ARTIST ROOMS Martin Creed at Tate Liverpool 24 February – 27 May 2012

ARTIST ROOMS returns to Tate Liverpool in 2012, displaying seven important new works recently donated by Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed (b 1968) jointly to Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the ARTIST ROOMS Collection.  Creed’s work was not previously represented in ARTIST ROOMS and he is the first new contemporary artist to join the Collection since it was established in 2008. The artist has...

DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture at Tate Liverpool

Carol Ann Duffy response to the  DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture was to write a new sonnet entitled POETRY that is integrated within this exciting exhibition. Carol Ann Duffy has constructed an installation that asks visitors to involve themselves with the display by re-arranging the words of the sonnet, thereby creating an original and unlimited poem. Tate Liverpool has collaborated with world renowned hat...

Whitworth Art Gallery presents COTTON: Global Threads

Although just about everyone on the planet wears an article of cotton each day, the story of cotton is far from every day. It spans centuries and continents, was the catalyst for some of the most important moments in modern history and exposes a multitude of ethical sins. A new exhibition, COTTON: Global Threads will tell this story, giving a global history of the production, consumption and trade in cotton. New...

Grayson Perry: Visual Dialogues – Manchester Art Gallery

This display features the gallery’s two recently purchased artworks by Grayson Perry: a large ceramic vase Jane Austen in E17 and one of his first major etchings, Print for a Politician. Co-curated by The Creative Consultants, a group of young people aged 15-18, and artist Jim Medway, the display uses film, text and unusual objects to make links between these exciting contemporary artworks and rarely seen...

Lost is Found – A group show from nine artists at the Cornerhouse Manchester

Cornerhouse presents Lost is Found, a group show of nine artists’ work in Gallery 1. Curated and developed by the Creative Stars, 19 talented young people from the Greater Manchester region, the exhibition examines the themes of rebirth, identity and fragility which are discovered through a range of media including sculpture, photography, and drawing. Lost is Found provokes the audience to engage with the art,...

Richard & Famous: Richard Simpkin and Simone Lueck at the Open Eye Gallery

Open Eye Gallery, one of the UK’s leading photography galleries and the only venue of its kind in the North West, is excited to announce the UK premier of two exhibitions in their new gallery on the Liverpool Waterfront, from 13 January to 18 March 2012. UK Photographer Martin Parr curates Richard & Famous, showcasing work by photographers Richard Simpkin and Simone Lueck. The exhibition features an...

Ford Madox Brown: Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer – Ends 29 January 2012

Manchester Art Gallery has staged the first major exhibition of Ford Madox Brown’s work since 1964. Ford Madox Brown: Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer will bring together 140 works from public and private collections to reveal the pioneering role Ford Madox Brown played in the development of Pre-Raphaelitism and explore how the artist’s rebellion against traditionally taught methods led to a completely radical new...

John Kirby: The Living and the Dead at Walker Art Gallery

From Friday 13 January until Sunday 15 April 2012 the Walker Art Gallery will host the first retrospective of work by the Liverpool born artist John Kirby. The Living and the Dead: Paintings and sculpture by John Kirby explores the themes of gender, religion, sexuality and race and Kirby’s complex relationship with each of them. Comprising over 50 paintings and 10 sculptures The Living and the Dead: Paintings and...

The Old Favourites Are Still Favourite

The top five paintings you should see in your lifetime… By Alanna Jane Allen SUNFLOWERS (1889) Vincent Van Gogh Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Holland Van Gogh wrote the prophetic line ‘the sunflower is mine’ in a letter to his brother, Theo, in 1889. Over one hundred years later and the Dutchman is now synonymous with the bloom. He painted seven versions of this classic with the idea being to...