Dave Pearson: Return to Byzantium

The Turnpike CIC was a bold, independent not-for-profit arts project with community at its heart, based in Leigh, Greater Manchester.

This web archive, titled Could this be paradise? reflects on our 5 years in Leigh, highlighting the community voices and artists who have worked with us to shape our organisation.

We want to say a huge thank you to our Turnpike family; the team members, volunteers, artists, community members, peer organisations, funders and supporters who have invested their energy, creativity and ingenuity with us over the years.

Exhibitions

22 June – 4 August 2018

Dave Pearson was a highly prolific artist throughout his life. Since his death in 2008, a group of friends and colleagues have unearthed an enormous body of work from Pearson’s packed studio in Haslingden, Rossendale. This extraordinary legacy of drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures reveals Pearson’s boundless imagination and his unwavering belief in the transcendent power of art. Central to this exhibition were the spectacular Byzantium paintings, first exhibited at The Turnpike in 1994 and designed specifically to sit within the gallery’s architecture. Jewel-coloured and brilliant with energy, these huge paintings take us on an extraordinary visual journey.

This exhibition was made possible by the Dave Pearson Studio.