No Particular Place to Go? publication free to read online

Posted on 29 November 2019

Throughout 2019 Castlefield Gallery has been celebrating it’s thirty five-year anniversary, as it was initially established by artists in Manchester in 1984. The organisation continues with the mission to actively support artistic production and artist career development, providing artists with timely exposure whilst sharing their work with the public. Castlefield Gallery is often described as a home for artists.

In early autumn we hosted an exhibition titled No Particular Place to Go? which highlighted the gallery’s rich history of engagement with British sculpture, and the role that Castlefield Gallery has played in determining the ‘sculptural zeitgeist’, throughout its history. The exhibition included works that dated back to the gallery’s inaugural programme which included a solo presentation of the work of Sir Anthony Caro, who was Castlefield Gallery Artist Patron until he passed in 2013.

The exhibition featured a survey presentation of sculptural work by artists: James Ackerley, Sir Anthony Caro, Nicola Ellis, Ana Genovés, Lee Grandjean, Charles Hewlings, Hilary Jack, Stephanie James, Stephen Lewis, Jeff Lowe, Michael Lyons, Henry Moore, Jill Randall, Veronica Ryan, Laura White, and was curated in collaboration with art historian Dr Clare O’Dowd and artist/curator John Plowman of Beacon Bureau.

No Particular Place to Go? was also informed by extensive research into the Castlefield Gallery archives and exhibition and this history was explored through the lens of sculpture. The artists invited to take part in No Particular Place to Go? have all exhibited at Castlefield Gallery during the last thirty-five years, with the curators inviting them to return to a place that once acted as a temporary ‘home’ for their work. To this end No Particular Place to Go? welcomed Table Piece XCVIII back to Castlefield Gallery, on loan from The Whitworth. Much smaller and more intimate than Caro’s welded floor sculptures, his Table Pieces are indicative of the intimacy of the studio, as the ‘place’ where the Table Pieces were made. The exhibition focused on Caro’s Table Pieces as a stimulus, focusing on smaller sculptural works made in the artists’ studio as an exploration of an idea, material, form, process, or simply a sculpture that could be at home on a table.

To coincide with the exhibition Castlefield Gallery has produced a complimentary publication which features supporting essays that explain the context, history and rationale for the exhibition, and contributions from the available participating artists.

The publication is also available to read online.

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