For both show and sale, with an emphasis on excellence, Thermo 03 is potentially the biggest and most exciting regional art show this year.

Housed in The Lowry, Thermo is an exhibition of contemporary art from artists across the North West. Curators James Hutchinson, Rachel Goodyear and Emma Anderson had problems limiting the number of artists taking part but settled on an oddly massive 37.

All the Manchester names are here including current pop(ular) stars and Saatchi favourites The Little Artists, former gallery show-ers Liam Spencer and Jim Medway, museum-friendly work from the likes of Antony Hall and exhibition debutante Nicola Siddons.

Pieces range from conceptual – a line is painted through the gallery by Jonathan Trayner – via more traditional mediums such as Fiona Curran’s warped yet painterly wallpapers, Laurence Lane’s twisted bronzes; ‘Whoopee Cushion’ being a superb example, through to Ruth Moiliet’s flowers pinned between sheets of glass, like a huge semi-translucent flower press.

All these are joined by skewed found objects; Ben Cook’s BMX from 1983 and Antony Hall’s ‘Coffee Cup Vortex’ which is, as you might imagine, a vortex in a coffee cup and a companion DVD of original video works.

And whilst it’s brilliant to have so much excitement in one place, won’t the aesthetic side of the exhibition get squeezed out?

“We organised the exhibition of the works at the same time as we were selecting the art,” assures co-curator James. And to prove his point, the show is impeccably displayed, rolling through the huge spaces of The Lowry with art works normally seen in smaller galleries showing off their true colours.

“There are two ways to go round the show, one follows ‘Painting A Line’, and the other starts in an area with a lot of clothing, it looks a bit like a shop which is a funny reference to the commercial side of Thermo.” Indeed, as this show also points out, artists can’t live on being arty alone.

Buying

So what is Thermo 03; art show, sale or is it all the same thing anyway? “It’s a tricky one!” laughs James, “In museums or big commercial environment, it can be hard to broach the issue of buying but at Thermo hopefully people will feel relaxed enough to make a decision, and there will be equal numbers just looking at the show and if there is stuff in here you like, you can be pointed in that direction.”

And the curators have bigger ambitions still; “We wanted to cut through the studio loyalties and show a real cross section of work.

As one half of curator duo based in Ancoat’s Floating IP gallery, James has worked with artists across Manchester’s large and occasionally studio-divided scene, placing him and partner Rachel in an enviable position to bring together the inaugural Thermo show.

On the way they met relative unknowns like Jacob Cartwright. A former exhibitor at the John Moore’s show for Liverpool Biennial 2002 and based in Stretford, he simply lacked exposure. He says demurely, “I don’t have a studio in any kind of complex, I choose to be independent, but it’s a really useful thing to have some kind of profile in Manchester“. Cartwright’s pieces include the gorgeous, inky lined ‘Finch Heap’, literally a heap of finches drawn, “from memory – they could be more like sparrows,” he says.

It’s hard to avoid even a passing interest in the Manchester’s art scene especially if you’ve ever been to Cornerhouse bar, Tampopo, Arc or any of the other growing number of art/leisure spaces.

And for anyone who has ever looked at a piece of work, and thought, wow, I wonder how you’d go about buying something like that, then with prices from £30 upwards, Thermo in this silver setting, might just make a few dreams come true.

Thermo 03, The Lowry, 28 June-20 July.

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