New Waterfront Arts Project Show opens 5th March

This fabulous new paintimng by John Zehentner is for for the brand new Waterfront Arts Project show opening March 2017

If you are anywhere near Southport you just really have to check this out!  The Waterfront Arts Project is an unbelievable collection of local talent.  For those who are fed up with seaside galleries where all that is on display are watercolour paintings of the local scenery this will come as a welcome surprise.  This is art of the calibre of the TATE or Walker and if you love art you won’t want to miss this.  And they’re a generous lot too.  You’ll most likely be treated to free nibbles and drinks if you come to the opening (you might want to make a donation but they seem so embarrassed to ask for anything that you’ll probably have to hunt around to find the donations box on the floor somewhere).  Apart from the amazing realistic surrealism of John Zehentner you can expect some wonderfully dark art from the superb talents of Joan Walmsley, colourful abstract works and thought-provoking political art and satire from other members of the group.  There may be a theme but the art will be vast and varied.  If you are anywhere near Southport on March 5th why not pop down at 2pm and join in the fun. You’ll find the gallery on the Piazza promenade between the Ramada hotel and the Genting Club casino (PR9 0DZ for the satnav and you can park on Ocean Plaza just over the bridge).  If you can’t make it for 5th March it’ll be running until 7th May.

If you want to know more about the Southport Arts Project or you are a local artist who would like to join them you can visit their Facebook page here.

Will you be getting some painful untruth tomorrow?

Okay, sounds bad, but actually it’ll most certainly be brilliant as that is the title of the new exhibition at the Waterfront Arts Project in Southport that opens tomorrow Sunday 11 September 2016.

You’ll find it between the Ramada Hotel and the Casino that are both across the road from the beginning of the pier. It opens at 2pm and there is usually a lovely buffet of snacks and drinks. The exhibition and the food and drink are all free so you might want to show your appreciation by making a generous donation since that’s all the income these guys and gals get for their very hard work creating one of the most brilliant contemporary art shows you’ll find anywhere.

So; if you are anywhere near Southport get along to “The Painful Untruth” and if you can’t make it tomorrow it will be on for a few months afterwards so plenty of time to catch up with it even if you miss out on the free food and drink tomorrow.

New art exhibition announced

The Waterfront Arts Project have announced their next art exhibition at their permanent gallery in Southport. The gallery has attracted over 40,000 visitors since it started and is home to a wonderfful diversity of artistic talent. If you are fed up with seaside art galleries where all you get is a staggering volume of varying degrees of talent of renditions of the local scenery in watercolour or oils then this will come as a welcome surprise. The talent of artists like John Zehentner and Joan Walmsley to mention but two of the great artists here easily rivals the talent in the most prestigious galleries in the main cities.

The new exhibition is entitled ‘The Painful Untruth’ and promises to be yet another challenging and thought-provoking collection of work. It starts on 11th September 2016 so if you are anywhere near southport why not pop down at 2pm and join in the fun. You’ll find the gallery on the Piazza promenade between the Ramada hotel and the Genting Club casino (PR9 0DZ for the satnav and you can park on Ocean Plaza just over the bridge).

Myth & Legend at the Waterfront Arts Project

John Zehentner - Heaven is Waiting
John Zehentner – Heaven is Waiting

If you are planning on being close to Southport in Merseyside, UK, say, something like within a thousand miles then make sure you pop in to see the latest show by the Southport art group The Waterfront Arts Project.  The original of this amazing piece of art by John Zehentner shown above is more impressive than any little jpeg image can do justice to as is a great deal of the other art on show from other great artists like Joan Walmsley with her large 3D works using fabrics or metalworker Rob Art with his incredible dragon that so impressed the group they had to give it a room on its own!  The WAP has been running for many years showcasing a diverse range of local talent that is on a par with much of what you’d find elsewhere in major galleries.  This is not a gallery of hobbiest watercolour doodles, this is cutting edge stuff in a variety of postmodern styles ranging from highly emotionally charged humanistic work to overt political statements regarding our modern world and the rife inequalities that still exist in our supposedly civilised environment.  Much of the work is challenging and often far deeper than the first deceptive appearances of something ordinary.  You might not like everything but I doubt you will find it boring.  And those you don’t like have probably touched a nerve and later on you might find yourself thinking back to those art pieces and learning something about yourself and the world you live in.  This is a non-profit group and nothing is sold at the exhibitions.  The exhibition relies on the support of local businesspeople and councillors and has grown in popularity purely by word of mouth.  Once you’ve been you’ll probably be enthusing to all your friends about this sparkling gem of an art exhibition in the north-west of England.  If you want to know more you can visit their Facebook page here.

2015 Election Art Special

Remember the old days when national elections were fun?  That fabulous time when apart from Lord Such and his wonderful Monster Raving Looney Party there was some bloke who changed his name by deed poll to Margaret Thatcher and stood as a candidate.  Not only that there were fabulous alternatives like “The Best Party I’ve Ever Been To Party” but unfortunately not available in the real elections were the candidates of Monty Python’s Election Special where The Silly Party win by a landslide and the slightly silly candidate Kenneth Philip Bong polls no votes at all but optimistically bursts into song with “Climb Every Mountain …”

Well, in the spirit of the old days as we approach the rather sombre 2015 boring old farts election here is John Zehentner’s amazing contemporary painting appropriately entitled “Don’t Blame Me I Voted Looney”.

More of John Zenentner’s work can be seen at the Southport Arts Project  in Southport along with many other local talented artists.  Entrance is free so well worth a visit if you are there one weekend.  Here is where it is: Southport Arts Project, Promenade, Southport, Merseyside, PR9 0DZ

mini-john_zehentner_dont_blame_me_i_voted_loony

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