Find Me On Pictify

I was sent an invite to join Pictify a few days ago. At first I was a little sceptical as every other day there seems to be another new social network/online art image bank popping up but I must admit that after an initial browse of the site, I've become somewhat addicted. Every few seconds members of the site are uploading new images (both of well-known and not so well-known artworks) so there's always something to hold your attention.

This is my Pictify page. Most of the artwork on it can also be found on my Flickr page but I dare say that unless I loose interest, I'll be adding lots more images to the Pictify site in the next few days. If you would care to see what images I've posted then please feel free to visit the site and if you would be so kind as to 'like' any of my images then you would make me a very happy bunny. Cheers!

'21 Steps' exhibition ( Liverpool)

Tomorrow morning I'm getting up bright and early and heading off to Liverpool. It's probably been a good twenty years since I last visited this lively city so when David Crawley, the director of Up And Coming Arts, asked me if I'd like to exhibit in his new exhibition I jumped at the chance. The show is called '21 Steps' and one of it's main sponsors is Liverpool Football Club.
Unfortunately I have to head back to London the same day so I won't be able to enjoy the musicians, bands and DJs that have signed up for Friday's opening party but if you are in the area and want to see what's going on then feel free to check out the Up And Coming Arts blog for all the details.

My contribution to the exhibition (which takes place over two venues) will be these three works – a painting, a pencil drawing and a print.

The painting is called 'The Ambassadors' and takes its figurative element from a photograph that appeared in many of the British tabloids a few years back. It shows a fight between some English and Turkish 'football fans'.
Like many of the paintings that I made at the time that I painted this one, it is painted on a shallow box structure that I constructed and the lines sheer off over the edge. The white line of the drawing is actually the primed surface showing through, so when you view the piece in the flesh, so to speak, your eye fluctuates slightly between the painted surface and the line drawing below. This can give the impression (from a certain distance) that the line of the drawing vibrates slightly.

I'm quite pleased with the pencil drawing but unfortunately the picture here doesn't do it justice – something that can be put down to my limited technical skills in the photographic department. The sketch is of a selection of found objects that I had lying around in my old studio but which I decided to draw as if they had mutated slightly and then morphed into one another. I think that it must have been one of those slow days, sculpturally, when I didn't have any big projects on the go and just decided to mess about a bit.

And lastly but hopefully not least, there's my Spidey Pods screen prints which will be on sale at the exhibition for £167 each. However, if you can't make it to Liverpool for the show but would like to purchase a print direct for me then please feel to drop me a line at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk .

Synthetic Life

As anyone who knows me will testify, I could never be accused of being a science geek but I do admit to a fascination with the more awe inspiring and fantastical theories and developments in contemporary science – especially in physics and biology (none of which I would ever claim to understand in any great depth – just deep enough to generate as sense of wonder). So I was delighted when Alec Bartos, on behalf of the Purdue University in Indiana USA, asked if they could use an image of my And When I’m a Man sculpture to advertise today's talk 'Synthetic Life: A New Industrial Revolution?' The talk is being given by Dr Gregory Kaebnick, editor of the Hastings Center Report and Bioethics Forum.

Although unable to make it to the lecture myself (what with it being in the US and me being here in little old London) I'm led to believe that the theme is synthetic biology and the idea that there might be a new industrial revolution: combining non-living parts to make a living thing, or a combination of living and non-living things - with Dr Kaebnick talking about whether or not this is even possible and what the implications might be for the ways we view humanity and the non-living world.
As I said, I'm a sucker for that kinda thing so I hope that it all goes well and that someone thought to film it and stick it up on the web.

Poster design by Alec Bartos.

Orifice Tower

Admittedly my latest sculpture isn't completely finished (there is just one small finishing touch to add but I'm waiting on the arrival of some resin hardener before I can do that) and this isn't the greatest quality photo in the world but I thought that I'd let you see how it's coming along – especially since I first started work on it quite some time ago. To be perfectly honest I enjoyed constructing this piece so much that I was more than happy to squander days just working on the tinniest of details - most of which no-one but myself will probably even notice. I think sculpting, and probably art in general, is as much about the process as it is the end result.

Although it might look like it's just been thrown together all the individual box sections and framework have been carefully constructed in such a way that the pieces interlock, creating a deceptively sturdy structure – not that I'm encouraging anyone to try and climb it. After the recent destruction of my City sculpture on it's way back from last year's show, The Event 2011, I don't fancy having to undertake more repair work than I already have to.

Discounting the glue, all the materials used in the construction of this piece (mostly wood but some copper piping and small metal fixings) are recycled – even down to the screws. This isn't purely for environmental reasons. It's mainly because I love the patina and 'resonance' of old materials. A lot of the wood comes from the backs of old picture frames or early to mid-20th Century packing cases from the Victoria and Albert Museum, here in London.

With this quick sketch you can see, in the drawing on the left, my initial idea for the Orifice Tower. I drew it whilst waiting for a talk to commence at the Jerwood Space in Bankside. I can't remember now what the talk was about but I remember that at the time I was working on some small sculptures that were basically wooden boxes with carved apertures or orifices in them. By this stage I'd become aware of the fact that much of my work was getting smaller and smaller so I decided to remedy this by creating elevated versions of my new Orifice Box sculptures – which also tied in with my love of tower structures.

In the (almost) finished piece you can see that the top section is basically another of my orifice boxes, with the front panel having been carved from a solid block of wood. One of the problems of exhibiting awkward sized sculptures (this piece is 2 metres tall) is getting them to and from venues so I designed this one so that it bolts together in four sections – making it easier to transport/package and making the bolts a feature of the work.

Stone Totem Tower

In an increasingly materialistic world I'm not sure whether my love of found objects and appreciation of the beauty of rubbish (I'm actually mentioned in an on-line dictionary under detritus – nice!) is a good or bad thing. On the one hand most of the materials that I work with don't cost me anything but on the other I'm a compulsive hoarded so tend to fill my live and work spaces to capacity.

Most hoarders justify their activities with phrases like 'but I'll definitely use it' or 'as soon as I throw it away you just know that I'll need it the next day'. And it's true – I do use a lot of the stuff I collect but some individual items have been known to sit around for decades before they graduate to the 'status' of art material. One such item is a pebble which I've just used in a mini sculpture and belated birthday present for fellow artist Remi Rough.

I like the idea of taking everyday bits of rubbish or found objects, removing them from their original environments and displaying them in a way that elevates them (in this piece, literally) to something akin to that of an artefact. This is more evident in my earlier sculpture, The City, which with its multiple glass fronted boxes looks more like a mobile Cabinets of Curiosity.

But getting back to the pebble - I was trying to remember where I originally picked it up and how long I've had it for. Although all I could recall was that it's been sitting on my book shelf for as long as I can remember and has travelled with me as I moved home for at least the last twelve moves. Then I came across this, one of my earliest prints made some time in the early 90's and realised that it was the same pebble.

Official Domus Launch

Last week saw the official launch (the earlier one was more of a late Christmas party) of the new Domus showroom at 50 Great Sutton Street in Clerkenwell, London.

In this i-phone snap taken by photographer, Rosie Mayell (ever vigilant for that potentially embarrassing photo op), you can see myself and fellow artist, Julian Wild, taking full advantage of a Domus spot light as we left the party. Julian and I both currently have sculptural work on display at Domus.

Planetoid 210

For a few years now I've been toying with the idea of using soil in some of my sculptures. This is my first foray into that particular area - I had to resist the urge to say 'field'. I'm not sure how I feel about this new piece (maybe it'll work as part of a larger group of similar sculptures) but that's okay because it was my first attempt at working with soil and I just wanted to see what would happen. 

 

I'm actually pleased with the physical results, as the soil mixture has set hard and doesn't show any signs of flaking. As you can see from the work in progress shot below, I built a plywood armature first. Then I covered it in a soil, wood chip and glue mixture.

'Planetoid 210' is a realisation of one of a series of sketches that I've been working on for some time. These sketches all involve architectural structures or towers sitting atop planetoids or spherical bodies that are obviously too small to realistically support them. The original drawing was inspired by something that happened to me whilst I was in Goa, India. I was swimming in the sea and noticed an interesting seed pod floating towards me. And as I picked it up to investigate further a small colony of tiny crabs decided that they must have hit dry land and proceeded to disembark onto my hand. I don't think that I'll ever forget those curious little seafarers and I often wonder how far and long they must have been travelling in that manner.

New Prints Coming Soon

In the next few weeks I'll be bringing out a limited edition box set of nine screen prints in collaboration with the very talented and hard working street artist (I'm still not sure if he likes being referred to as a street artist but what the hell - it's a tag that he keeps getting stuck with), Mister Remi Rough. The plan is that each box will contain four, nine by nine inch, signed and numbered screen prints designed by myself, four designed by Remi and a ninth one by the both of us. We have also talked about the possibility of producing a very limited edition version (of five boxes) where each box contains an additional four original works - maybe paintings or drawings.

In the meantime here's some info on three screen print designs that I still have available for purchase.

These hand-pulled, screen prints are in a limited edition of 50 - a much smaller edition than my Spidey Pods prints and each one is signed, titled, dated and editioned. I have cropped the prints down from the 70 x 50 cm paper, on which they were printed, to 60 x 45 cm as this size works best with the image. However, I have keep a couple back, un-cropped, just in case anyone would like to frame them in a larger frame with a wide mount. I know that Ikea do a nice 70 x 50 cm plain black or white wood frame, with a mount, for about £20 but I’ve not tried a print in one of these frames yet so can’t comment on how they look.

If you would like to get your hands on one of the black and white Swirly Skull prints at my special, commission-free price (usually 30-50% less than in shops and galleries) feel free to get in touch. I'm selling them for £50 each. So if you fancy buying one just drop me a line at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk.

However, for those of you who love skulls but also like a little bit of colour - here’s my 2 colour, ‘Swirly Skulls on Pink’ screen prints. They come in a strictly limited edition of 50 and each print is signed, titled, editioned and dated. The paper dimensions are 70 x 50 cm (larger than the new, single colour, ‘Swirly Skulls’ prints which are 60 x 45 cm). And as with the black and white Swirly Skull prints, these are also available for a super low, commission-free price (£60 each if bought directly from my good self). If you would like one just drop me an email at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk .

But if you fancy something with even more colour then how about one of my Spidey Pods prints? The most famous person, so far, to own one of these prints is the actor Andrew Garfield, who will be playing Peter Parker/Spiderman in the new Spiderman movie. Now if that’s not a good endorsement I don’t know what is.

The prints are all hand pulled, 3 colour, screen prints on acid-free, archival paper. The paper size is 58.6 cm x 54.2 cm (image 38.7 x 39.4 cm). Every print is signed and numbered (being from a maximum edition of 300). And if you would like to get your hands on one, my ‘commission-free’ price is £100 (around 33-50%off the usual gallery and shop price), just get in touch at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk.

To find out about the inspiration behind the print check out the original Spidey Pods sketch further down the blog.

Nail Heart

It's been a few weeks now since I last posted anything on my blog (partly due to excesses of the festive season and partly due to with me having to deal with an unusually large accumulation of boringly non-arty grown-up things – oh, if only I could just spend the rest of my life in a big, purely creative bubble) so I thought it about time that put up something new.

I've recently been tinkering with a few new sculptures - this being the smallest, which I made as a present for the photographer Rosie Mayell (who kindly photographed it for me). I'll post some pics of the others at a later date. As you can see, the piece is a wooden heart and much like my Nail Box sculpture, it's pierced with rusty nails and the odd screw here and there. Both pieces are heavily influenced by the minkisi carvings of the Congo.

Being a big fan of the immediacy of power tools, I carved the body of the Nail Heart on a band-saw which greatly sped up the carving process. The band-saw proved surprisingly versatile as a carving tool, if not a little scary – luckily I managed to finish the job with the same amount of fingers with which I started.

Before I added all the nails I let a few friends handle the lightly sanded and waxed wooden heart as it had a very tactile quality. And more than one person put this down to the fact that part of it looked and felt like a bottom. What can I say - maybe something subconscious filtered through during the production stage.

Show Comes Down Early

If any of you planned to catch the current Urban Curations exhibition at the Triple X Tattoo studio in Hackney, London I'm afraid to say that the show has already come down. It had to be cut short as Triple X Tattoo are now re-locating to a new studio in Leytonstone, East London.

I popped along this evening to collect my toy tower sculpture, Magnet. As I just live round the corner from the show, at the bottom of the now artistically fashionable Vyner Street and as my sculpture is mounted on wheels I decided to take a gamble and push my work home. It took a while but I as it got home in one piece I now feel reassured by the robustness of its construction. Although having to carry it up three flights of stairs did make me question the logic of simply not taking it back to my studio.

Unfortunately I didn't get to have a proper look at the show before it came down. I missed the opening night as I was still in Miami for Art Basel and since I've been back in the country I've busy trying to sort out a few future projects before the Christmas holidays. One of them is a nine piece screen print box-set in collaboration with the fabulous Mister Remi Rough – but more about that in the New Year.

Domus Launch Party

Today saw the launch of the new Domus showroom at 50 Great Sutton Street in Clerkenwell, London. Working closely with Sam Frith and David Kong I co-curated the art exhibition side of the venue's launch. Domus has gone for an industrial and relaxed look but clearly haven't tried to fill every nook and cranny of their new space with their products, so the artwork that is on display doesn't look boxed in. Although not an art gallery, Domus Clerkenwell has a planned programme of integrated art exhibitions and the artwork currently on show is by Julian Wild, Gary Martin and myself. One of Julian's 'System' sculptures (a sphere made from copper pipes) is situated above and to the right of the fire place in the outside court yard, whilst Gary's 'Sink and Swim' sculptures that look like inflated arm bands can be found downstairs, aptly placed upon Domus' corner section of a swimming pool.

As Domus' main clients are architects, my 'And When I'm a Man' sculpture seemed the most fitting piece to show since it closely mirrors the preiser figures (some of which I noticed were used to decorate this year's Domus Christmas tree) that populate many an architectural model. And to coincide with the launch my sculpture also got a bit of a make-over. Over the years the piece had suffered a couple of knocks whilst in storage so now felt like the right time to sand it down, strengthen the joints, re-fill them and then give it a shiny new re-spray.

One of the many nice touches at today's launch was the group of waiters and waitresses that caught everyone off guard when they unexpectedly burst into song. They all had amazing operatic voices and the acoustics of the space seemed pretty darn good too.

2011 RCA Secret Postcards Revealed

Now that this year's RCA Secret has come to an end I can reveal my entries. This year I entered three drawings under my given name, Wayne Chisnall, and three painted and drawn-over Swirly Skull prints under my nickname, Chig.

To see all six postcards just go to my Oodles of Doodles blog.


And to find out the names of the artists behind any of this year's artwork you can still view this year's cards online.

Tattoos and Toys

I'm pleased to announce that I've been invited to exhibit my toy tower sculpture, Magnet, in the new Urban Curations exhibition. The show is curated by Infinity Bunce in conjunction with Triple X Tattoo.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the opening night on Saturday 3rd December as I'll still be in Miami for Art Basil but do feel free to pop along if you happen to be in the area.

The venue is Netil House, Studio 206, 1-7 Westgate Street, London E8 3RL, England.

RCA Secret Artists' Party 2011

Last night saw the RCA Secret's eighteenth birthday launched with a party and Champagne reception, as a thank you to all the artists that have supported the project.

As usual the show is held in the Royal College of Art's Gulbenkian Galleries in Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU and the same rules apply. The original postcard-sized artworks produced by internationally acclaimed artists and up-and-coming graduates from the RCA will be on display for a week before going on sale to the public.

