Iain Stephenson's work explores two main themes: time and ownership. He has conducted long-term investigations into the concepts associated with time, how it is perceived and manipulated and its associations with objects, writing and memory. The second theme challenges the commodification of art and its ownership

'Breath' is the starting point of the exhibition and the point at which the themes converge. Other works run either side of Breath to challenge the preconceptions of people of what time and art mean to them and society. Iain's hope is that people will think about both time and art and begin to change the way they use them.

Image: A single breath, blown into glass.
From 'Breath' series, 2009.

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Patrick Caulfield, painter and printmaker, was born 29th January 1936 in London, England. He was among the generation of artists, including David Hockney, Peter Blake and Allen Jones, who seemed to epitomise British Pop Art, though his work often has an introspective or melancholic mood quite unlike Pop Art's more upbeat style. Since the 1960s he produced pictures of interiors and still lifes that suggest the banality of everyday existence. Patrick Caulfield studied at Chelsea School of Art, London from 1956 to 1960 and at the Royal College of Art, London from 1960 to 1963. Caulfield’s first solo exhibition was held in 1965 at the Robert Fraser Gallery, London. His international reputation was quickly established and a string of one-man shows of his work were held in the UK and in many countries throughout the world. His influence can be seen in many artists work including Michael Craig-Martin and Julian Opie. Patrick Caulfield died in 2005. There is no doubt that he will be remembered as one of the great British painters of the late 20th century.

The screenprints within this exhibtion are taken from Some Poems of Jules Laforgue, a series of 22 screenprinted illustrations for twelve poems. Created by Caulfield in 1973. All screenprints are limited edition, signed by the artist. This is a selling exhibition.

My life inspires so many desires!
Patrick Caulfield, 1973
Screen Print
From Some Poems of Jules Laforgu

Faç Off
7 August - 19 September
CENTRAL STATION

Manchester based artists and designers Central Station - Pat and Matt Carroll and Karen Jackson - are synonymous with the second phase of the Factory Records story that saw artists such as Happy Mondays, James and Black Grape launch into the music scene. According to Pat Carroll “We wanted to develop our own voice for the work that was as strong and as fun as the music.” Their arrival on the art and design scene was contemporaneous with the opening of The Haçienda, and the arrival of acid house and Ecstacy and the emergence of the ‘Madchester’ identity which they developed for the Happy Mondays’ ‘Madchester Rave On EP’.

They have been responsible for creating a revolution in the art of record sleeve design. Their artwork is gloriously anarchic, colourful and bold without conforming to any stylistic limitations. Factory Records legend Tony Wilson said of their work: ”The second half of the Factory story is best summed up by the painterly eccentricity of Central Station; Matt, Pat and Karen”.

Central Station launched their first art exhibition in 1990 at the Manchester City Art Gallery, featuring a collection of larger-than-life portraits of famous faces from British film and television. The V&A purchased four paintings for their permanent collection of modern art.
The record cover art and the film titles they created for '24 Hour Party People' were included in 'Communicate - Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties' a touring exhibition which visited major cities across China and the Far East as well as Europe.
They and their work were also a feature of 'Revolutions; From gatefold to download, the art of the album cover' an exhibition charting the history of album cover design.
The exhibition title ‘Faç Off’ alludes to a promotional T-shirt graphic from 1990 and the Factory Records naming convention of giving every product a ‘Fac’ number.

The show includes a selection of limited edition prints of work from their diverse career. All prints are for sale so buy a piece of music hostory.

Image: Cover of Black Grape's album It's Great When You're Straight Yeah; Wrote For Luck (FAC 212)

Image:Faç Off (FAC 258)

Fiona Curran’s paintings, collages and installations conjure up imagined spaces that play with notions of the real and the unreal, utopia and dystopia. Quoting art historical moments from the Baroque, 19th Century Scenic Wallpapers and early Modernism her works engage with a recurring Utopian impulse, formal idealism and sense of escapism that re-registers in a palette borrowed from the computer screen and advertising.

There’s an embrace of optimism and hope in the seductive candy colours alongside a subtle sense of unease in the overblown fluorescents and darker undertones. Geometric shapes fracture and explode outwards in bursts of colour or they appear layered, tangled and folded.

The titles of the works often give a further clue to their origin in this push-pull between promise and disillusion referencing song lyrics, novels and films that speak a language of loss and longing, of fragmentation and ambiguity, where all is not quite as it should be in the bright and beautiful image-world we inhabit. Influences including Tom Waits, J.G Ballard, Don DeLillo are influential in the way the artist deals with mapping emotional space in her work.

The Insecurity of Territory, 2009
Fiona Curran
Acrylic on veneered Wooden Panel
380 × 380 mm

Merrick's practice combines painting with sculpture and the made with the ready-made. The artisit's continued interrogation of painting and process has seen him evolve from working exclusively with oil paint and two-dimensions to gradually introducing new materials (Fablon, gaffa tape, furniture, scrap metal, strip lighting, gloss paint) in order to investigate colour, shape and form.

'Untitled' (Construction), 2009
Aluminium, stainless steel, metal primer, spray paint, fluorescent light fittings
160cm x 190cm
Photo credit: Colin Davison