest painting prize shortlist – John Moores Painting Prize

Puddles, pleasure and protest all feature in this year’s John Moores Painting Prize, which opens at the Walker Art Gallery from 18 September 2010 to 3 January 2011.

45 paintings shortlisted from almost 3,000 entrants cover traditional themes of portraiture, landscape, still lives and abstracts but their execution and direction are far from old fashioned, proving the vitality and power of contemporary painting.

Artists have drawn inspiration from a wide range of sources. Examples include:

Protest, 1st April 2009 by Nicholas Middleton, 2010 Oil on canvas (117 x 203.5 cm)

•    Protest, 1st April 2009 by Nicholas Middleton, a photorealist painting of the G20 demonstrations outside the Bank of England in 2009, where newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson died.

Puddle Painting: Dioxazine by Ian Davenport, 2009 Acrylic paint on stainless steel mounted on aluminium panel (250 x 250 cm)

•    Puddle Painting: Dioxazine by Ian Davenport was created with heavy duty syringes pouring paint down a panel. The repeated stripes of colours form relationships and a rhythm inspired by patterns in music.

Episodical by Darren Coffield, 2010 Acrylic on canvas (96 x 81 cm)

•    Episodical by Darren Coffield explores the world of images and ideology with an intriguing portrait of Christopher Reeve’s iconic Superman.

Refractions (Robert Hooke) by Jason Thompson, 2010 Enamel paint and varnish on plywood (33.7 x 28 cm)

•    Refractions (Robert Hooke) by Jason Thompson is a colourful geometric image, constructed through multiple layers which contradict and overlay each other.

For Your Pleasure by Philip Diggle, 2009 Oil on canvas (92 x 75 cm)

•    For Your Pleasure by Philip Diggle is a vibrant abstract painting full of texture and energy.

The exhibition forms a key part of the Liverpool Biennial.

For the first time in the history of the competition the announcement of the winner will be broadcast live on the internet on Thursday 16 September 2010 at: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnmooreslive.

The full list of shortlisted artists:
1.    Cornelia Baltes: THERE YOU ARE!
2.    Jon Braley: Untitled
3.    GL Brierley: Jilly Jiggy
4.    Deborah Burnstone: Freeway
5.    Darren Coffield: Episodical
6.    Keith Coventry: Spectrum Jesus
7.    Edward Coyle: Multiplicity study
8.    Theo Cuff: Untitled
9.    Stuart Cumberland: YLLW240
10.    Ian Davenport: Puddle Painting: Dioxazine
11.    Philip Diggle: For Your Pleasure
12.    Tim Ellis: United in Different Guises XXXXIII
13.    Geraint Evans: An Alpine Biodome
14.    Adam Fearon: Untitled
15.    Damien Flood: Drip
16.    Nick Fox: Metatopia
17.    David Fulford: Near the Site
18.    Mikey Georgeson: Untitled (Dopamine – Molecule of Intuition)
19.    Chris Hamer: Crook
20.    Andy Harper: Frau Troffea
21.    Richard Harrison: Mountain Peaks
22.    Sigrid Holmwood: Butchering a Pig
23.    Phil Illingworth: 3D painting No.1 (experiments with colour reflection)
24.    Lee Johnson: The Kerchief or Dr Olfato’s Welcome
25.    Neal Jones: Orange Paving
26.    Joseph Long: Hortus Botanicus
27.    Elizabeth McDonald: Bee Keepers I
28.    Nicholas Middleton: Protest, 1st April 2009
29.    Michael Miller: Suspended Animation
30.    Matthew Mounsey: Prehistoric Sex Machine
31.    Jost Münster: To the left
32.    Cara Nahaul: Somewhere between prayer and agenda
33.    Narbi Price: Untitled See Saw Painting
34.    Steven Proudfoot: The Party
35.    Sabrina Shah: Witness
36.    Annabelle Shelton: Helter Skelter Runway
37.    George Sherlock: Polycrylic Decades
38.    Michael Simpson: Bench Painting Untitled
39.    Henrietta Simson: Giotto’s Template
40.    Veronica Smirnoff: Lubo
41.    Ian Peter Smith: Matter at the edge
42.    Daniel Sturgis: Still Squallings
43.    Geraldine Swayne: Industrialist on Wheels
44.    Jason Thompson: Refractions (Robert Hooke)
45.    Christian Ward: Frontier Monument

Winning painting 'Big Plane' by Han Feng

The first John Moores Painting Prize China took place at Shanghai Gallery of Art  14th – 30th August 2010.

The five Chinese Prizewinners will form part of the exhibition John Moores Painting Prize at Walker Art Gallery 18 September 2010 – 3 January 2011, one of the highlights of the Liverpool Biennial.

