The 2013 Liverpool Art Prize, 'People's Choice Award' will be presented in fond memory of the Liverpool artist, Joe Bampton.

Joe, who in recent years lived in London, was an accomplished artist, attended Slade School of Fine Art and exhibited in places such as London, Paris and Berlin, as well as the Bridewell & the 'International' exhibition at the CUC in 2008, in Liverpool.  Joe was tragically killed in February of this year in a hot air balloon disaster at Luxur, Egypt, Joe's partner Zsi also died in the incident.

Joe regularly returned to Liverpool to catch up with friends and spend time with his Mum, Maureen who is known to many lovers of art in Liverpool as the director of the Bluecoat Display Centre, supporting the sale of artists' work for over 25 years.
Joe would have been very keen to see artists in the city rewarded and for their careers to flourish. We want to honour his memory by presenting this year's 'People's Choice Award' in his name.

Metal is very grateful to Maureen Bampton for her kind donation to the Liverpool Art Prize.

In May, Japanese artist Macoto Murayama is coming to Chalkwell Hall for his artist-in-residence stay.

His work is concerned with cultivating inorganic flora. First, he chooses the plant and finds the real flower, for example the exquisite Lathyrus odoratus L. Second, he dissects the flower cutting the petal and ovary with scalpel and observes it with magnifying glass. Third, he makes sketches and photographs the parts of dissected flower. Forth, he models its form and structure using 3ds Max (3DCG software). Fifth, he renders separate parts and creates a composition using Adobe Photoshop. Sixth, he imposes admeasurements, parts names, scale, scientific name etc. Seventh, he prints out Lathirus odoratus L. at large scale printer and frames it...

Here it is, The Flower of Totalitarian Scientific Conscious: properly fixed, totally measured, strictly nominated and distinctly shown. It is not only an image of a plant, but representation of the intellect’s power and its elaborate tools for scrutinizing nature. The transparency of this work refers not only to the lucid petals of a flower, but to the ambitious, romantic and utopian struggle of science to see and present the world as transparent (completely seen, entirely grasped) object. Paradoxically, this scientific challenge to measure the Universe might eventually become one of the sources where art of Murayama draws its strength of fantasy and odor of romanticism, becoming a part of Botech Art, symbiosis of Botanical Art and Technology.

For more information, see the Frantic Gallery's website.

Lathyrus odoratus L digital c-print, 100x100cm, 2012, Ed.8
front view - b
front view - ow
side view - b
side view - ow
top view - b
top view - ow
ecology view - b
ecology view - w

Liverpool Art Prize 2013 has got off to a really exciting start.

Metal managed to secure a space at The Albert Dock for this years’ exhibition and four hundred people packed into the historic venue on Thursday 25th April. Family and friends of the four shortlisted artists, Kevin Hunt, Tabitha Moses, Julieann O’Malley and Laurence Payot were joined by previous winners, David Jacques, Brendan Lyons, Imogen Stidworthy and Robyn Woolston and a whole array of personalities from Liverpool’s art scene alongside members of the public, creating a wonderful atmosphere. The exhibition is open Tues-Sat 11-5pm until Sat 8th June. The winners will be announced at 6pm on Wednesday 29th May.

The Art Prize now becomes the reference point to the wider Liverpool Art Month which showcases Liverpool’s artists across the city throughout the month of May and which includes bus tours to an exciting range of studios, exhibitions and talks

Images Courtesy of McCoy Wynne

We were delighted to be joined by renowned artists The Singh Twins for the latest Future Station event (Wed 8^th May). The twins gave a great talk about their work and career, showed their animation 'The Making of Liverpool' which was commissioned for Capital of Culture 2008 then held an open Q&A session. The twins were really inspiring and gave great advice for making a career as an artist.

'Bravo! Apart from them being massively talented I also believe them to be really important creative artists. You made me very happy to be able to enjoy them last night. Thanks.' Paul Fred Kelly

The event began with a really informative session on how to write a good press release by Angela Samata including tips from journalists. 3 Minute wonders were from Sufea Mohamad Noor, Pamela Sullivan from Arena Studios and Gallery, Visual artist D.Amos and Edward Bruce from Bridewell Studios and Gallery.
Many thanks to all who attended and participated in the event.

The next Future Station will be held on Wed 4th September and will begin with a session on applying to The Arts Council for Grants for the Arts facilitated by Metal's Artistic Director Colette Bailey. Guest speaker: TBC

On 4 April, Chrish Nash discussed his dance photography at Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre, as part of Dance in Focus exhibition.

Here's a short film from the event by Sparky Media Productions: