Orifice Doodles

As I’d previously mentioned, the new series of Orifice sculptures that I’m currently working on has started to influence my late night doodle sessions. And as promised, I’ve finally got round to uploading some of them onto my quick-fire drawings site.

Crab Head Doll

As my blog has been a bit drawing/doodle-heavy lately I thought I’d give you a break with something 3D. This is one of my small component sculptures. I’m not quite sure where these component pieces are going – whether they will eventually form part of an installation, join together to form a weird mutated sculpture or just sit on the shelf and gather dust. Once I have enough of them I’m sure something will suggest itself.
As you can probably tell from this piece and from my Crab Claw paintings, I have a bit of an obsession with crustaceans and anything else that has claws. I think it probably stems from my love of collecting dead things as a child and of long walks along the beaches in Wales – where there was always an abundant supply of crab parts.

Another Doodle Update

With lots going on at the moment I’ve not been doing as many of my late night doodles as usual. However, I have just got round to uploading a dozen quick-fire drawings from last week.
The thing that I like about automatic drawing is that at the moment you put pen to paper you don’t know what will appear in front of you. Your brain is just a split second in front of what you are doing – instantly reacting to the mark that you are currently making. Sometimes you slow down and feel that the drawing is going in a certain direction, and at this point it becomes more considered. At other times the marks just fly out onto the paper as if drawn by some external force. And when these ones work out you kinda feel guilty about taking credit for them.
But, as I said before, with this approach they can be a bit hit and miss - so please don’t judge them too harshly.

Addicted to Drawing

I’m not wishing to knock it but I seem to be addicted to drawing at the moment – maybe it's my way of distracting myself from thinking about other stuff. I’ve just uploaded a few recent drawings to my sketchbook page. Most of them relate to, or are ideas for, the new Orifice Box sculpture project that I’m working on. But they are not the drawings that I mentioned in my previous post. Those ones will appear soon, on my quick-fire drawings page – just as soon as I get round to uploading them.

The Second Orifice

Here’s some ‘work in progress’ photos of the second piece in my new Orifice Box series. The working title for this one is Horned God Orifice Box (a bit of a mouthful and not that catchy, I admit) because of the branches that grow out of the sides of the box – which remind me a little bit of horns. I know that the box is a little on the small side for anything with deity status but maybe the Horned God doesn’t have that much in the way of worshippers these days. I’ve still not yet decided what the interior of the box will line with. I’m toying with the idea of either hair or very old news print, with drawings over the top. I had thought about having the interior mirrored but I’m not sure if that would add much to the piece. I also have to add the trademark casters.
I think that this new series of work has started to influence my ongoing quick-fire drawing project, as a few of sketches have come out remarkably boxy. I’ll upload them soon so that you can see what I mean. Which reminds me – I must get round to scanning and uploading the next batch of doodles as they are starting to mount up.

Doodle Update

Please feel free to check out the latest editions to my new series of quick-fire drawings. I’m not sure if it’s an addiction or just a late-night ritual but lately I feel the need to draw before I go to sleep – even when I’m really tired (which obviously shows in some of the doodles). I’m continually updating the site with new sketches but as it takes much longer to scan the buggers than it does to actually draw them, there tends to be a bit of a backlog of images waiting to be uploaded.

Orifice Boxes - New Work

I’ve just started working on a new series of sculptures that I’m hoping will be ready in time for a group show that I and fellow RBS sculptor, Alice Cunningham, are looking to organise later this year in Shoreditch, London. The exhibition is to be an all sculpture event; however, I think it might be nice to have some examples of working drawings on display too. Although it’s early days yet and we haven’t decided on how many artists to include in the show, I have already invited a very talented artist, Gary Martin, who has accepted.
Anyway - back to my new series of sculptures. Basically, I was itching to make something so I started trawling through my pile of old sketchbooks looking for any unrealised projects that I could bring to life, when I came across the above sketch. It is a drawing that I made a few years ago that was inspired by my earlier wall-mounted Orifice sculpture but which was describing an idea for a box sculpture on wheels (no surprise there then). The initial idea was for the box to be cobbled together from a mixture of different bits of wood and odds and ends in a Frankenstein’s monster kinda way. From the photos above, you can see the early stages of the new piece (from the orifice carved from a block of wood, to the completed front panel). As is often the case, it was the production of the work that triggered ideas for spin-off pieces or pieces that would work as a series. In this family group each of the sculptures, while being of varying sizes and dimensions, will have a carved orifice or portal and have something at its centre. This first one is to have a nail-encrusted inner box, not too dissimilar to my previous piece, Nail Box.