The judging panel for the inaugural John Moores Painting Prize China was
Lewis Biggs (Artistic Director, Liverpool Biennial)
Peter Jenkinson (former Director of the New Art Gallery Walsall)
Peter McDonald (artist, First Prizewinner JMPP 2008)
Gu Wenda (artist)
Zeng Fanzhi (artist)

The 5 Chinese Prizewinners chosen by the panel are:
Zou Tao
Zhang Wei
Zhang Zhenxue
Li Zhouwei
Han Feng – the overall winner.

It is hoped the John Moores Painting Prize China will become a regular biennial event and the exchange of prize-winning paintings for exhibition in Liverpool and Shanghai will continue as an official form of cultural exchange between UK and China.

Tate Liverpool is delighted to announce the appointment of Gavin Delahunty to the position of Head of Exhibitions and Displays.  Gavin is currently Curator at mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art).  He will join the gallery in November 2010 and succeeds Peter Gorschlüter, who has taken up the position of Deputy Director at MMK (Museum für Moderne Kunst) in Frankfurt.

Gavin will work alongside Tate Liverpool Director Christoph Grunenberg to lead the programme of the Gallery.  He stated, “I am delighted to welcome Gavin to the Tate Liverpool team.  His appointment strengthens the existing curatorial department and its already strong international outlook. We look forward to Gavin’s expertise and specialist knowledge shaping our future exhibitions and displays.”

Gavin added, “I am delighted to be joining the distinguished team at Tate Liverpool.  The gallery has an astonishing exhibition history, in many instances hosting the first solo exhibition in Britain of some of the world’s most influential artists.  I look forward to contributing to its mission and delivering first rate international exhibitions.”

In his three years at mima Gavin has curated a number of important exhibitions including British Surrealism & Other Realities (2008); Katy Moran: Paintings (2009); The End of the Line: Attitudes in Drawing (2009); Gerhard Richter: Modern Times (2009) in partnership with ARTIST ROOMS; Ellsworth Kelly: Drawings 1954-62 (2010); A Certain Distance Endless Light: A project by Felix Gonzalez-Torres & William McKeown (2010) and Bonnie Camplin: Railway Mania (2010).  His exhibition Gerhard Richter “Lines which do not exist” will open at The Drawing Center, New York in September 2010 showcasing the artist’s works on paper for the first time in the United States.

Gavin also led the Art Fund International Award, in consultation with The Drawing Center, New York. Under this scheme he has overseen major acquisitions for the mima collection by artists such as Stephen Antonakos, Robert Breer, James Lee Byars, Nathan Carter, Robert Gober, Michael Heizer, Ellsworth Kelly, Barbara Kruger, Adrian Piper, Fred Sandback, Paul Sharits, Robert Smithson, Al Taylor and Kara Walker.

Gavin has previously worked at Modern Art Oxford; the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.  He holds an MA in Visual Arts Practices from IADT (Institute of Art, Design and Technology), Dublin.

One of the several City States exhibitions at the Contemporary Urban Centre during the Biennial.

Future Movements
City States: Jerusalem
(City States is a strand of the 2010 Liverpool Biennial’s international exhibition)

Future Movements draws inspiration from the city of Jerusalem and its changing urban structure.  The exhibition takes the viewer to places outside the spiritual Old City to locations that, despite their importance in shaping the contemporary metropolis, have rarely been referenced or addressed in literature and the visual arts.  The exhibition exposes Jerusalem as a contemporary city in all its physical, social, economic and political complexities – demonstrating how the urban space is divided, conquered, abandoned and re-occupied.

Future Movements is a culmination of work by artists who have taken part in ArtSchool Palestine’s 2009 residency programme, as well as newly commissioned art works by Palestinian artists, living in Palestine, also on show ongoing projects by other international artists and collectives.  The programme offered visiting international artists and Palestinian artists the opportunity to interact and respond to areas in the city, rarely touched upon in tourist literature. It gave them the chance to explore and reflect on the actuality of Jerusalem today, a place that has changed a great deal during the last decade due to extensive Israeli settlement activity, road building, and the erection of many barriers; policies that have resulted in fragmented Palestinian realities and an urban fabric that is distorted and truncated by political, social and cultural divisions.  The city – once a commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the West Bank and Gaza – has been transformed into an isolated city that is barely surviving. The art works in the exhibition depict these realities, but at the same time, give space for self-reflection, dignity, hope and the possibility of looking forward into the future.

