‘Collaboration’ A Project by Pete Clarke & Georg Gartz  Two Artists in Two European Cities Lichthof Gallery, Köln & Huyton Gallery, Merseyside. In many ways the painting collaboration between Pete Clarke and Georg Gartz reflects the context from which their project sprang. Two artists from two cities, Liverpool and Cologne. Over the past half century, both cities have witnessed processes of profound transformation: Cologne’s postwar reconstruction, prosperity and development as an important regional centre, Liverpool’s pop music explosion, its economic decline and current regeneration. Both are also characterised by the shaping of particularly distinct cultural identities. And just as the way in which such changes have happened has differed greatly in each place, the two artists – on the surface at least – could not be more of a contrast: Clarke the gritty urbanist playing with the politics of representation; Gartz, the lyrical abstractionist whose approach to colour and form finds expression equally through installations as conventional painting. Yet, like the rivers that historically have provided the lifeblood of both Cologne and Liverpool, the two artists found in the practice of painting a common thread, a discipline that has brought them together. Bryan Biggs, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool. The fact that Georg Gartz and Pete Clarke come from different countries only makes their common artistic project even more compelling. It is not the fashionable Crossover that is introduced but the ideal of a synthesis in which the question after the difference is no longer important. They have found a way of collaborating that has long been employed in the sessions of Jazz and Blues musicians. Against the background of a common sound environment and on the basis of a shared motif musicians of the most varied cultural circles develop an individual style, improvising with great enjoyment, in order to then integrate their individual conception into the larger body of music. Both artists like Jazz. And the fact that they listen to music while they paint confirms that in their art they put more emphasis on the right rhythm than on theoretical concept. Jürgen Kisters, Köln-Höhenhaus, March 2000. Collaboration is supported and funded by VHS Köln, Kulturamt Köln,  Stadt Köln, The British Council, Goethe Institute, North West Arts, Knowsley Arts Service and the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.