The 'secret' part of the show is that the cards are only signed on the reverse, keeping the artwork's author a mystery (although I know a few dedicated RCA Secret fans who usually work out pretty much who's produced what) up until the point that the card is purchased. Each card is priced at £45 and a maximum of for cards may be purchased per person but if you fancy joining the queue I suggest you get there early as I already saw one person camped out last night (a week ahead of the opening). Oh yes – and you'll have to register first.

If you can't make it to the show before the opening fear not as you can view this year's cards online.

As per usual, I've submitted three separate cards under both of my names,' Wayne Chisnall' and 'Chig'. Is that wrong? - I think not. There are no prizes this year for guessing which ones are mine as I think that most of them are pretty obvious. But do feel free to drop me a line if think you've worked them out and want to assess you powers of deduction.

Here's a photo of me at the party with the photographer, Rosie Mayell, obviously enjoying the Champagne a bit too much.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the opening of this year's show on Saturday 26th of this month as I'll be jetting off to Miami for the opening of Art Basel. I'm looking forward to a few days of driving round the Florida Keys in a convertible (and possibly doing a spot of alligator wrestling) before hitting the fair for arty brunches, parties and exhibitions. I've already packed my best Don Johnson/Miami Vice outfit (circa 1984).

Nail Box in Art and Auction Magazine

My Nail Box sculpture is due to be featured in the December issue of Art and Auction magazine as part of an ad campaign for the New York-based art storage and transportation company, Crozier Fine Arts, who are the global art logistics partner for Ai Weiwei's 'Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads'.

Photo by Rosie Mayell.

My Work on The Culture Show

Here's a six and a half minute item by Michael Smith, investigating the cultural highlights of Birmingham. It appeared in Friday night's edition of The Culture Show on BBC 2 and briefly features (almost 2 minutes into the item - for those of an impatient disposition) my sculpture, The City, which was on show at the Creative Machines, Minimalist Sculptures exhibition at the old Curzon Street Station, as part of Birminhgam's The Event 2011.
Alternatively, you can click on this Culture Show link which will take you direct to the relevant page of the BBC website.

RCA Secret Blog Interview

Well it’s that time of year again and the RCA Secret postcard show is almost upon us. It seems to come round faster every year and as usual I only just made the deadline for getting my cards into the show. This year, because of other mounting arty-farty commitments, I left things a bit late and was working on my six entries (three cards as Wayne Chisnall and three as Chig, the name I used to illustrate under and the one I'm more commonly known by back home) up until 3AM the night before the last handing-in day.

For anyone that fancies finding out what I and a few of the other regular contributors the RCA Secret think about the show please feel free to check out our interviews on the RCA Secret blog.

Here are a couple of my entries from last year’s RCA Secret show.

This one, Werecrow, under the name Chig…

And this one as Wayne Chisnall.

The Event at Curzon Street Station, Birmingham

The launch night of The Event 2011 went off fantastically and I would definitely recommend that anyone who finds themselves in Birmingham between now and the 30th of this month should pop along to see it. And I’m not just saying that because I have a piece in the show. Even if you are not that interested in art (of which there are some great examples in the exhibition – I particularly liked the MDF sculptures) it is definitely worth going just to check out the time capsule that is the old Curzon Street Station – an old railway station building that is very rarely opened up to the public.

Up until I got off the train at Moor Street and headed for the show I didn’t know anything about the venue but once I saw it I was mightily impressed. Curzon Street Station is a haunting looking cube of a building standing alone in a waste land (the surrounding land presumably having been cleared to make way for new developments). If you do manage to make it to the show then check out the mummified cat set into the wall of the main entrance. Apparently if was discovered by builders whilst they were doing some renovation work and is thought to have been deliberately bricked up in the walls when the building was first built. Some sort of superstitious/good luck thing I believe.

Here’s picture of me tinkering with my sculpture, The City (photo courtesy of Rosie Mayell).

