Star date: 29th July 2018

SALFORD SUMMER SHOW SEES SCULPTURES, PHOTOS, PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND MORE

Almost two hundred works by artists who live, work, study or were born in Salford are currently on display in the Salford Art Gallery and Museum first Open Exhibition, titled the Salford Summer Show.

The exhibition is part of the Royal Academy Takeover, and is inspired by the RA's annual Summer Exhibition. The selected works show the incredible breadth of talent in the city with abstracts, portraits, landscapes, sculptures, pop art, photos, textiles, videos and way more. Not to be missed!

Full details here...

Sometimes, walking through the galleries of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, showing endless classical portraits, landscapes and biblical scenes, can leave you in awe of the big name talent but, how shall we say, er, unexcited. Very, very unexcited.

This month, however, has seen the start of something more seminal, the first ever Open Exhibition [1], part of the Salford Royal Academy Takeover and inspired by the RA's annual Summer Exhibition.

The Salford Summer Show was open to all artists, designers, sculptors, photographers and craft makers who live, work, study or were born in Salford, and almost two hundred works have been selected and are on show, sprawling over the North and Blue galleries until 11th November.

It's an incredible exhibition that incorporates every conceivable style and shows the breadth of talent of the city's artists – from a series of surreal stilettos, to pop art, op art, abstracts, sculptures, textiles, photos and videos, as well as the standard portraits, landscapes and scenes of old Salford.

Indeed, the walls and cases are plastered with so many contrasting forms and artistic genres that it's all quite unsettling, in the best way possible. From the eye-popping to the restrained and realistic, all these works make up a whole monster of a show that depicts the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the disturbed and the stunning creative psyche of a city.

From well known artists to the unknown; from young creatives to painting pensioners, everyone in the city has had an opportunity to be seen at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, and this exhibition is hued from the cream of that crop. Too many artists to name, too many works to highlight. Everyone will find something to wow at the Salford Summer Show.

Walking through these two galleries can leave you in awe and, how shall we say, excited. Very, very excited...

Open Exhibition [1]: the Salford Summer Show runs at Salford Art Gallery and Museum until November 11th 2018

Many of the works are for sale, while visitors can vote for their favourite art to win a People's Choice prize

The exhibition is part of the Salford Royal Academy Takeover, a celebration of 250 years of the RA. The Takeover shows also run at The Lowry and Ordsall Hall, as well as at Salford Art Gallery and Museum, and feature works by Royal Academicians including Lowry, Dring, Riviera, Burne-Jones, Frink, Hockney and Nash.

For full details and opening times of both exhibitions see the Salford Art Gallery and Museum website – click here

Also see previous Salford Star article on Matt Carroll's 'pig' Trump being exhibited at the Salford Summer Show – click here

Review by Stephen Kingston