237: No Offence Intended launch night

Last night was the opening night of No Offence Intended; the first group of artists taking advantage of the external exhibitions programme at BLANKSPACE.  Free booze was laid on (with wine provided by Barefoot Wine and beer by Sandbar) and there was a great turnout of the art viewing public to see the show.  As I staggered around with a bottle of beer in hand I attempted to photo the artworks and the crowds.  Low light levels and a shaky hand conspired to ruin most of my photographs, but my pictures of two of the works have survived and are shown here.

The first is entitled The Colour Blue, a conceptual sculpture by curator Ryan Higgins.  It is a large glass tank containing two large desk fans.  They have had the safety guards removed and are blowing up a confined storm in which polystyrene beans and blue powder paint swirl and whorl into vortexes.  They build up in one corner then explode into the air.  As the fans move left to right out of synch with one another the patterns of movement changes and evolves.  The glass tank seems to be becoming more and more opaque over time as the fine dust of blue adheres.  This is a piece that needs to be seen, and more than once as it is a growing, living system.

The second is The Bread Source by Laura Burke and Miriam Baynes, which is a performance installation based around a fictional company which collects old bread and redistributes it to those in need of old bread (ducks and people who want a bread and butter pudding?).  It is aiming to highlight the nature of waste and the ease in which every level of our society and culture prefers to waste than to use.  They have created an office environment in the gallery where they can work on their project of obtaining bread for supplying to the hungry and breadless.

The exhibition also features work by Sonny Barker, Runa Begum, Edwina McEachran, Adam Renshaw & Joe Nowacki, Kay Woodley, and Marcin Wozniak.  I will return over the course of the next few days to properly photograph their art and then I’ll complete this round-up of the exhibition.  Visitors on opening night were gifted a lovely little 28 page booklet featuring artist’s statements and descriptions of the work.  Only one hundred printed.  I hope there are some more for anyone who goes to see the art over the weekend and next week.  The exhibition continues until Sunday 27^th March 2011.  Get down to BLANKSPACE (how to find us).  That is an order; not optional.

Afterwards we went and met some friends, old and new, down at Canal Street.  Had some Guinness and Baby Guinness, listened to the missus complain about her sore feet (!), danced to Mr. Vain, got the bus home and had cheeseburger and cheesy chips from Kahn's on Wilmslow Road.  Then bed, then sleep, then alarm clock.