National Museums Liverpool – John Moores Painting Prize
The Brief
National Museums Liverpool (NML) approached Leach to support the installation for the latest John Moores Painting Prize, held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Although Leach already had an established relationship with NML, this was a new project within the wider partnership and was initiated directly by the client rather than through a pitch scenario.
The initial brief was centred around producing and installing vinyl graphics for the exhibition. This included extensive areas of block colour, cut vinyl text and a significant number of artist tags. The artwork for all elements was provided by NML, and Leach’s role was to convert these digital assets into accurate, high-quality physical installations. While the project did not require complex innovation, the simplicity of the visual style meant that accuracy was critical, as any imperfections would be very visible within the gallery setting.
The timescales presented an additional challenge, as all installation work needed to be completed over two days. This required careful logistical planning to manage the sequence of work across different areas of the gallery while ensuring the exhibition remained on schedule.
The Solution
Leach delivered a solution that provided both production precision and installation quality. The team received the artwork files from NML and prepared all vinyl graphics in line with the supplied designs. A large proportion of the text was in Chinese, which added complexity to the quality-checking process; every character had to be reviewed carefully to ensure that nothing had been missed. Even though the artwork itself was simple, the team worked with deliberate attention to detail to avoid complacency and maintain the exacting standards required by the gallery.
Once all assets were prepared, Leach coordinated the installation across the various exhibition spaces within the Walker Art Gallery. The work involved extensive positioning to ensure every graphic was aligned, spaced and applied exactly as intended. The cut vinyl required particularly careful handling, as mistakes or oversights in this type of application can be difficult to correct once material is in place. Despite the tight timeframe, the production and installation phases ran smoothly.
The Results
The finished installation delivered a clean, bold and polished visual presence for the John Moores Painting Prize. The accuracy of the vinyl work and the consistency of the colour and placement across the gallery helped enhance the impact of the artworks and created a cohesive visitor experience. Seeing the final graphics in place provided a strong sense of scale and highlighted the attention to detail that had gone into both production and installation.
Feedback from the NML team was extremely positive. They were very happy with the outcome, noting that everything ran smoothly and according to schedule. Meeting the client on-site during the installation also allowed both teams to review the work together and confirm that every element met the expectations for the exhibition.
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