London Art Explorations are off to the seaside! Join Gail Astbury, public art enthusiast as well as practitioner in her own right, investigating artwork displayed in outdoor settings beside the sea. One of a series of explorations around Britain’s coast.
Whether it is the retro charm of British seaside resorts or the latest art gallery installed on the promenade, the British seaside has (with a lot of help from COVID) become hugely popular. Since the turn of the millennium, the seaside has attracted some serious art institutions as well as becoming outdoor galleries for mega-structures and often unusual objects, frequently passed off as art. Concurrently, coastal towns have been re-invigorated by festivals of temporary works, the most notable being Folkestone’s Triennial, in to which we dipped our toes back in November.
Continuing our seaside journey, we will be exploring artworks along the coast from the mouth of the Mersey around Morecambe Bay, and Blackpool, where Gail Astbury has fond childhood memories; seeing how these peripheral seaside towns are being affected by a new wave of incoming artists and art. From romantic escapism to tragi/comic social commentary, where do you stand?
