The art of Liverpool’s Biennial

Aug 27 2008 by Lorna Hughes, Neston News

LIVERPOOL Biennial’s Independents 08 strand kicked off in Wirral this week - with the opening of an exhibition at the Artroom Gallery, Parkgate.

The Biennial isn’t due to begin officially until September, but after making enquiries during the last run two years ago, the Artroom’s Michelle Linger received a surprise telephone call asking if she’d like to be involved during Capital of Culture year.

Michelle told the News: “We’d already got the exhibition planned and had the three artists ten months in advance.

“Then we got the phone call from Liverpool Biennial saying they’d heard we were exhibiting modern contemporary creatives.”

The three artists featured in the Modern Contemporary Creatives exhibition are Merseyside-based Elaine Preece Stanley and Claire McCarthy, as well as Wirral resident, Jacqui Chapman.

A graduate of Wirral Met College, Jacqui paints abstract scenes, often inspired by her background in South Africa but Wirral is filtering into her creative imagination with increasing frequency.

Her new series is entitled “Watermark”.

Michelle said: “We are contemporary and Jacqui’s is very abstract work.

“The gallery is split into three rooms, as if you’re going into a living space.

“We didn’t want a white cube space feel, we wanted people to feel more relaxed, as if they are at home.

“Downstairs is like going into a lounge or living room.

“Then we have the Black Room and that’s meant to be like an office space.

“The room next to it, we tend to use to display bigger pieces and we call that the Light Room.”

The Artroom Gallery is situated on The Parade in Parkgate and is open from Thursday to Sunday, between 12 and 5pm.