\n Liverpool-based artist Alexis Butterfield\u2019s The Hotel California, Birkenhead has been selected for the final stage of the Visual Art Open 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\n The work depicts the remains of the former Hotel California against a darkening sky, with the Cammell Laird shipyard beyond. Butterfield describes it as his take on a \u201cheroic romantic landscape\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Alexis Butterfield)\n<\/p>\n
\n The real Hotel California (Image: Jack Lyons)\n<\/p>\n
\n The painting grew out of a conversation Alexis had with the Globe<\/a> while being interviewed for a feature about his journey as an artist. We asked the 54-year-old if he would paint the structure for an investigation we were running into the future of the building.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n Alexis said: “It’s amazing out of a single conversation, how things can take on a life of their own.”\n<\/p>\n \n The former Hotel California, on New Chester Road, had previously been known as the Royal Castle pub and hotel and was associated with generations of Cammell Laird workers.\n<\/p>\n \n It became Hotel California in 2004, before closing in 2018, and has since suffered extensive fire damage and deterioration.\n<\/p>\n \n \n The competition<\/p>\n \n The Visual Art Open is in its 11th year and is open internationally to artists at every stage of their careers. It covers painting, sculpture, drawing and illustration, mixed media, photography and digital art, alongside student and art-educator categories.\n<\/p>\n \n This year\u2019s overall winner will receive \u00a32,000, a solo London show, professional-development support and membership benefits, with category winners receiving \u00a3250. The overall prize fund is \u00a310,000.\n<\/p>\n \n Finalists are due to exhibit at the Minster Building in central London from October 9 to 12, with winners announced in October.\n<\/p>\n Other shortlisted artists<\/p>\n \n Butterfield\u2019s work is among a broad international field in the public vote, which remains open until Sunday, September 20. Other artists and works listed include:\n<\/p>\n Rachel Foister, Drop Fold 1<\/p>\n Daniela Militaru, Preserved<\/p>\n Charley Hellier, Sentinels<\/p>\n Skye Holland, A Time of Reckoning<\/p>\n Cesare Pinotti, Piet\u00e0 Metropolitana<\/p>\n Antonio Azevedo, Era Once\u2026 \u201cOnce Upon a Time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Natalia Gr\u0105dzka, Benjamin<\/p>\n Carlos Fentanes, Urn (The Never-Ending Story of Penelope, Weaving by Day and Unweaving by Night, Waiting)<\/p>\n Iwona Germanek, Crumbs<\/p>\n Tori McLean, Do I Merely Multiply (Mother)<\/p>\n Merrie Carlton, Superdrug<\/p>\n Emilija Mezele, On the Tube<\/p>\n Adam Kachlik, Duchess, 2026<\/p>\n \n The competition\u2019s People\u2019s Choice Award allows one vote per person. Butterfield said people can vote for his work through the link in his social-media biography.\n<\/p>\n \n Local exhibition<\/p>\n \n Before the London exhibition, The Hotel California, Birkenhead can be seen as part of Butterfield\u2019s The Land Across the Water exhibition at Liverpool Everyman Theatre on Hope Street.\n<\/p>\n \n The exhibition brings together recent paintings and drawings inspired by Butterfield\u2019s exploration of Wirral and Chester, including Birkenhead, New Brighton, Port Sunlight and Chester.\n<\/p>\n \n It runs until September 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool-based artist Alexis Butterfield\u2019s The Hotel California, Birkenhead has been selected for the final stage of the Visual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-760410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} (Image: Jack Lyons)\n<\/p>\n
Alexis has painted other iconic Wirral scenes such as Hamilton Square (Image: Jack Lyons)\n<\/p>\n
(Image: Jack Lyons)\n<\/p>\n