Robert Frankle

Description

Mage of Manchester is inspired by Adolphe Valette's impressionist painting Under Windsor Bridge on the Irwell (1912), an iconic image of industrial-age Manchester, showing a view of the Irwell bridge from the Salford-side of the river. (The title of the painting misnames the bridge.) The painting evokes the essence of industrial age Manchester, a period still physically and spiritually very present in the city and an aspect of it that inevitably strikes one most upon arrival.

This work is a reflection on what has changed and what has remained the same. The photographic image was taken from the same spot and perspective as the painting. The landscape in 2015, over 100 years later, hasn't changed significantly from when Valette painted his painting. The figure in the images, while clearly from 2015, bears some resemblance to the figure in the painting as well.

The images are printed to correspond to the same dimensions as the painting. One photo is an unmanipulated colour image. The second has been slightly adjusted to echo the colours of the original painting. The third has been adjusted using Artificial Intelligence technology in order to add a reflection on this new technology's ability to transform photographs into "paintings" of specific styles.