Art graduate's BBC guide

A BBC programme about MMU School of Art graduate Liam Spencer is to be screened on Wednesday, June 8.

Liam is one of the North West’s coolest young artists – renowned for vivid portrayals of the Manchester street corners, pubs, chippies and urban wastelands.

A Picture of Britain to be screened at 1040pm on BBC1 takes Liam back to the places which have influenced his work, from banal motorway and drab factories to rainy city streets.

Like The Smiths and The Fall, the artist is beguiled by dreary ‘grim up north’ landscapes and finds beauty in surprising and unusual places.

Amongst the places visited by Liam in the programme are Wigan, Manchester, Widnes and Burnley, where he was born.

Liam Spencer studied Fine Art at MMU and made his name as a professional with his ‘Mancunian Way’ exhibitions in 1998. He staged his first solo exhibition of paintings at the Lowry Centre, Salford in 2000 and has exhibited in Manchester, London and Oxford.

“While studying (at MMU) I was inspired by the landscape around me, the beauty of the city’s deserted canals and its gritty scenes.

“I used to walk for miles around the canals here. In those days I lumped a heavy box of paints around with me, he adds. “I tried to find the right spot and capture it.”

Liam is credited with making Manchester look cool, especially his images of Albert Square, Piccadilly and the Mancunian Way.”

His work can be viewed at Philips contemporary Art, 10a little Lever St, Manchester M1 1HR.