Corruption Incarnate (work in progress)

Corruption Incarnate (work in progress), originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

In preparation for tomorrow’s ‘Writing On The Wall’ at the South Bank I’ve been working on the framework for my piece – working title, ‘Corruption Incarnate’. As the theme for this event (organised by Ctrl+Alt+Shift) is Corruption, I’ve decided to have a bit of fun and on the day I will be creating a very over the top, camp-gothic creature – complete with dripping talons and a black cloak. To emphasize the corruption element the creature will be made out of dollar bills, have a gold snout that appears to be dripping black oil and have an exaggerated Nosferatu-like body.
The logistics of creating the framework for the sculpture have made this an interesting project to work on. And in some ways it will be a shame when I have to eventually cover the figure in its cloak, and hide the supporting armature. But that’s me I suppose – more interested in the process and the underlying structure than the end product.

To find out more about this event, check out –
http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/#/Magazine/article/917

Spidey Pods Print

'Spidie Pods' Print, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

Roll up, roll up - You've seen the stickers - now buy the print.

I've been a bit remiss on the old salesman front lately so I thought it about time that I gave the Spidey Pods prints another mention. So here's the details -

Each print is a signed and numbered, limited edition 3 colour silk screen print on high grade, archival paper. Dimensions: 58 x 54 cm. Price: £100 unframed, although I do have a small number for sale, mounted in custom made, white, box frames for £150 (cost price for the frame). These framed prints can be collect direct from my Bethnal Green, London studio or delivered directly to London addresses. Anywhere outside of London and I can't guarantee that the picture glass will arrive intact so sorry but only unframed prints can be sent to these areas.

If you are interested in purchasing a print please contact me at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk

I thank you.

Art, Music & Party

Ctrl_Alt_WOW-flier1[1], originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

Well, Saturday 18th July looks like being a fun filled day. From 10 am till 4pm myself and a whole gang of artists will be creating artwork on the theme of ‘Corruption’, as part of Ctrl+Alt+Shift’s ‘Writing On The Wall’ event at the Southbank Centre (on the Riverside Terrace outside Queen Elizabeth Hall) in London. After the event finishes at 4 pm, all the work will be taken inside the Queen Elizabeth Hall where a winning piece will be selected. As to whether this is decided by the voting public or by a judging panel, I don't yet know. But whatever the outcome, I think that everyone involved is just looking to have a bit of fun on the day. To find out more about this event, check out –
http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/#/Magazine/article/917

As the only 3D practitioner in the group (the others being graffiti artists) I was initially a bit worried as to what I could actually achieve, sculpturally, in just 6 hours. Normally I work to a calendar, not a clock. So I’ve come up with a compromise and have been working on some interconnecting components that can be assembled on the day. Is that cheating? Maybe. Also, I'd like thank fellow artist, James White, who has kindly agreed to double up as my glamorous assistant on the day. Don't worry - he's promised not to wear his little sequined number.

And if that is not enough for you then Ctrl+Atl+Shift will be hosting ‘UNITED UNDERGROUND’, a rooftop party later in the evening (5-11 pm, tickets £5 or £2.5 for students). Details of which can be found at -
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/music/productions/united-underground-47150
or on the Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=98241873911

Below are a few details of the who and what will be going on at the party –

Music plus activism.

You don't have to leave London for a summer festival experience. Across the spaces of Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall - including the reopening of the roof as a venue space - hosted by Ctrl.Alt.Shift, British Underground and actor and musician Riz Ahmed/ Riz MC, United Underground is a unique mix of cutting-edge street culture, music, artwork, fanzines and film set against a backdrop of new-school activism.

The event has been specifically created to promote active engagement with new music and its potential as a catalyst for change.

An amazing line-up of artists and speakers so far includes:
Plan B
Mpho
Man Make Music
Bashy
Afrikan Boy
Professor Green
Ice Kid + Dirty Canvas
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
Illaman, Rattus Rattus, Klose One (Urban Nerds), Theoretical Girl, Gabriel Prokofiev, The Official Secrets Act (One Little Indian Records), Maverick Sabre, Nathan Flutebox Lee, Jamie Woon, True Tiger, Speakers Corner, Dj Djinn, Noel Clarke, Peter Kosminsky, Ali Alizadeh, London 4 London, London Coaltion Against Poverty, Countryside Alliance

United Underground takes place:
- On the Roof. Live music alternating with activists and speakers from across the cultural, social and political spectrum;
- Inside the Building. Live music and DJ sets hosted by London's best underground clubs; the live creation of a dedicated fanzine by Ctrl.Alt.Shift, documenting the event as it happens; and, new short films and features selected by talent spotters at Film London and Ctrl.Alt.Shift.

Ketos 2.0 – ‘Whaleless’ in Italy

I’ve just found out that my sculpture, ‘Poorly Remembered Whale’, (which had previously been showing at Strychnin’s Berlin gallery) is to now travel to Italy and go on show at the KETOS 2.0 exhibition. Below is the official press release with all the relevant details.

KETOS 2.0 is the title of the first “Whaleless” exhibition in a public space and will feature site specific installations and digital as well as fine art. It opens at the Civic Museum of Reggio Emilia, Italy on July 9th at 9pm.

Whaleless is an art project dedicated to those artists wishing to express their indignation, rage, shame, disbelief or concern about the slow disappearance of the fascinating giant marine mammals.

Pollution, whaling and unacceptable fishing practices are only some of the causes that seriously endanger their survival. It seems that they are slowly but inevitably growing extinct, while the consequences of their gradual disappearance are impossible to predict. And yet we can be certain that the world’s ecosystem – not just the oceans’ but that of our entire planet – will be affected by this change. The world would not be the same without whales, which is why action needs to be taken immediately.

