Review of 'Cities' exhibition Manchester & New York

Written by Aidan O'Rourke
2002-12-04

Cities is an exhibition which presents paintings and photographs of Manchester, New York and other cities side by side. It was Liam Spencer's idea to hold this group exhibition, which was curated by gallery owner David Powell.

It's fascinating to see how visual artists working in photography and painting present the theme of cities in similar and contrasting ways.

Liam Spencer is now one of the leading contemporary painters in Manchester, and it's not difficult to see why. His paintings of familiar buildings and views in Manchester magically capture local colours and textures, illuminated by the changing quality of the sunlight. Reddish browns of brick walls and facades are set against cheerful blue skies and the iridescent colours of sunsets over Strangeways.

He has captured the quality of local sunsets to the extent that once when taking a dusk photo of the War Museum and the Lowry, I remarked to myself. "Wow, that's a Liam Spencer sunset". It's interesting to the way New York is given the Liam Spencer treatment, a city which has much in common with Manchester, though on a much bigger scale. In fact, as we look at yellow taxis on Time Square, traffic on Deansgate, or a red sky over the Ship Canal or a sunset over Lower Manhattan - minus the Twin Towers - the two cities seem to blend into one.

Liam tells me he uses a digital camera as a sketchpad, safer and more discreet than setting up an easel on location. For panoramics he takes a series of shots and mounts them together with Blu-Tack. Some paintings - such as the one of taxis on Time Square - have a photographic quality when seen from a distance, but viewed up close, the brush strokes are like an impressionist painting. Other works are more painterly, but all of them display a masterly control of colour and form which makes them truthful to the subject, atmospheric and very soothing on the eye.

See more of Liam's work on the Liam Spencer website www.liamspencer-art.co.uk

Martin Murrey also paints Manchester but interprets the subject matter in a completely different way. Familiar buildings are given a glowing quality and often set against a deep ultramarine night sky. The round neo-classical form of Manchester Central Library is given the quality of a magic lantern. The aura given off by the buildings in Martin Murrey's paintings is like a hum you can almost hear. On my way home after the exhibition, the lights of the Esso garage on Upper Brook Street seemed to have taken on a quality of one of Martin Murrey's paintings, so vivid is the effect.

You can find Martin Murrey's website at www.martinmurrey.co.uk

Jessica Worral's mixed media piece is a large canvas with a mosaic of metal and glass representing the famous map of Paris. The grid pattern of the streets is formed by the rectangular bits of metal and glass, with the Seine curving roundand forming an eye at the Ile de la Cite. It's an interpretation of a city which combines the feminine quality of tapestry or embroidery with the masculine precision of a street map.

ROBERT WALKER'S photographs focus on forgotten corners and unexpected views of the city - in this case New York. Using the panoramic format his field of vision sweeps across a viewpoint on Manhattan's upper East Side with the Queensboro Bridge on the left and a barbed wire fence on the right. In his intepretation of the Lincoln Centre he defies convention, choosing to photograph the grimy rear of the building which in its own way is as interesting as the front.

Jan Chlebik is one of Manchester's leading photographers and his pictures have been widely published and exhibited. His photographs, mostly taken in black and white, bring out the majestic, the atmospheric and the mysterious quality of cityscapes. Using extreme effects of light and contrast, he captures the essential and timeless character of the city.

Like Robert Walker he often breaks the rules to achieve greater truth. The photo taken underneath the Mancunian Way for instance, with extreme contrast and slightly out of focus, could almost have been a reject negative. There are no people and few cars, the location is barely recognisable, with only the broad sweep of the shadowy concrete flyover above. This view could have been taken 20 or 30 years ago - actually this section of the flyover was opened in 1994. This tiny print mounted in a large frame under glass, gives us a strong sense of Manchester. By contrast his street views of New York have the laid back sophistication of prints on display in Greenwich Village private gallery, and remind me of the photographs by Andreas Feininger of New York in the Forties.

Cities portays my favourite subject matter, including bridges, skylines, panoramas, watery scenes, streets, forgotten corners of cities and the outlines of famous buildings such as the Lowry and the Empire State. The exhibition helps us to rediscover Manchester's forgotten American heritage.

Exhibition dates 14 November to 14 December, Philips Contemporary Art 10a Little Lever St, Manchester M1 1HR, tel: 0161 282 0318 mobile: 07968 047224

2002-12-04