CENTRAL STATION DESIGN CELEBRATE 25 YEARS.

“The second half of the factory story is best summed up by the painterly eccentricity of Central Station, Matt, Pat and Karen.” - Tony Wilson

To celebrate, Central Station are to showcase a retrospective exhibition, to be held throughout May 2008 at Manchester's Richard Goodall Gallery. The exhibition will include a selection of limited edition fine art prints of some of their iconic artwork.

Central Station's legendary career has seen them working with bands such as Happy Mondays, James, and Black Grape. They have been responsible for creating a revolution in the art of record sleeve design. Their artwork is gloriously anarchic, free-flowing, and wildly evocative.

“We've always thought that graphic design is a bit up it's own arse, so in our designs we always tried to do something a bit looser, we wanted to establish and create our own identity. As kids we always thought beyond our means, obsessed with the idea that there was more to life than doing what everyone else did.” - Central Station.

Curator Richard Goodall notes, “Central Station’s work is widely accepted as amongst the most influential; they inspired a generation of artists, designers and music fans and helped define the infamous 'Madchester' era.”

Their 2001 collaboration with Michael Winterbottom on his film 24 Hour Party People opened the door to a wide range of TV and film design projects, from Channel 4's Hamburg Cell to ITV's Prime Suspect. This has led the team to working with such names as Helen Mirren, Robbie Coltrane, Tim Robbins, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Gallery curator Richard anticipates great success for the show, “We are honoured to be housing this exclusive exhibition. Central Station’s influential designs are part of both music recording and Manchester's history and this show will present a great viewing opportunity for music and art fans alike.”

and from another mag FROM LH TO CENTRAL STATION

Salford's greatest living artists celebrate 25 years of creating with a major retrospective exhibition...

There’s artists, there's graphic artists... and there’s Central Station, who mix and match everything into great big sensational multi-coloured, psyche soaked images that zap you somewhere else...

Best known for visually detonating the whole 'Madchester' thing with glowing, head pecking, iconic album artwork for the likes of Happy Mondays, James and Northside, Central Station are graphic art legends.

The team – Little Hulton's Matt and Pat Carroll, and Karen Jackson – are showing both original artwork and signed limited edition screenprints from the Madchester era, many in their original format before the type was overlaid. Also on display are mad, crackling portraits of mad yesteryear comedians plus loads of other snazzy, bazzing stuff. Do not miss.

Central Station Retrospective runs 2 – 31 May 2008 at the Richard Goodall
Gallery, 103 High Street, Manchester.

Further details www.richardgoodallgallery.com
Tel: 0161 832 3435

Labels: Black_Grape, Central_Station_Design, Happy_Mondays, Northside

- - - -