A new exhibition featuring the work of Yoko Ono and Turner Prize-winning Mark Leckey has opened at Bluecoat.

Public View kicks off 300 days of anniversary celebrations and showcases 100 artists who have previously exhibited at the gallery over the last 50 years.

Running till 23 April, the exhibition includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs and video, with many pieces previously exhibited in the gallery, some remade especially for the exhibition and others completely new.

Pupils from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School released 300 balloons to mark the start of the anniversary celebrations.

Internationally renowned names like John Akomfrah, Derek Boshier, Jeremy Deller, John Latham, Imran Qureshi and Yinka Shoniba feature alongside younger artists like Jamie Shovlin and Niamh O’Malley.

Yoko Ono at Bluecoat in 1967

Standout pieces from the exhibition include a video and photographic documentation of performances in 1967 at Bluecoat by Yoko Ono and Mark Boyle alongside paintings and prints by popular Liverpool artists with long Bluecoat associations including Maurice Cockrill, Adrian Henri, Clement McAleer, Don McKinlay and Sam Walsh.

Mary Cloake, chief executive at Bluecoat, says: “Bluecoat has been at the heart of Liverpool’s cultural life for many years and it seems fitting that, as the first exhibition in our 300th anniversary programme,

“Public View will highlight the diverse range of artists who have exhibited here. Bluecoat has always strived to be at the forefront of developments in contemporary art in the UK, often bringing major artists to Liverpool for the first time.”

Bryan Biggs, artistic director at Bluecoat, who has curated the exhibition, adds: “Public View brings together works since when the gallery space was improved and an exhibition programme formalised.

“Even with 100 artists, this is but a small, though significant, sample of the thousands of artists who have shown here. It aims to reflect something of Bluecoat’s curatorial interests and distinctive exhibition programming over this period.”

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