Jai Redman’s work deals with his personal experiences as an environmental direct activist and social justice campaigner in the UK over the last 25 years. As such it forms a unique, honest, emotional and often satirical commentary on our dislocation from politics and the planet. His contemporary perspective and modern materials combine with a passion for traditional painting techniques and the works of the old masters, to create provocative images of great beauty.

Manchester Art Gallery will show a selection of new and existing oil paintings and watercolours as contemporary interventions within the historic collections, specifically the Dutch still life and landscapes. Three paintings on show are part of an ongoing series of flooded Dutch scenes, which Redman has painted on greetings cards bought at the gallery gift shop. Redman’s exquisite re-workings of the Dutch paintings depict how the scenes might look after sea levels have risen.

Contemporary still life works and a large scale portrait sit alongside our Dutch 17th and 18th century works. In a separate gallery a series of watercolour studies using water drawn from the object itself, using the artist’s own sweat or tears, or from a specific relevant source feature alongside sketchbooks and materials documenting Redman’s process.