Specially curated exhibition, Public View, marks the beginning of Bluecoat’s 300^th anniversary programme.

The Liverpool gallery is set to celebrate anniversary with 100 artists including Jeremy Deller, Mark Leckey and Yoko Ono.

Drawn from over 50 years of art at Bluecoat, Public View (4 February – 23 April 2017) will feature 100 artists who have previously exhibited at the gallery, many at the beginning of their careers, and several now high profile artists.

 Public View will present a wide range of work, including paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs and video, with many pieces previously exhibited in the gallery, some re-made especially for the exhibition, and others completely new.

 There is a wide generational breadth of artists, from international names like John Akomfrah, Derek Boshier, Jeremy Deller, John Latham, Yoko Ono, Imran Qureshi and Yinka Shonibare, to younger artists like Jamie Shovlin and Niamh O’Malley.

 Reflecting Bluecoat’s continuing commitment to artists in the city region, there will be a strong representation of Merseyside-born artists such as Chila Burman, Mark Leckey and Paul Morrison, as well as others living and working locally, including Pete Clarke, Alan Dunn, Nina Edge, Leo Fitzmaurice, David Jacques, Paul Rooney, Twin Studio and Imogen Stidworthy. These have exhibition profiles beyond Liverpool, including internationally and many had their first significant shows at Bluecoat.

Bluecoat has been showing new art for over 100 years, from Roger Fry’s seminal Post-Impressionists exhibition in 1911 that featured Picasso and Matisse, to showcases of the next generation of artists like the recent Bloomberg New Contemporaries.

The Bluecoat building began life as a charity school in 1717, before housing an arts community in 1907, and formally becoming an arts centre in 1927, making it the first of its kind in the UK.

Its anniversary programme sees 300 days of celebration, running from 4^th February to 30^th November, 2017. It will comprise exhibitions, performances of music, dance and live art, literature events, commissions, a sociologist in residence, and a major heritage participation project, My Bluecoat.  

Bluecoat Chief Executive Mary Cloake said: “Bluecoat has been at the heart of Liverpool’s cultural life for many years and it seems fitting that, as the first exhibition in our 300th anniversary programme, Public View will highlight the diverse range of artists who have exhibited here. Bluecoat has always strived to be at the forefront of developments in contemporary art in the UK, often bringing major artists to Liverpool for the first time.

“The organisation has played a key role in representing Liverpool on the national stage, and in establishing the city as a centre for ground breaking art. It is thanks to the support of the people of Liverpool that Bluecoat has been able to achieve as much as it has during its 300 years, and we invite everyone to join us in 2017 to celebrate our history and achievements, and look forward to our future.”