Oodles of Doodles

I’ve just started a series of quick-fire drawings. The initial idea was just to try and draw as fast as I could (without thinking more than a split second ahead) and see what would happen. Most of the doodles are of heads because it just seems to require less concentration to draw a face (something everyone is familiar with) than anything else. And with each of these sketches I’d always start the same way – by drawing an eye as fast as I could, then just seeing where that led. I always find it hard to judge time very accurately when I’m drawing but at each sitting of probably not much more than 20 minutes I’d knock out 10 to 15 of these speed doodles. Although it can be easy to get side-tacked and accidentally start concentrating on what you’re doing – in which case, the drawing looses its fluidity and starts to become a conventional sketch again.
I don’t know if it properly qualifies as automatic drawing but it is fun to step away from the usual high concentration drawing approach for a short while and try something a bit fast and furious. With this method accuracy may go out of the window but you can end up with something quite free or surprising. Some of these pieces work and some of them obviously don't - but either way it is fun to break with the normal practice for a while and see if anything new emerges.

Geneva Art Fair - The Book

Laurence Longueville who curated last year’s Art Park Fair International in Geneva, Switzerland has just produced a book to commemorate the event. This guide features work by over 22 emerging and established international artists (me being one of them). An image of my life-size model kit sculpture, ‘And When I’m a Man’, appears somewhere in the middle of the catalogue.
To view the book and its contents on-line just click on this link.

Pimping my Prints

Once again I've been a bit remiss on the old salesman front so I thought it about time that I gave the Spidey Pods prints another mention. Here we go -

The design is based upon an earlier painting of mine (now in the collection of friend and art collector, Adam Stone – hope he doesn’t mind me mentioning that), which itself is based upon a section of an even earlier sketch that I made of a pile of ‘possibly alien’ pods receding into the distance. For some reason I decided to clothe the pods in different bits of the old Spider-man costume – probably just because I was a big Spiderman fan as a kid. And the reason that I drew the pods in the first place? Well that’s a bit of an odd one. After peeling back the skin on a segment of orange one evening (and being amazed at all the tiny pod-like bits that make up that segment) I later on woke up in the middle of the night and quickly tried to make a pencil sketch of what was in my head. However, as I began to draw I think that a few other influences had started to come into play – and I remembered the scene at the end of the original 1956 version of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie where the hero climbs into the back of the truck full of alien pods (oops – spoiler!) and of an old Simon Bisley drawing of the 2000 AD cartoon character, Sláine, standing on a pile of bodies. The idea to clothe the pods in bits of a super hero costume came to me the following day. As well as tying in with my interests in childhood nostalgia, I think that the pattern works both as a way of camouflaging the individual pods and as a kind of deconstruction of the super hero image - but maybe I’m just seeing more than is really there. Either way it seems to tie the whole image together nicely.

Anyway - each print is a signed and numbered (edition of 300), hand-pulled, 3 colour silk screen print on high grade, archival paper. The paper size is 58.6 x 54.2 cm with the image dimensions being 38.7 x 39.4 cm. The boarder at the bottom is slightly larger to allow for the signature and edition number – which also gives it a kind of Polaroid photo look.

Although they can be purchased from various galleries and shops around London, you can get one direct from me at the commission-free price of £100 (UK sterling).
I do have a small number for sale, mounted in custom made, white, box frames (which look amazing) for £150 - which is the cost price for the frame. These framed prints can be collect direct from my Whitechapel, 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.

With regards to postage, all prints are rolled in acid-free tissue paper and posted in sturdy cardboard postal tubes with sealed plastic stoppers. Postage and packaging is free to UK customers (with a small charge for customers outside the UK - sorry).

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

City Stills

I recently re-discovered some black and white photos that I took of my City sculpture, not long after I had first completed it. My initial idea for the City was for it to be a set for a small 8mm animated film (but it somehow turned itself inside out and became a tower sculpture instead) so these photos were a sort of tribute to the unborn film – ‘stills from a film that doesn’t exist’, if you like.
Having grown up on a diet of strange little dark animations and movies, I think that my sculptural influences probably owe more to cinematography than they do to offer fields of art. As I’m sure many of you can tell, I was always a big fan of people like the Brothers Quay and of Czech animators such as Jan Švankmajer - and the weird dreamlike worlds that they conjured up probably had a lot to do with the way my delicate little mind developed during those formative years.

