Liverpool ONE celebrates the unveiling of a new art installation

THE award winning leisure and retail destination Liverpool ONE is set to unveil a bright and eye catching art installation produced by a local Artist. The 'Holiday Home,' located on Custom House Place outside John Lewis, is part of Culture Liverpool's:- 'Very Public Art' project; a series of 8 installations and activations showcasing local communities and their creativity. The unveiling comes as visitors once again begin exploring the City and provides exciting new visual additions which are both free and outdoors!

The 'Holiday Home' is a vibrant and artistic take on domestic architecture and line drawings by Richard Woods, an artist from Chester. The installation features bold block colours and thick black outlines, creating a unique and cartoon like appearance. Made of birch plywood and timber, the art stands at 4 metres tall, weighing in at 1,300kg.

Donna Howitt, Place Strategy Director at Liverpool ONE, said:- "It's a great honour to host such incredible art for such a meaningful project, especially following the return to a new normal. This is the perfect opportunity for people to get out and enjoy local talent in a safe environment. The Holiday Home makes a great addition to the estate."

Following the increase of staycations this year, Liverpool ONE is encouraging visitors to take inspiration from its Holiday Home by sharing an image with the installation alongside why being at home in the UK this summer makes you happy.

The other pieces of artwork can be seen at:- St Nicholas' Church, William Brown Street, Hope Street, Chinatown, and on statues around the City. You can discover more about the project on:- VisitLiverpool.Com/VeryPublicArt.

Richard's other recent projects include installations at:- Frieze London, Wander Art in London, a major architectural commission for the 2018 Winter Olympics, in South Korea, and the interior of the Comme des Garçons flagship store in Osaka. To learn more about Richard and the Holiday Home, please visit:- RichardWoodsStudio.Com/Holiday-Homes.
 

NEIL Prior, a professional portrait artist now living in Southport after retiring in 2018 as a Police Officer, from the Leicestershire Constabulary, will be bringing together a large collection of his original oil paintings in a 3 week retrospective, at The ArtHouse, in Southport. What Wildlife Artist, David Shepherd was to elephants, Neil has certainly proved his own worth with his life like portraiture of domestic pets. Neil found that his move up North 2 years ago has been fruitful in the large number of commissions he has completed of dogs and cats in oils and these, along with other portraits of wild animals, will be available to view and purchase in the new exhibition of over 30 paintings.

Neil originally started painting in 2008 following a 1 day workshop on:- 'How to Paint like Bob Ross' facilitated by Jayne Goode using the wet on wet technique. He followed this up with a weekend course with professional artist Mike Skidmore on Fine Art technique and has since expanded those 'newly' acquired skills for over a decade to develop his own signature portraiture style.

From his days back in Hinckley, Neil has always been keen to share his talent. At his 1st solo exhibition he demonstrated his oil painting skills by painting a portrait of:- 'Kinta the Tiger' live during the show. "During my 1st solo exhibition in June 2017, I completed the portrait of the Malaysian Tiger and entitled it KINTA, which was an anagram of the exhibition venue (ATKIN'S BUILDING) and just happened to be the name of the river that runs through Malaysia where these beautiful animals are from."

Neil still continues to enjoy painting both animal and human portraiture. Using the skills he has acquired over the years he always aims to achieve as realistic a look to his subject as possible. Neil is a firm believer that capturing the eyes of his subject is key to maintaining and completing a more realistic composition:- "I believe painting the eyes early on gives me a better understanding and feeling of the subject, almost an empathy."

Over the years Neil's gregarious attitude to art has seen him expand his repertoire across a diverse range of subjects. He now balances his pet portraiture with copies of Old Masters and examples will be on display at the new exhibition, including:- Vermeer's 'Girl with the Pearl Earring' and Caravaggio's 'Bacchus.' During the exhibition, Neil's works will be available to purchase both in original format and/or order in giclée print format.