Something old, something new – artists work comes home to Rochdale

Artist John Cooke with his work which is now on display at Rochdale Central Library

The changing face of Rochdale town centre over the last decade has been captured by local artist John Cooke.

Three pieces of John’s ‘expressionist’ style work, which involves digital screen printing based on a photograph, have now been moved from display at MediaCityUK to a permanent home at Rochdale Central Library.

The Quays Culture arts team in Salford invited John to produce the original artwork to represent their theme of ‘past and future’. 

Having witnessed at first-hand the improvements in recent years, John used the town centre regeneration as his inspiration.   

His first image is of the old main council building, known locally as ‘the black box’, which had a reputation as one of the regions ugliest buildings.

Another shows the construction of its replacement – Number One Riverside in the background,  alongside in progress demolition of ‘the black box’. 

His third image shows Number One Riverside.

John said: “The town centre really has moved forward over the last ten years, going from one extreme to the other, from a depressing unloved building dominating the skyline to the modern and stylish Number One Riverside which makes a bold statement about the ambition in the town again. As a building it’s much more popular with residents and staff. You can see how Rochdale is improving now and I wanted to reflect some of that in this work.”

After previously being on show at MediaCityUK the artwork is now on the wall of Rochdale Central Library after John donated it to the council.