The featured artists explore the sharper edges of Jerusalem through personal experience while others, due to their inability to access the city itself, have managed to imagine and reinvent it. By offering diverse perspectives and examining the relationship between the individual and the place, the exhibition creates a setting where personal confessions and stories of the everyday are recounted.  Whether from Palestine or elsewhere, the artists often use memory and a sense of absence as a means through which to reveal engagements and confrontations within the city. Depicting Jerusalem as a place overshadowed by the weight of history and scarred by divisions, they mark its fraught legacy of conflict and violence.  Moving between locations they look at how cultures of remembering are constructed in the contemporary city, through architecture, memories and stories.

Participating artists are: Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou Rahme – Palestine; Jawad Al Malhi – Palestine; Sarah Beddington – UK; Anna Boggon – UK; CAMP Group – India; Raouf Haj Yihya – Palestine; Alexandra Handal – Palestine/UK; Shuruq Harb – Palestine; Maj Hasager – Denmark; Jakob Jakobsen – Denmark; Bouchra Khalili – Morocco/France; Larissa Sansour – Palestine/Denmark; Oraib Toukan – Jordan.

Supported by Sawsan Asfari, the Barjeel Art Foundation, the Danish Arts Council, Ford Foundation, The International Arab Charity, Zina Jardaneh, PADICO HOLDING, and the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.

In partnership with Al Hoash Gallery and Visiting Arts.
ArtSchool Palestine is supported by the Foundation for Arts Initiatives.

Image c. David Lach. Exhibiting at 3345 Parr St

Liverpool Daily Post – Entertainment – Liverpool Arts – Liverpool Biennial Independents strand attracts 500 artists. By Laura Davis

Excellent!

WHILE the art world anticipates Liverpool’s transformation into a city centre-wide gallery of work by international artists, those who are here all year round are preparing their own contributions to the Biennial.

The International strand of the 10-week festival of contemporary visual art may be responsible for the striking large-scale pieces, but the Independents provides the most wide-ranging.

This year, more than 500 artists have signed up to be involved in around 130 events at 61 venues.

Many of them are local, but some from farther afield.

And this is despite the Independents, which is run separately to the official Liverpool Biennial, receiving no funding at all…

Anyone know where this Cavern place is?

All photos © Minako Jackson

Great to see the city packed with music fans again for this annual event which continues today (Monday 30 August). We did a tour of all the outdoor stages and caught some good acts. There are also the Beatle Week bands at the Cavern where we saw 2 of the 3 Japanese Beatles cover bands – Chelsea and the Blue Margarets (both all female bands). Also a massive Fringe festival in pubs, clubs, bars and St Lukes.

http://www.mathewstreetfestival.org/

Mike Neary does Elvis Costello

Black Eyed Peaz

Hotter Than Hell Kiss Tribute Show

Eric Faulkners - Bay City Rollers

Chelsea at the Cavern

The Blue Margarets at the Cavern

This Way?

This was fun. Last Friday we were in Ropewalks square in front of FACT firing sms messages onto the wall using a digital slingshot. People in Berlin were doing the same, so it was an unusual way of communicating.

At the same time the new screen on the front of FACT was switched on, this will launch properly on 3 September at dusk with more Media Facade events to follow.

Media Facades Europe Festival
27 August – October 3 2010
FACT hosts first Media Facades Europe Festival in Liverpool. Sites including the FACT building, RopeWalks Square, BBC Big Screen and North Liverpool. Media Facades is a brand new a European-wide public realm festival connecting seven European cities: Berlin, Brussels, Helsinki, Budapest, Linz, Madrid and Liverpool.

Liverpool artwork of the week 2010-35. ‘Portrait of Peter Cameron’ gouache on board by Kim Harley at The Gallery Liverpool 28 August – 10 September 2010

The current exhibition at The Gallery features works by the artists based in the nearby Elevator artist studios in the Elevator building. It’s a really good show with a few artists whose work I haven’t seen much of before because although they are based here they may exhibit elsewhere or may do a lot of commissioned work which the public never see.

Kim is one such artist, she is a long established commercial painter and illustrator and also teaches art and design but I don’t recall seeing her work before. She has a couple of portraits in the show including this one of fellow studio member Peter Cameron.

There is of course a lot of other excellent art in the exhibition – well worth a visit.

The Elevator Artists collective
at The Gallery Liverpool, Stanhope St
28 August – 10 September 2010
Art Exhibition by the Elevator Artists collective. Richard Ashworth, Vincent Lavell, Steve Best, Chekhuo Leung, Jacqueline McKenzie, Freida McKitrick, Peter Cameron,  Bill Embery, Charlie Frais, Kim Harley, Ken Bullock, Frank Moore, Steve Strode, Lindsey Moran, Emma Newman, Emma Sumner, Marianna Whitehorn, Daniel John, Dave Garnett