Robert Walker, a Manchester photographer whose work will be exhibited at Buy Art Fair this week, has had a photograph of Frank Sidebottom selected for the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery.
Visitors to the Spinningfields art buying event, which opens to the public on Friday 28 and runs until Sunday 30 October, will have the opportunity to buy a limited edition print of the Sidebottom picture from Comme Ca Art who will be exhibiting at stand number 99.
Taken in 1993 at Walker’s Manchester studio, the picture has never been viewed in public before. Owing to a busy career as a professional photographer, Walker only rediscovered the picture after he retired in 2007 and proceeded to make contact with the National Portrait Gallery to see if it would be interested in his Sidebottom picture. To his delight, the picture was accepted last week and will be hung and ready for public viewing in the coming months.
Born in Manchester in 1960, Walker set up his first studio aged 20 and specialised initially in advertising and portraiture photography. A 27 year career followed which allowed him to work with blue chip brands such as Olympus, Mercedes and Reebok. His passion for portraiture photographer saw him photograph Vivienne Westwood, Quentin Crisp and George Melly and he was also one of Take That’s official photographers for some time.
Speaking about his National Portrait Gallery success, Robert said: “This is without doubt a career highlight for me and I am looking forward to seeing my picture of Frank Sidebottom hung in this world famous gallery."
“I had originally approached Comme Ca Art about showing the Frank Sidebottom photograph at Buy Art Fair before I had heard about the National Portrait Gallery. Now that the piece has been selected, I hope interest in the prints will be even greater and that more people will come along to Spinningfields this weekend to take a look.”
Sponsored by Jaguar UK, Spinningfields and The Avenue Manchester and supported by Arts Council England National Lottery funds, Buy Art Fair will host 60 galleries from across the UK which will exhibit works from over 300 artists over three days.
For further information and all the latest news and updates, visit www.buyartfair.co.uk or www.twitter.com/buyartfair.
