Fantastic to see the Open Eye gallery re-opening at its new venue near the waterfront last week. It looks great, there’s a lot more room, good lighting, nice little shop, beautifully fitted out and great location next to the new canal, just a few metres from the Museum of Liverpool and a couple of minutes from the Tate. We’re looking forward to many more trips to the Pier Head.
The current exhibitions are well worth a visit too. The exterior wall of the gallery is being used as a canvas for temporary displays, the first is the striking ‘dazzle camouflage’ and text piece by S Mark Gubb ‘Now Comes Good Sailing’.
The main exhibition on the ground floor shows 8 large photographs by Mitch Epstein.
“American Power (2003-9) examines how energy is produced and used in the American landscape, questioning the power of nature, government and corporations. Epstein was awarded the prestigious Prix Pictet photographic award in March 2011 for this body of work, which offers a radical reflection on “the American Dream gone awry” “.
Open Eye now has an upstairs gallery (and fine staircase it is too) which will be showing various smaller exhibitions including works from the archive which has built up over the years since Open Eye started in 1977.
The opening show is Chris Steele-Perkins ‘The Pleasure Principle”, a photographic portrait of England in the 1980s. Good photos but a stark reminder of what an awful place England was/is.
Full details on Open Eye’s website: http://www.openeye.org.uk/
Images © Minako Jackson
