Concealed within an old tram depot in Greater Manchester, six artists have established an autonomous site for their respective practices. Far from the constraints of the institutionalised studio model, Nina Chua, Nicola Ellis, Parham Ghalamdar, Tommy Harrison, Richard Dean Hughes and Robin Megannity have created a space that functions for each of their unique creative paths. With its industrial architecture and mechanical history, the studio nurtures the drive and rigorous work ethic present for all of these artists as they each push the traditions of their mediums in a highly considered direction. Centre of the Periphery presents their work for the first time as a group, honouring their differences whilst at the same time articulating the subtle overlaps and influences that naturally occur within a shared environment.
One year on from Pipeline’s inaugural exhibition with painter Tommy Harrison, Harrison exhibits Puppet Show II (2023). Interested in the tensions that exist between the systems of paint and subject, Harrison reimagines subjects from art history or visual culture. Compositions are fractured into new geometries and surfaces are transformed as Harrison occupies himself with the rich unfolding process of a painting. Also relishing in their medium and the challenges that lie within it is artist Nina Chua. Chua allows her drawings to unfold before her, extending the language of mark making with a distinctively intuitive approach. In Marker 709 (2022), sound and motion feel present, demonstrating the synesthetic potential and material quality of pen on paper.
In stark contrast to Chua’s work is Richard Dean Hughes’ ghostly piano. Hughes explores the relationship between object and image with Towards Words (2023), combining traditional methodologies of making with cold contemporary methods of production and material. A soft drained oil painting sits on the music stand, a homage to the emotiveness of the object. In this presentation the sculpture seems to act as a stand in, generating a tension between the real and hypothetical. It is ghostly still, yet charged with potential. This push and pull is evident also in the work of Robin Megannity. Maintaining a continuous dialogue between conventional and modern day modes of representation, Megannity plays with the paradoxical potential of contemporary painting. Although the palette, references and seduction of his work engages with the tradition of painting, it also implies an indifference and disconnection to the traditions it is staged on. For Megannity that is the main crux in his work, the weight of culture and its associated problems whilst recognising the residual possibility for something tender and empathetic.
A consideration of the history of painting is also present in Parham Ghalamdar’s work. Inspired by the concept of a realm within a picture plane, Ghalamdar uses his renditions of Piero della Francesca’s The Dream of Constantine (1464) as foundational data for an AI tool. He considers paint a live medium, in constant negotiation with the past and present and an implement for exploration.
Across the work of all artists is a profound respect for their medium with the intention to manipulate and give new order. Nicola Ellis achieves this in the very environment she works within. The Red Mist (2022) is a recent visual manifestation of Ellis’ relationship with Ritherdon & Co ltd- a manufacturer of steel enclosures based in Darwen, Lancashire. Ellis collaborated with Ritherdon & Co ltd and robotics specialist Digiotouch as part of a Better Factory Knowledge Transfer Experiment, whereby she developed a framework for creating new powder coating finishes for Ritherdon products. Each example in this series shares a language with painting, made more so when recontextualised within a gallery environment. Ripped from the factory and turned anew, Ellis reappropriates the intended functions of product manufacturing and in doing so, her ability to push the boundaries of the existing qualities of objects or infrastructures.