The project "Whaleless" was born in 2005 on the pages of the Italian Pig magazine, created by the Italian curator Giovanni Cervi. In 2008 Whaleless started an international exhibition tour at Strychnin Gallery London. It has since travelled to major European cities and was shown at Strychnin Gallery Berlin in March 2009.

Artists featured in Reggio Emilia are:
Wayne Chisnall, Arianna Carossa, Squp, Zaelia Bishop, Aurélien Police, Giuliano Sale, Kokomoo, Tamara Ferioli, Bethany Marchman, LostFish, Lisa Mei Ling Fong, Ansgar Noeth, Karin Andersen, Mimi S, Fernanda Veron, Elena Rapa, Madeleine von Foster and Leonardo Betti.

"Whaleless" is realized with the kind support of PIG Magazine, Res Pira and of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, whose German office is based in Munich.

Musei Civici
Palazzo san Francesco, Sala Vallisneri
Reggio Emilia, Italy

Opening night: July 9th, 2009, 9 p.m.
End date: August 31st, 2009
Opening times: Thu - Sat 9 – 12 and 21 – 24; Sun 21 – 24

Losing it in Venice

What can I say about Venice Biennale 2009? Crazy, amazing, peculiar, debauched - but definitely not boring. Even if I did lose my mobile in one of the canals on my first night there I still had fantastic time. OK, I admit that losing ten years worth of telephone numbers (yes, I know - I should have backed them up) and the prospect of being without a mobile for a week might have put me in a bit of a bad mood for a while, but the circus that is Venice Biennale soon put pay to that.

I travelled over with fellow artist, James White, and in no time at all we bumped into several groups of people we knew or were about to know. It seemed that half of the London art scene was there. Our first night back at Camp Fusina, we popped over to the cabin opposite to borrow a corkscrew and found a room full of artists that we knew from back home. We also hooked up with the girls from WW Gallery and Pharos Gallery’s Sophie Wilson (who I partly blame for me losing my phone – things always get out of hand when she’s around) who curated the short lived ‘Travelling Light’ exhibition. The highlight of their opening night seemed to be when our Miss Wilson (who may or may not have been in a slightly intoxicated state) decided to clamber aboard a boat and then had to be helped off by a mysterious Russian who stripped naked and swam across the canal to her aid.

As for the artwork on show through out the Biennale – there were highs and lows (but mostly highs). Although there was the odd country that hadn’t quite grasped the concept of the whole event and just decided to stage a corporate-looking promotion of their home land, the vast majority really went for it. Of the collateral exhibitions I especially liked ‘Distortion’ from the UK, not just because it had work by some of my favourite artists but because they also had a very chilled out bar and nicely sheltered courtyard where we got to hang out with and meet lots of interesting people. And opposite from Distortion was the ‘Australia’ participation with one of the most impressive pieces I’d seen – a 30 ton monolith made out of video tapes, with the collective running time of all these tapes apparently lasting the current average life span. The most fun pieces that we came across had to be the interactive works by Miranda July (if you haven’t seen it, check out her film, ‘Me and You and Everyone We Know’). On the whole, there was just so much there that I could talk about - from the surprisingly moving Estonian entry about the Bronze Soldier Monument to the mesmerizing and roughly hewn, figurative wooden sculptures at the Italian pavilion - but the best plan would just be to go there for yourself and see as much as you can. And if you intend to go to the next one in two years time, my word of advice would be to go at the very beginning and crash as many of the opening parties as you can.
Several times I heard people mention that the Venice Biennale is like the art version of the Oscars. Well, I’ve never been to the Oscars but if they’re half as much fun as this was, they must be blood good.

V&A Museum - Friday Late View

V&A Friday Late View - May 2009, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

Well, the cut-outs seemed to go down very well at the museum's Friday Late View, even if one little girl did tell me that the St. George one needed a bit more colouring-in. Unfortunately she'd left her crayons at home and I needed a beer, so we were forced to leave it as it was. But, all four of the cut-outs were getting a lot of use and a lot of laughs so we let that one slide.

All in all it was a very busy day for me. Prior the setting up and taking down the cut-outs at the end of the night, I had to set up some of my artwork for an Art Investment Conference at the London Business School. I also met up with a couple of fantastic young artists who are setting up an artist residence program in Poland. Fingers crossed that I'll be involved in that one - it sounds incredible.

To see images from previous V and A Friday Late Views you can check out their flickr account at -
www.flickr.com/photos/fridaylate/sets/

Tomorrow 'Night at the Museum'

St. George V&A Cut-out, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

For a bit of fun why not pop along to the Victoria & Albert Museum’s 'Friday Late View' (nearest tube, South Kensington, London) tomorrow evening from 6:30 pm to 10 pm. This month’s event is based upon the theme of Photography. There are loads of free events, including a series of carnival cut-outs by fellow artist, Phil Sofer, and my good self. They are in the style of the old fashioned seaside cut-outs but based upon objects from the V&A’s collection. Here's one of me as a stained glass version of St. George sticking it to some poor lizard. So if you would like to join us, bring along your camera and you too could be one of the three graces, St. George, a statue of Queen Vic or have yourself devoured by Tipoo’s Tiger.
Among the evening’s interactive events, films, talks and displays there will be - From Daguerreotypes to Digital: A V&A Photography Trail, Road Dreams by Elliott Bristow, Photo Swap Shop, Green, Green Glass of Home by Liz Rideal, Opulent Dreaming by Neeta Madahar, Film Canister Jewellery, Carnival Cut Outs, Jem Southam and Sarah Pickering in Conversation with Martin Barnes, Elliott Bristow on Road Dreams and Photography and the Designed World.
For more information please check out - http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/events/friday_evenings/friday_late/events/may09/index.html
I hope to see you there.