Mr K.
Yelp
"You wot? You want to walk to the Lowry from here? Nah mate. Get on the tram! It's too far. Not to mention it's Salford."
"Here" was the Manchester Cathedral, where this passer-by saw me studying my handwritten directions to The Lowry. I had my DSLR in my hands, and his comments were to the effect that it wouldn't be in my hands much longer had I continued on my way, especially as his intonations for "Salford" was as if I was about to head into Mordor.
But if there's anything I learned from living in New York for 1.5 years, it's to walk with purpose and look like you know exactly where you're going, even if you have no bloody idea. No one will screw with you. Granted, this scheme so far in Manchester has instead prompted pedestrians and drivers alike to ask *me* for directions, so maybe looking confused and up at buildings while holding a giant map in my hands is a better strategy after all.
ANYWAY (sorry), I contentedly ignored the concerned Mancunian's advice and marched into Salford in quest of The Lowry. After many detours due to road closures which had me backtrack a number of times and walk through a whole collection of council estates, I finally reached the Salford Quays and soon stood in front of The Lowry itself.
Architecturally, I appreciated its steel facade and odd assortment of shapes, curves, and angles. A very tame, much less fluid version of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, so to speak. Inside, however, the place was a bit more underwhelming. Part of my march down to the Quays was specifically to catch the Warhol exhibit since I'd seen it advertised all over town, but the galleries were obviously not the focus of this venue. The theatre was, but even the entrances to that didn't seem designed too well. Where one should go once entering the building wasn't all that intuitive or well marked. I did eventually find the galleries up the escalators, however, and enjoyed the three exhibits:
1) Nadav Kandar's celebrity portraits were a great intro to the galleries. Really well done portraitures of David Lynch, Spike Jonze, Morrissey, Ian McKellen, etc. And, on a cultural education front, from this exhibit I also learned that Take That are back! (granted most other visitors seemed much more enthused about their portraits than I was - apparently being from the States I'm missing something here).
2) Warhol & The Diva - Great series of Warhol's works, mostly on loan from the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
3) The L.S. Lowry exhibit - Honestly, I knew absolutely nothing about L.S. Lowry before coming to Manchester. But going through this exhibit I've definitely become a admirer of his work. His style with the sketches and paintings, the stories behind them, and all their ties to his life in Manchester were pretty fascinating. As a newcomer, it definitely gave me an interesting creative perspective on the city's past, especially as what I observed walking around the Salford Quays was anything *but* the past.
Afterwards, I was feeling hungry (having walked through Salford after all) so I looked at the offerings of the Lowry's cafe as well as its restaurant. Neither menu looked all that inspiring, so I left to hunt for a meal elsewhere. And as I walked out, two photographers with loads of equipment set up were standing in the courtyard in front of me. I apparently walked into a wedding photo shoot, as all the wedding guests were whooping and clapping on the balcony over my head, and the bride and groom were patiently standing behind me, smiling and waiting for my internal light bulb to go off so I'd discreetly walk away. Whoops!
All in all, I'll give the Lowry 3.5 stars but I'll round up higher for now. Not sure yet if collectively what's offered inside (including a lot of purple) matches the potential of what you'd think is in there, but the galleries were definitely bright spots and I'd recommend them to others. Would I go back to check out the theatre and catch a show? Probably. But I've got a lot of Manchester to explore ahead of me, so who knows when that'll happen.
4 Stars (including my walk through Salford)