Blackpool’s Grundy Art Gallery announces spring programme launch

Aligning with the spirit of the season, spring at the Grundy always focuses on the ‘new’- new ideas, new artworks and new partnerships – and it will be launched on Saturday 29 March at 2pm.
 
This spring, award-winning artists, prize-winning organisations and valued members of the public from Blackpool and beyond, will share the stage in a season of exhibitions that celebrate our hobbies, from making and modifying to collecting.
 
Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council and Chair of the Grundy’s steering group said, “I am thrilled to be announcing the launch of another brilliant season of activity at Blackpool’s well-loved Grundy Art Gallery.
 
“Once again, through its ambitious partnership working, Grundy is linking Blackpool to a national arts and culture conversation, and is shedding positive light on the town. Alongside this, the Grundy continues to find exciting new ways in which residents and visitors alike can see themselves represented in its programmes of activity.”
 
COME AS YOU REALLY ARE: HETAIN PATEL
 
Grundy Art Gallery, Artangel and award-winning artist and Spider-Man enthusiast Hetain Patel, present Come As You Really Are. This nationwide project showcases hobbies that demonstrate an individual’s freedom of expression and ingenuity, and in doing so, broadens our perception of who gets to be called creative and where the impulse to create stems from.
 
This spring Come As You Really Are comes to Blackpool where it will showcase hundreds of unique handcrafted objects including a flock of crocheted pigeons and a field of fabric pumpkins, alongside collections such as prized Pokemon cards and Warhammer figures. 
 
Standing shoulder to shoulder with these objects will be rarely seen items from the Grundy Art Gallery Collection and new and existing works by Patel, including a new film that explores the outstanding creativity and passion that people put into their hobbies. Alongside this will be a selection of objects by the hobbyists featured in the film including illuminated model aircraft engineered by Blackpool & Fylde Radio Controlled Model Society.
 
Come As You Really Are by Hetain Patel is a nationwide project made up of 13 partner presentations across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales from Summer 2024 - 2026. Read more about the nationwide project at: artangel.org.uk/project/come-as-you-really-are/ 
 
#ComeAsYouReallyAre 
#MappingOurHobbies 
 
CAT-THARSIS: ANDY HOLDEN
 
Alongside and in conversation with Hetain Patel’s Come As You Really Are, Grundy Art Gallery presents Andy Holden’s 2021/22 installation Cat-tharsis. Comprising a looped video and 200 ceramic cats, Cat-tharsis offers another perspective on the impulses behind what and why we collect.
 
The artist inherited the ceramic cats from his late grandmother and the 17 min film, narrated by the artist, sees him unboxing and introducing us to some of the cats from this collection. Weaving together stories about the cat as a symbol from Ancient Egypt to the cat’s present-day position as a star of the internet along with personal reflections on his grandmother and the life that she led, Cat-tharsis offers a humorous and poignant exploration of the compulsion to collect.

WORKSHOPS / TALKS / EVENTS

Grundy’s spring season will be accompanied by a programme of talks, workshops and events, including a series of ‘Hobby Meets’ and a short course in basic crochet. See thegrundy.org. for more information.