THE LAST
PICTURE SHOW
12th May -
24th June 2017
Curated by Ken Martin and Bob Williams. Featuring works by Ken Martin, Matt Wilde, Richard Meaghen, Anthony Smith, Jo Hesketh, Pete Clarke, Steven Bower, James Cummings, Sheila Turner, Mike Rowan, Anne Young, Trevor Skempton…. and many more.
This is our final event and will feature the biggest ever exhibition of paintings and drawings by the gallery’s multi-talented owner Ken Martin, and will include a selection of works by Ken’s favourite artists from over the years since 1990 when he opened the View gallery in Hanover Street before moving to View Two.
The one-time head of architecture at Liverpool Polytechnic, now Liverpool John Moores University, has decided that in his mid 70s, it is time to move on and explore new horizons.
View Two, housed in a former banana warehouse in the Cavern Quarter of the city, will live on as an on-line virtual gallery.
Ken Martin will also leave behind a legacy of works from his time as a working architect, including the remodelling of the frontage of the Liverpool Playhouse in Williamson Square and one of his final major works, the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton.
He will also be remembered as the man who helped to save the Albert Dock complex from total demolition in the 1970s with a scheme, eventually dropped, to convert the abandoned dock system into a single-site campus for the Liverpool Polytechnic.
View Two never sought or received any grants, but existed on the energy and patronage of Ken Martin, helped by a small team of art and music enthusiasts.
It gave a “shop window” to established artists as well as hundreds of aspiring and up-and-coming musicians.
“I will leave View Two with many happy memories. I like Liverpool very much, but now I live in Cumbria and it’s a long journey on the M6. We have staged many exhibitions over the years, and also many music nights.
“The beauty of View Two is that we have been able to stage exhibitions, often at short notice. There have been no committees, or two-year lead in periods. We were able, not so long ago, to accommodate at very short notice a team from China who converted the whole gallery into an emperor’s palace. It was magical.
“It’s a good time and the right time for me to move on, do some travelling and explore the world. Of course I will miss Liverpool and the many friends I have made over the years.”