Blackpool Stands Between Us and Revolution is an illuminated text-based artwork temporarily sited on the roof of Grundy Art Gallery. The work takes the form of a large-scale rendering of a quote attributed to an anonymous local businessman in 1926. Reportedly spoken to the British garden designer, landscape architect and town planner Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933) – who oversaw the design of Blackpool’s Stanley Park – the phrase underlines the vital role of Blackpool within the lives of working people as a place for recreation and release.
Blackpool Stands between Us and Revolution is the result of a 2019 open commission opportunity led by Blackpool Council’s Arts Service to provide Blackpool with a number of new permanent and temporary public realm art works.
The work will become part of Grundy Art Gallery’s permanent collection, adding to its growing selection of light art works that currently includes work by Tracey Emin, Tony Heaton OBE, Chila Kumari Singh Burman, and Joseph Kosuth among many others.