PORTRAITS OF THE UNDERBANKS

a place that makes itself

EAMONN – EXVISTA

I started out as a graphic designer, I was fascinated how design integrated with business, so I did business studies and then worked in IT.  When the computer became a multimedia communications device, I could combine my passions for art and technology and that was fantastic.
 
Buildings for me are the highest art form, their purity, prominence, importance, they’re things of art and function, to get built they have to have a purpose – to live in, work in, be entertained in. They’re a reflection of our ingenuity and ambition, what we can make.
 
Stockport has a massive diversity of architecture, great examples from the medieval right through to the modern. Staircase House, Underbank Hall, Three Shires, the Plaza – its amazing interior is one of the best examples of art deco in the UK – right up to the Pyramid and what they have done with the Mailbox, they’ve kept the tiles I loved and I like what they have done with vegetation on the exterior. And there is everything in between, the Carnegie Library and out of the centre there are many great buildings in the surrounding areas.
 
We are lucky to have so many architectural treasures, which can sometimes be overlooked or taken for granted, such as the car park screen on top of Mersey Way, created by Alan Boyson, people glance at Mersey Way and just say it’s shit, but I want them to look up, to see around them, see how the place in which they live is fantastic, have some pride and pleasure in it.
 
What I like to do is pare buildings back into a graphic statement, I sketch and take photos then go into the studio and create a composition which retains the details that define the essence of a structure, I want to create images which get people to focus on what buildings mean to them and their community. 
 
The Underbanks have such great potential, a thriving independent artisan sector, big retail is dying, the future is in local artisanal retail. I am keen to record and celebrate that.

https://exvista.com

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