ALLY WALLCE: Stuck Cities

About

Artist Ally Wallace has been working as artist-in-residence at the magnificent Victoria Baths, Manchester. Now partially restored, it is recognised as an alternative art space in Manchester and beyond. As the world's resources are squeezed, forcing cities to think carefully about how development goes forward, Wallace focuses on the energy of making do, mending, inventing and re-imagining — something that The Victoria Baths Trust believe a restoration process, at its very best, involving the community, can harness in the future. Since Ally arrived, he has been interested the work of volunteers whose hard work saved the building. Their improvisation of temporary solutions to use of the space; stalls and displays rigged together from reclaimed furniture, recycled timber, donated materials impressed him. “I like the idea that something can appear quite substantial and permanent using really simple, lightweight means - making something quite monumental in scale just by folding and taping together lots of sheets of paper.' He takes inspiration from the architecture of his surroundings reduced to simple blocks of shape, colour and light to create dynamic responses to the urban landscape. 'I have always tried to maintain the close link between studio work and public art commissions. I quite like the fact that I'm doing my own work really but out in the public domain'