This weekend Field Grey hit Manchester to check out the brand new Whitworth Art Gallery.
The Whitworth, often referred to as ‘The Tate of the North,’ houses a huge collection of modern and contemporary art. Due to burgeoning visitor numbers and a lack of space to exhibit the vast collections, the Whitworth closed in 2013 to allow for £15m worth of development. The gallery reopened this year with a huge glass extension that stretches from the back of the red brick building into Whitworth Park.
The red brick and glass structure is a modernist pervert’s dream, with geometric and angular lines providing the basis of the building. The floor-to-ceiling glass soaks the new galleries in light and materials echo those in the original construction.
The permanent collection has works to satisfy all tastes. Field Grey were instantly drawn to the textiles rooms, where fine examples of Liberty prints and works by Lucienne Day can be found. A temporary display educates on sustainable fashion, with examples from People Tree and Christopher Raeburn.
The Portraits rooms, if not a little chaotic with the absence of visible captions, display some great works too, with British greats like Francis Bacon, Gilbert & George and Gillian Wearing all represented.
The permanent collections merge with revolving exhibitions through the new annexe. Currently adorned with Sarah Lucas Marlboro Lights bespoke wallpaper, the room contains a number of Lucas’s work as the old building meets the new one seamlessly, as is the reputation of MUMA Architects who transformed the V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries with the same old vs new flare.
We loved the 1960s room, a vast collection of paintings, prints and drawings from some of the decade’s most accomplished Pop Artists, such as Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Patrick Caulfield and Allen Jones RA.
We just caught the extensive Cornelia Parker exhibition/retrospective, a huge body of her work including The Distance (A Kiss with Added String Attached) and the optical illusions of Thirty Pieces of Silver; crushed metal objects hung from the ceiling with fishing wire that appear to float mid-air.
The main draw, though, is Cold Dark Matter which donimated one of the gallery’s new rooms – the remnants of an exploded shed lit by a single light bulb, which casts dramatic shadows.
Of course, Field Grey were keen to indulge in the Whitworth’s new uniforms, which were designed by our pals at Private White V.C.. All those lucky staff have been afforded a version of the Worksuit, a utilitarian blazer produced in a pale grey (the Whitworth’s signature colour). Jerkins are also worn by male and female staff members, while shop assistants wear workwear aprons in the same fabric. Wonderful!
For more information about the Whitworth and its summer programme, visit their website.
Read more about Private White’s process here.
