There is a honest likelihood you have seen a Stanley Chow portrait this week with out figuring out it was one. Our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, makes use of a Chow illustration as his avatar – the daring, pared-back, unmistakably Manc model that is change into a language of its personal. And now the person behind it’s going correctly huge. (Not that he might get any extra iconic, however that is our view!)
Manchester, let’s be trustworthy, is having a second. With Burnham now in Quantity 10 and the entire nation’s eyes turned north, there’s not often been a greater time to throw an enormous celebration for town and the individuals who constructed its fame. (And do you know, it is Artistic Growth’s residence, too?)
From now till 24 October 2026, Manchester Arndale is residence to MCR Made, a free exhibition of Stan’s work that transforms the buying centre into an enormous love letter to town. Observe the path, and you will find 13 towering inflatable portraits. Some as much as six metres lengthy, suspended above the outlets, each a Mancunian who has, indirectly, helped form the place and the broader world.
The road-up reads like a who’s who of Manchester greatness: Liam and Noel Gallagher, Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden, Emmeline Pankhurst, Alan Turing, L.S. Lowry, Lemn Sissay, Caroline Aherne and Aitch amongst them. Music, sport, science, politics, artwork, comedy – it is all there, floating overhead, ready to be snapped and shared on Instagram. Naturally, there is a social competitors connected, with a collection of unmissable picture alternatives dotted alongside the route.
For Stan, this one clearly means one thing. “The Arndale Centre for me is my Mecca, and I am positive it’s for therefore many individuals from Manchester,” he says. “I am sufficiently old to recollect when it first opened as a buying centre practically 50 years in the past, and I have not stopped coming right here since. I am a proud Mancunian, so I used to be very flattered and touched to be requested to do that. Artwork must be seen in all places, and never at all times essentially in a gallery. I am unable to consider a greater place for as many individuals as attainable from all walks of life to have the ability to see my work offered this manner.”
Few artists are higher positioned to inform Manchester’s story. Born and primarily based within the metropolis, Stan has spent years turning musicians, footballers, actors and politicians into these clear, assured portraits which have earned him followers effectively past the UK – his latest topics embody Burnham himself, Jude Bellingham, Rely Binface and the late David Hockney. He is lengthy been a favorite right here at Artistic Growth, too, so seeing his work six metres tall above the escalators looks like an excellent time out.
Anybody artistic immediately recognises a Stanley Chow portrait. It is the sharp strains and geometric takes on well-known names which are the massive giveaway. But it surely’s additionally Stan’s instinctive skill to seize the characters behind the folks he attracts. Amongst my circle of buddies, we like to share Rightmove listings we have noticed his work in. I’ve acquired one among his artworks myself: an Anthony Bourdain, proudly hung in my happiest place – the kitchen. He watches over us as we prepare dinner. But in addition makes me smile each time I take a look at it. Figuring out the artist personally makes it all of the extra particular.
There is a beautiful bit of latest work within the combine as effectively. Particularly for MCR Made, Stan has illustrated an unique portrait of Ellen Wilkinson. Born in Manchester in 1891, Wilkinson was a suffragette, a ladies’s rights campaigner and the primary feminine Training Secretary within the British cupboard – a becoming topic given the setting.
Her portrait ties into the centre’s ‘Ask for Ellen’ initiative, which provides free sanitary merchandise to anybody who wants them. Launched in 2022 in response to analysis exhibiting that many ladies within the UK had been lacking college on account of interval poverty, it honours Wilkinson’s lifelong combat for ladies’ proper to an schooling. A quiet, considerate thread operating by a really loud, joyful exhibition.
“Manchester has at all times been a metropolis that outperforms and exceeds expectations,” says David Allinson, centre director at Manchester Arndale. “By music, sport, science, politics, creativity and innovation, Manchester’s affect is recognised around the globe, and MCR Made celebrates the icons whose expertise, ambition and dedication helped construct that fame. The exhibition feels notably at residence inside Manchester Arndale, itself a Manchester establishment that has been woven into town’s cloth for nearly 5 many years.”
If you happen to fancy taking a chunk of it residence, you may. Manchester Arndale is giving freely 26 limited-edition A4 prints signed by Chow – two of every icon, allotted to winners at random. To enter, comply with @manchesterarndale on Instagram and just like the competitors submit.
MCR Made runs at Manchester Arndale from now till 24 October 2026. Entry is free, so go and discover your favorite Mancunian, and do not forget to search for.