Elephant Boy

I love the way our minds works – how we can’t help but see human or animal figures in random patterns or in vegetable or mineral structures. Some people love staring at clouds (oh yeah, I can see a giant poodle in high heals) but I’m always fascinated by the weird things that can be made out in some types of bathroom tiles. I could stare at them for hours. At least that’s the story that I’m sticking to as to why I spend so long in the bathroom.
And why am I waffling on about such nonsense? Well, I was looking through some of my old sketchbooks the other night and I came across a couple of thumbnail sketches of a bit of twig (top image) that I’d picked up somewhere. Looking at the drawings again they reminded me of some sort of John Merrick type creature so I did a quick cartoon sketch and here’s the result.

US Sketchbook Tour

I’d like to thank Holly Howe for telling me about the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project, which I’ve just signed up to be part of. Basically, the Brooklyn Art Library in America are inviting artists to submit completed sketchbooks (on a variety of themes) and these books will then be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the country. So far six states, Brooklyn, Austin, San Francisco, Portland, Atlanta and Chicago have signed up to play host to the show. But it is likely that more states will take part before the exhibition starts in March 2011.
After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be bar-coded and available for the public to view.
As I’ve not yet received my sketch book I obviously don’t have anything to show so far (the image above is of a drawing that I did a couple of years ago) but the project’s website does offer each of the participating artists a webpage in which to show off their work – and here’s mine.

Alumni Interview

Here’s a link to a recent interview that I did for the alumni magazine of my old college. I always find interviews kind of embarrassing because I always come across as quite proper or pompous.

Collaborative Doodles

Here’s the before and after photos of the second painting that I ‘added to’ as part of the mail art Collaborations project set up by the Helsinki based photographer, Adam Monaghan.
I’m not quite sure what was going through my head when I did this one but I suppose that’s one of the joys and draw backs of starting a painting or drawing without having any fixed intentions – which I suppose would make this one a kind of painted doodle. I’ll be interested to see what it turns into once some of the other artists in the group have added their touches to it.
Although the project is still in its early stages at the moment, more and more international artists have started to take part and the initial results can be viewed by clicking this facebook link.

More-Whale-Less

Just a quick note to let you know that the closing of the latest 'Whaleless' show, KETOS 2.1, at the Civic Aquarium in Milan (where I am exhibiting my 'Poorly Remembered Whale' sculpture) has been put back, and that the exhibition will now close on Sunday 23rd May.
Click here to see more artwork from the show, including this fantastic photograph by Fernanda Veron.

Squidosaurus Rex

As I’ve been without a studio for a while (and therefore not able to work on any sculptures) I’ve been doing a lot of drawing lately. Even though it was a kind of enforced break from sculpting – with me having to move out of my previous studio due to it being redeveloped – sometimes it’s good to take a break and do something more playful for a while. So I’ve been doing something I love; namely, defacing text books. In this drawing I’ve combined two of my favourite creatures – a T Rex and a Colossus Squid.
I’ve also just found my battered 1870’s copy of ‘The Works of Hogarth’, with 62 illustrations and can’t wait to get scribbling – very Chapman Brothers I know, but what the hell.

My New Studio - YAY!

After what feels like an eternity of searching (please excuse the histrionics but I've only really had the space to do small drawings and paintings for the last couple of months) I've finally found myself a new studio to work in. Although, admittedly, a little bit more work needs doing to the space before I can start sculpting again - as you can see from the photo which shows my materials and equipment cowering in the corner of the room, waiting for some nice people to come and build a couple of walls around them.
My new studio is on the ground floor of La Ruche, a five story building in Whitechapel, London - just over the road from the Whitechapel Gallery. All five floors are being converted into artists' studios and there will also be a cafe and workshop space on the ground floor. Needless to say, I may have to venture out of my work space every now and then just to conduct quality control checks on the cakes selection in the cafe.
La Ruche is part of HIVE Projects which was launched in November 2009 as an extended arm of T1+2. HIVE Projects works with urban regeneration and heritage sites, together with established and emerging artists.

From Finland With Love

Here’s the before and after images from the first piece in a mail art project that I’ve just added my personal touch (the tendrils) to. The project was the idea of the photographer and artist, Adam Monaghan, who is now based in Finland. The basic premise of the project is that Adam sends out sets of four 18 x 18 cm paintings/collages (that he has started) to various artists around the world. These artists then add to the works and post them onto another artist in the group, who does likewise. Once an artist feels the work is complete they return to Adam. Eventually, when all the works have been returned, we’ll have a small show somewhere and exhibit the end results. The artists currently taking part in the project are Tony Deleon in New York, Dale Devereux Barker in Ipswich, Katie Waller in Brighton, Kunigunda Dineikaite in Lithuania, Adam Monaghan in Finland and myself here in London.

