INNSiDE Manchester teams up with local gallery to show work by top Manchester artists

INNSiDE Manchester has announced a new collaboration with renowned Manchester gallery Comme Ca Art designed to showcase work from contemporary local artists. 

The permanent free exhibition, dubbed Come See Comme Ca, will launch at the First Street hotel on 2nd December 2020, and will be open to both hotel guests and visitors.

Comme Ca Art is an internationally recognised agency that pioneered the creation of alternative exhibition venues throughout Manchester city centre, offering up-and-coming artists the opportunity to showcase their works to a wide and varied audience.

The new collaboration will see the communal areas outside the events space at INNSiDE Manchester, which is part of Meliá Hotels International, transformed into the Come See Comme Ca exhibition, displaying artworks from contemporary artists on a quarterly rotational basis. 

The exhibition will be unveiled in December with art from four local artists: Amanda Mulquiney-Birbeck, John Cake, Phil Constable and Jamie Jones, each presenting their latest works, including some limited edition pieces. 

Amanda Mulquiney-Birbeck is a British figurative painter whose vibrant works often feature young, strong and glamorous women set in shallow spaces, often with an air of attitude yet tinged with melancholy. 

John Cake is a child of 70s/80s North West England, where punk was a spirit, not a pose. His paintings plunder the symbols of conservatism, capitalism, class, masculinity and religion, to deconstruct the images and language of the societal systems that attempt to define and control us. 

Artist and printmaker Phil Constable works by layering images via screen print, utilising half-tone photography, symbols and mark making with gold and silver gilding on various surfaces including paper, board and glass.

And Jamie Jones is an 80s kid who obsessed over cartoons, toys, skateboarding and hip hop – which is reflected his work.

“The concept behind Manchester based Comme Ca Art is to highlight exceptional artists who reside in the city, and INNSiDE by Melia is the perfect partner,” says gallery director Claire Turner, who believes the contemporary exhibits fit naturally with the hotel’s aesthetic.  

“With their own creative ethos, the gallery will appeal to the hotel’s visitors and attract a new audience of art lovers to this hip new space. 

“Expect fresh limited edition prints, cool photography and original paintings with everything from abstracts to landscapes to portraits and a little bit of street art.” 

The first round of artworks will be on display at Come See Comme Ca, INNSiDE Manchester, First Street, from 2nd December 2020 to 28th February 2021.