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City scenes

Angela Kelly
26/ 3/2008

VIBRANT watercolours that offer a different view of Manchester figure in an exhibition which has just started in the city centre.

CUBE – the Centre for the Urban Built Environment – in Portland Street is the venue for the event organised by the Centre for Construction Innovation (CCI NW) in association with The Watergate Street Gallery in Chester.

It features the work of artist Ian Fennelly, famous for his cityscape portraits and his unique watercolours which have already proved highly collectable.

The reason for this is not simply acquisitive but because Fennelly’s pictures are inspired by his experiences and inter-action with places and people, and it shows in his work.

This week-long showcase is entitled Watercolours of Manchester and Beyond, and Fennelly’s scope has certainly taken him over a large number of venues, both here and in other cities including London, New York and Venice.

Its essence, however, is to capture Manchester’s unique atmosphere and spirit, and the exhibition includes 30 of the artist’s latest watercolours, prints and etchings.

Fennelly has chosen an eclectic mix of old and new, traditional and modernistic. Subjects include Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square and St Ann’s Church, The Midland and Lowry hotels, Castlefield Locks, St Peter’s Square, Old Trafford and the Commonwealth Stadium.

Fennelly, who is in his early 40s and lives on the Wirral, has a very loose and direct style of painting that strikes a balance between form and content. He lets the paint and water drip, splash and dance across the paper in a natural, intuitive journey, while allowing the images to come through.

He uses heavy, textured paper, plenty of water and colour and several years’ experience to build up images that both challenge and inform the viewer.

He says: "Inspiration comes from visiting places, spending time there, meeting people and getting honked at by buses.

"But when I paint, the subject is just the starting point – it’s a battle on the paper that’s really exciting. Colours, shapes, lines and patterns are all jockeying for position, while the water flows within the textured grooves of the Fabriano paper. This is what’s really exciting."

He has loved drawing since he was small and can remember his mother sketching empty shapes for her young son to fill in the details.

"I’ve always wanted to be an artist, and the drive to become one is fuelled by other people’s responses to my work. I paint for other people, because I want my vision of the cityscapes that surround me to be viewed by others.

"If no-one looked at my work, the paintings wouldn’t know what to do with themselves, and the colours might stop dancing across the paper!"

Watercolours of Manchester and Beyond runs until April 3 at CUBE.