My Botanical Ramble

Botanists of The Asphalt from Lukasz Cholewiak on Vimeo.

Apologies in advance for my drunken ramblings ('never drink too much at your own private view' - a rule I always seem to forget) but I've just come across Lukasz Cholewiak's beautifully shot video of last November's Botanists of The Asphalt exhibition. The show was curated by Stephanie Pochet at CAMP in Shoreditch, London and featured work by David Macdiarmid, David London, Ruth Pickard, Aisling Roycroft, Kerim Aytac and myself.

Steam-Powered Fun

For anyone interested in seeing some of the acts, inventions and fantastic costumes from the recent steampunk event that I took part in at London’s Scala club, here is a four minute clip that appeared on the BBC News. My City sculpture even makes a brief appearance but don’t blink, or you’ll miss it.
And to find out more about White Mischief and the whole steampunk phenomenon check out Boing Boing or one of the many other blogs and websites that focus on this idea of a Victorian age where technology was even more advanced than it is today.

My Last RBS Workshop

Here are some photos from last Tuesday’s school workshop at the Royal British Society of Sculptors It was the largest class that I’ve worked with so far at the RBS so we divided the children up into two groups. While one group did sketches of the sculptures (that myself and the other artists are currently exhibiting in the Found show), the rest made small sculptures out of found objects and household materials. Then the two groups swapped over. I also got to give a small talk to the kids about my work. And once again, the children didn't cease to amaze me with the wonderful things they managed to produce in such a short space of time. Well done kids!

Whaleless in Berlin

To give you a little taste of the sort of artwork that will be featuring in the up-coming KETOS 2.1 show at the Civic Aquarium in Milan here is a video clip of an earlier Whaleless show, from when it travelled to Strychnin's Berlin gallery. My sculpture is the wall mounted piece in the glass fronted coffin that appears early on in the video. Although now the number of contributing artist has grown so I imagine that the latest version of the exhibition will be a lot bigger.

Whaleless in Milan

My Poorly Remembered Whale sculpture is continuing on its tour of Europe and will be shown in the upcoming Ketos 2.1 show as the Whaleless exhibition opens at its latest venue, the Civic Aquarium in Milan, Italy. The show opens on the 14th April, the same day as Milan Design Week, and closes on the 16th May. This will be the largest Whaleless show so far, with over 60 contributing artists.

Click here to see the wide range of artwork being shown, and to find links to more work by each of the exhibiting
Whaleless artists.

If your Italian is up to much, you can check out details of the event on the
Milan Civic Aquarium’s website (and maybe you can tell me what it says)

Whaleless Facebook Group

White Mischief - Tonight

I'm so excited about tonight's Great Exhibition event at Scala. The line-up looks amazing and it's just going to be the perfect excuse to get dressed up and have some fun. I'll be exhibiting my City sculpture and four of the carnival/sea side style cut-outs that myself and the photographer, Phil Sofer, previously made for one of the Victoria and Albert Museum's Friday Late Views. I'm also looking forward to finally meeting up with some of the people behind the event. Even though we've only conversed over the phone so far, I can tell that these people so love what they do.

WHITE MISCHIEF “The Great Exhibition” TOUGH LOVE PROUDLY PRESENT
A Birthday Extravaganza Celebrating Three Years of Neo-Victorian Entertaiments
WHITE MISCHIEF: “The Great Exhibition”
Saturday 27th March, Two Thousand and Ten, from 9pm until 4am, Scala, King’s Cross, London.
TICKETS: £25 on the door.

RBS Workshops

This week I’ve had loads of fun taking part in a couple of the schools workshops that the Royal British Society of Sculptors have been running in conjunction with their Found exhibition, currently showing at their Brompton Road gallery in South Kensington, London. As one of the exhibiting artists I was invited to come along and talk to the kids about my work and help out with the workshops. Although the sessions were each only about an hour long it was incredible what they managed to achieve. I never cease to be amazed by the creativity and sheer weirdness of children’s imaginations.

I got great photos of some of the kids and their amazing creations (which were even more amazing considering the time limits that they had to work under). However, because of the current climate and concerns over images of children appearing on the internet (unless everyone was just in the Witness Protection Program) I unfortunately had to drastically crop or omit some of the best images.

Anyway – this evening, from 6:30 onwards, I (along with two other sculptors, Susan Forsyth and Linda Johns) will be giving short talks about our work at the gallery and everyone is welcome to come along. But don’t worry, each talk will only be 15 minutes long so there will be plenty of time mingle and knock to back a few glasses of wine.

