Links and Blaes, PS Mirabel

Links and Blaes was an exhibition at PS Mirabel in Manchester. The solo exhibition was a showcase of personal practice-based research into the painting of surface textures and patterns relating to everyday spatial experiences - specifically relating to the form and function of barrier materials within the physical environment.

As within previous bodies of work, the chain link fence appears as a motif, with its woven, regular and repetitive forms being considered through painting processes.

For PS Mirabel, a personal element was introduced, calling back to the childhood daily routine of scaling a chain link fence to reach the local football pitch as quickly as possible after school had finished for the day. Made from colliery spoil, the red shale football pitch (the shale or ash is commonly known as ‘blaes’ in Scotland) was the centre of the sporting and social world for a young boy in a village, just north of Glasgow in the 1990s. The pitch itself, with its characteristic colour, was a shared space, set apart and protected from everything else in the surrounding environment by its chain link border, and in a certain way, Links and Blaes was a reflection of this relationship.

PS Mirabel Outline:
Mirabel Studios opened in August 2009 and has quickly become a hub of Manchester's emerging artists, with graduates and Masters Students from the regions Art Schools including MMU, University of Salford, Liverpool John Moores and University of Huddersfield.

The solo exhibition was part of the 2018 PS Mirabel Prize, which was awarded to the 2 paintings featured in the group show Twice as Nice (Path/Fence and Fence/Path, 2018).