A_Place Gallery - Open Return

Keith Ashcroft, Michael Clarence, Jenny Eden, Sarah Grant, Samuel O’Donnell, Daisy Richardson, Matilda Wainwright, Amy Winstanley

Open Return represents a conversation in painting between two locations; four of the artists are based in Glasgow/Scotland and four in the North West of England.

The artworks are hung in pairs representing their respective places of origin. A line of connection is created between the geographic locations, but also their locations as paintings. Much like the titular rail fare, their relationships as artworks are without fixed or closed prescription, subject to change and negotiation, always keeping the door ajar to come back again. And while there are many shared concerns (landscape, place, light, interiority, the materiality of paint, colour etc.) these commonalities also highlight differences of approach, a receptivity while remaining distinct.

A visual dialogue - and actual conversation - is vital for artists to maintain, and is especially important in relation to those places where artists are from, and where they find themselves at present. In an era of the international art world, the markets that drive it and digital transience, the commitment by artists to their specific locations, relationships, networks and communities instead becomes a place for a more generous means of engagement.

19 September - 3 October 2025