Corke Gallery opened its final Independents Biennial Festival Show on Saturday 13 October 2018 with a collection of paintings by UK and Chinese Prize Winners from the John Moores Painting Prize (JMPP).

To mark the 60^th year of the JMPP at the Walker Art Gallery the Corke Gallery was delighted to be one of its sponsors because it forms a key strand of the Liverpool Biennial. The exhibition at the Corke Gallery runs until Friday 30 November 2018 and is open 10am – 2pm from Thursday to Saturday.

This is the first time an exhibition featuring several paintings by five JMPP prize winners has taken place and provides a broader insight into the individual artists themes and practices.

Curated by Nic Corke, from the Corke Gallery, past winners from the UK and China include:

Martin Greenland the 2006 JMPP Winner

Nicholas Middleton, twice winner of the JMPP Visitor’s Choice Prize in 2006 and 2010

Xueqing Zhong, the JMPP China 2018 Winner

Duan Xiaogang, JMPP China 2018 Prize Winner

Huo Xumin, JMPP China 2018 Prize Winner

The show features a diverse range of oil painting, from small detailed black and white studies to huge canvasses that dominate the walls and the viewer.

Imaginary landscapes from the UK and China demand the viewer’s attention and continue to reveal more and more the longer you look.

Alternatively abstract and semi abstract works combining broad confident brushwork with architectonic constructions which challenge the laws of perspective and stimulate the senses with a striking cacophony of colour.