London, November 2020 – INNSiDE Manchester, part of Meliá Hotels International is proud to announce its upcoming collaboration with renowned art gallery Comme Ca Art; designed to showcase work from contemporary local artists. The permanent exhibition, dubbed Come See Comme Ca, will launch at the hotel on 2nd December 2020, open to hotel guests and visitors alike on a complimentary basis.
A reflection of the hotel’s commitment to local culture, the communal areas outside the events space at INNSiDE Manchester will transform into the Come See Comme Ca exhibition, displaying artworks from contemporary artists on a quarterly rotational basis. The exhibition will be unveiled in December with art from four local artists: Amanda Mulquiney-Birbeck, John Cake, Phil Constable and Jamie Jones; each presenting their latest works, including limited edition pieces.
Comme Ca Art is an internationally recognised agency that pioneered the creation of alternative exhibition venues throughout Manchester City Centre, offering up-and-coming artists the opportunity to showcase their works to a wide and varied audience. This collaboration follows other creative partnerships with venues in Manchester and New York and INNSiDE Manchester is proud to be another such offering.
Claire Turner, Gallery Director at Comme Ca Art, is delighted to be working with INNSiDE Manchester to showcase her artists’ work, particularly the more contemporary exhibits that fit naturally with the hotel’s aesthetic.
Claire comments on the Come See Comme Ca exhibition: “The concept behind Manchester based Comme Ca Art is to highlight exceptional artists who reside in the city. INNSiDE by Melia is the perfect partner.
With their own creative ethos, the gallery will appeal to the hotel’s visitors and attract a new audience of art lovers to this hip new space. Expect fresh Limited Edition Prints, cool Photography and original Paintings with everything from abstracts to landscapes to portraits and a little bit of street art.”
The first round of artworks will be on display at Come See Comme Ca from 2nd December 2020 to 28th February 2021, more details on each artist can be found below.
Amanda Mulquiney-Birbeck Amanda Mulquiney-Birbeck is a British figurative painter. Her vibrant works often feature young, strong and glamorous women set in shallow spaces; often with an air of attitude yet tinged with melancholy. Her works combine candy colours with gold leaf, incorporating refined blended painting techniques with looser, gestural brush marks. Amanda’s art regularly features contrasting bright, neon backgrounds with muted earthy and surreal tones.
John Cake John Cake is a child of 70s/80s North West England, where punk was a spirit, not a pose. Where Hip Hop, House and Techno resonated and thrived (DIY, scally, remix, laugh). John’s paintings plunder the symbols of conservatism, capitalism, class, masculinity and religion, to deconstruct the images and language of the societal systems that attempt to define and control us. He mines this wealth of source material, revelling in its leftovers, errors and redundancies. John flip’s between digital and analogue techniques to abstract, clip, glitch and layer these elements. They coalesce into a wild-style graffiti- map, a calligraphic, vibrant web of visual snippets that resist and relinquish power.
Phil Constable Artist and printmaker Phil Constable works by layering images via screen print, utilising half-tone photography, symbols, mark making with gold and silver gilding on various surfaces including paper, board, and glass. Documenting industrial sites and spaces, often focusing on trace images created by construction markings and/or graffiti that has often been covered or ‘painted out’ poorly. Phil finds these images and incorporates them as part of a readymade dialogue between the mediums of the mechanically reproduced image and the brush. Multi-layered imagery encourages the viewer to visually explore the surface, the texture, and depth within the work echoing time and memory.
Jamie Jones Jamie Jones is an 80’s kid who obsessed over cartoons, toys, skateboarding and hiphop – which is reflected his work. Jamie has been inspired by countless artists all his life, but his real love of art is nostalgic references – building on the familiar and creating something new. Street art and pop art are big influences, but he has always been fascinated with anatomical illustrations and their incredible details. Looking under the skin gives a surreal insight in to what’s hidden beneath, and this has been a focal point for Jamie’s recent work. If it wasn’t for lock down, Jamie probably wouldn’t have picked up his pens and brushes, as it had been almost 21 years since he last did so. Whilst at school in Yorkshire, art was his favourite subject and earned him an art scholarship to buy art materials in last year of school.