Hairy Wednesday

Fetish, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

Just a quick reminder that you can get to see my Fetish sculpture (the one made out of human hair) this coming Wednesday at the opening of the Royal British Society of Sculptors’ new exhibition, Found, at their Gallery in South Kensington, London. And on Wednesday the 24th March I’ll be giving a short talk about my work with found materials. To find out the full details click on the e-flier below.

Invite to 'Found' at RBS (no, not the bank)

Here's the details for the upcoming show at the Royal British Society of Sculptors, where I will be exhibiting my Fetish sculpture (the one made out of human hair). The opening night is on Wednesday the 10th March but I will also be giving a talk about my work at 7 pm on Wednesday the 24th March. The opening night and the talks are free to enter so if you are in the area please feel free to come along.

The Royal British Society of Sculptors, 108 Old Brompton Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 3RA. +44 (0)20 7373 8615. info@rbs.org.uk

Up To Mischief

I thought that I’d give you an early mention of next month’s White Mischief event that I will be taking part in, as I’m assured that tickets for their parties often sell out early. Basically, I’m exhibiting my ‘City’ sculpture (which seems to be so popular at the moment that it’s been spending more time on show in one place or another than it has in my studio) and the carnival style cut-outs that myself and the photographer, Phil Sofer, made for one of last year’s Friday Late Views at the V&A Museum, London. Below is the info for the event that I lifted from the White Mischief site -

Saturday 27 March: WHITE MISCHIEF “The Great Exhibition” TOUGH LOVE PROUDLY PRESENT
A Birthday Extravaganza Celebrating Three Years of Neo-Victorian Entertaiments
WHITE MISCHIEF: “The Great Exhibition”
Saturday 27th March, Two Thousand and Ten, from 9pm until 4am, Scala, King’s Cross, London—————————————————————-
TICKETS
£20 in advance, £25 on the door subject to availability
https://uk.brownpapertickets.com/event/99305
Or telephone (01224) 443377
We strongly recommend booking in advance as the majority of our full-scale shows sell out some time in advance.
Tickets also available from Scala Box Office King’s Cross, Bordello Great Eastern Street Shoreditch, and TicketWeb.co.uk 0870 0600 100 (24 hrs)——————————————————————————————
EXHIBITS FROM ACROSS THE EMPIRE!
Noted scientist VOLTINI conducting 27,000 VOLTS OF VISIBLE LIGHTNING with his TESLA COIL
MR. BRUCE AIRHEAD climbing inside his SIX FOOT BALLOON
Making Sparks Fly, Miss KEDA BREEZE with her ANGLE GRINDING CONTRAPTION
Steampunk Burlesque from BEAU BURLINGTON and MEG LA MANIA
Art installation from WAYNE CHISNALL
Walkabout from HODMAN AND SALLY, visitors from OBLIVIA
——————————————————————————————
Master of Ceremonies: Pith-Helmeted Colonel and “Cup of Brown Joy” rapper MC ELEMENTAL——————————————————————————————
LIVE MUSICAL ARTISTES IN THE PALACE OF GLASS!
Your hosts, Tribal Pop band TOUGH LOVE
Finest Hornicator Operator, THOMAS TRUAX
With their Steam-Powered Piano, TANKUS THE HENGE
Chap-hop pioneer MR B THE GENTLEMAN RHYMER
——————————————————————————————
SERENADE WITH ANTIQUE BEAT INTO THE SMALL HOURS
Classical, vintage jazz, swing, showtunes, Balkan Beat and more from our team of DJs
——————————————————————————————
PLUS MANY MORE ACTS, MULTIPLE THEMED ROOMS, STEAMPUNK ART AND CRAFTS, OUTDOOR SMOKING PATIO,
——————————————————————————————
Dressing-up is not at all compulsory but certainly encouraged!
Mischief’s preferred rental costumier is PRANGSTA –http://www.Prangsta.co.uk – mention White Mischief for a 20 per cent discount on all costumes
Inspirations: Steampunk, neo-Victorian, top hats, waistcoats, tails, bustles, dresses, hats, brass goggles, explorers, scientists, engineers, remarkable exhibits the Industrial Revolution, Discoveries from The Empire, zoological phenomena, dinosaurs, workers, Prince Albert, HG Wells, Jules Verne, Queen Victoria, businessmen and philanthropists…
——————————————————————————————
THIRD BIRTHDAY WEEKEND CELEBRATION OFFER:
Two nights, two parties!
Friday 26th March: The White Mischief Revue at Proud Cabaret, London EC3
Saturday 27th March: White Mischief THE GREAT EXHIBITION at Scala, King’s Cross
For more information and to buy tickets visit http://www.WhiteMischief.info