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Posted by Editor on 28th November 2011 at 02:19 PM
Video: New pop-up gallery is Harold Riley's best
by Tom Rodgers

One of the best free galleries in Salford has just re-opened at the Lowry Outlet Mall.

Harold Riley is a hugely prolific artist whose work has come to rival LS Lowry in its social and cultural value.

His high-profile portraits of Sir Alex Ferguson are probably his most instantly recogniseable work, but the man himself estimates that he has over 40,000 paintings, sketches and drawings in his archive.

Sadly, Harold Riley can't last forever. He is easily tired, his wife asks us to keep the interview short. But still, he happily agrees to talk to us even though we've just wandered in off the street.

"At this time in my life I'm being forced to catalogue all my work - is this painting in Pendleton, or Weaste, or Broughton? Who is this clog-maker? At the end of the day, for me they're just pictures, but they've become more than that, they've become historical record."

The sole function of the Harold Riley Archive is to keep all of the man's work in Salford and on public view.

The first thing to happen to an artist when he becomes commercially successful is that their work is bought up by private collectors or corporations. To keep all of your own art is almost unheard of.

But that is exactly what the Riley Archive aims to do.

This latest batch of painting and sketches is a miscellany of work, hung rather haphazardly around the room. There's some Fergie and Man Utd portaits stacked on the floor, with streets and cinemas, and part of his Street Dogs collection, alongside Riley favourites like The Yellow Door.

And it's on show here, rather than up in the cloisters of the Lowry theatre, to attract parents and families trudging doggedly past pushing trolleys and prams, occasionally glancing in his direction and curious, wandering in, as we did.

Last year, we said Street Dogs are not just for Christmas. This year, we say Harold Riley is not just for Christmas. He's for Salford.

The gallery is open next to Santa's Grotto on the ground floor of the Lowry Outlet Mall between 11am and 5pm from Thursday to Sunday.



Related Links

WATCH: Street Dogs - the 2010 Christmas exhibition click here
Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by fish4 ( member )  21st March 2012
Missed this one!. Harold Riley, as much as he may be embarrassed, and too modest to admit, is far more talented than Lowery, I say this having studies, for many hours at Salford Museum, Lowery's detailed, realistic figurative drawings, Lowery was more than the painter of 'match stalk men', he was a gifted artist, but as I said, not so much as Mr Riley. One of his paintings, I saw as a 15 year old ( too many decades ago!), is an image that is locked in my mind, the subject was a common sight in Salford, the painting was truly beautiful done with an artistic skill that surpassed L.S.Lowery's. I would love to see that painting and his Bently's buildings just once again.........for hours and hours and hours. fish4

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