Reality Hack @ Urbis

Are you Christmas-ed out yet? The farcical queues in Paperchase and the Post Office making you want to tear your eyes out? 

I'm on the downward swing into Scrooge-osity, and however much I adore fairy lights, need a seasonal antidote.

Luckily, the new photography exhibition at Urbis looks like it could be just the boy for the job.

Opening tomorrow and called Reality Hack, the exhibition consists of a series of newly commissioned works from experimental photographer Andrew Paul Brooks, documenting his journeys behind the scenes of Manchester.

First glance seems to indicate that it'll be riffing of that contemporary surreal atmosphere which made me fall in love with the Jamie Baldridge exhibition at Richard Goodall. ( Incidentally, you still have a few more days to go see that, since it is finishing on the 7th.)

More images can be found on Andrew Brooks website, and a there is a more in depth feature over on BBC Manchester.

Jamie Baldridge @ Richard Goodall Gallery

P.S. Review of the Jamie Baldridge exhibition, Pilgrims & Peregrines at the Richard Goodall Gallery, up over at Citylife.co.uk 

Jamie Baldridge, Pilgrims & Peregrines @ Richard Goodall Gallery

After the slightly iffy Intertwining Line at the Cornerhouse, it was nice to go and see something I unreservedly liked. 

The Richard Goodall Gallery knows how to please a crowd, which I guess it pretty important if you're going to be a commercial gallery in these financially disastrous times. I might have disliked some of the Niagara and Yumiko exhibition, but if I had that fabled fist full of fifties I would have thrown it at one of Niagara Opium series. 

Millionaire admirers take note. 

A nicer version of these thoughts should go up on Citylife soon, but I thought I'd mention how much I enjoyed Pilgrims & Peregrines at the Richard Goodall Gallery today. 

Jamie Baldridge's photographic prints are on many levels a little dodgy and rather tacky, but they are also entrancing and beautiful. They remind me of those Tool videos, and of the more phantasmagorical of  Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films. 

A Dainty Phylectic

One major problem is that online images do absolutely no justice to what the original, full sized prints look like! When I saw the preview images I thought it looked rather twee, faux-surreal and generally derivative nonsense. But in real life, with the beautiful lustre and textures which the prints contain it is a completely different story.

The exhibition continues until the 6th of December. They are then followed by an exhibition of the wildly popular Nicoletta Ceccoli. You'll know exactly who I mean when you see the images. 

Anyway, I'm tired and need to prepare for a day of helping out at the NOISE festival tomorrow, and  Thought Bubble this weekend. 

Night Night.