TROVE: THE EVENT 2011
21 – 30 October 2011
Launch Night – Fri 21st (5-9pm)
Curzon Street Station,
corner of Curzon Street and New Canal Street
(opposite Millenium Point),
Birmingham B4 7XG
UK
(Nearest train station: Moor Street Station)

DOMUS

If any of you have walked along Great Sutton Street in Clerkenwell, London recently there’s a fair chance that you will have seen what I’ve been up to on the side of a 35 metre long hoarding. No, I’ve not decided to try my hand at being a street artist (I’ll leave that other, more stealthy characters) – instead I’ve been commissioned by Domus to decorate the hoarding that currently covers the front of their new and soon to be completed showroom.

Domus is the leading UK supplier and specification advisers of tile, mosaic and stone solutions for commercial and residential projects and as well as displaying a massive selection of their fine wares the new showroom will also incorporate a large gallery space for the exhibition of artwork. As well as designing and painting the hoarding (with a lot of help from fellow artists and friends, Sam Frith, Lola Gunn, David Kong and others) for Domus and have also been asked me to curate the exhibition space once it opens.

To coincide with the opening of the new showroom and because their main clients tend to be architects, Domus have commissioned artist, Jessica Walters, to create thirty 45cm tall miniature sculptures based upon the small figures that populate architectural models. These figures (all modelled on Domus employees) are being positioned in public spaces around the city and three of them can already be found high up on the wall of the building opposite the showroom, nestling in some old fireplaces that were exposed during the WWII bombings.

To see the work in progress for both the building site and the hoarding check out Steve Charles’ photos.

Launch Party – This Friday

This Friday will see the launch of The Event 2011 at Curzon Street Station, Curzon Street, Birmingham. I’ll be exhibiting my sculpture, The City (see the post below) and will be at the show from 5pm when it opens. If you are in the mood for checking out some art that night and in the area then please feel free to pop along and join me.

TROVE: THE EVENT 2011
21 – 30 October 2011
Launch Night – Fri 21st (5-9pm)
Curzon Street Station,
corner of Curzon Street and New Canal Street
(opposite Millenium Point),
Birmingham B4 7XG
UK

(Nearest train station: Moor Street Station)

Artists include: Wayne Chisnall, Stephen Cornford, Jamie Jackson, Markus Kayser, Rob Mullender, Alex Pearl, Ben Rowe, Martin Sexton, Laura Skinner, Minnie Weisz, Luke Williams and Adam Zoltowski

The Event 2011

I’m delighted to say that I’ve been invited to exhibit work at TROVE's (a heritage site located in the Engine Room of Birmingham’s old Science and Industry Museum) new show as part of this month’s The Event 2011 (the third bi-annual visual art festival hosted by Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum) which runs from 21 – 30 October. The show brings together a combination of Heat Robinson-esque machines and 2D dreams of machines and is curated by Charlie Levine of TROVE in conjunction with Minnie Weisz Studio of King’s Cross, London. The exhibition will cross sound, film and object/sculpture and be based around the narrative of ‘Creative Machines’ and minimalist sculpture – a look into pure machines meets pure minimalism.

  
My contribution to the show will be my mobile cabinets of curiosity sculpture, The City.

TROVE: THE EVENT 2011
21 – 30 October 2011
Curzon Street Station, Curzon Street, Birmingham

Artists include: Alex Chinneck, Wayne Chisnall, Stephen Cornford, Jamie Jackson, Markus Kayser, Rob Mullender, Alex Pearl, Ben Rowe, Martin Sexton, Laura Skinner, Luke Williams and Adam Zoltowski

Orifice Tower (Work Nearing Completion)

I seem to have been neglecting my blogs the last couple of weeks so I thought I’d give you an update on the progress of my latest tower sculpture (which is a much taller variation on my recent series of Orifice Box sculptures).

As I’m sure you’ll notice it’s now at least twice the height (around 6 foot tall) that it was at just a few posts ago. I’ve designed the sculpture so that it can be bolted together in three separate sections – which should make it a lot easier to transport to and from exhibitions. It’s still not completely finished as I’m still adding a few details but you get a rough idea of what the final piece will look like. I’ve also been working on a ‘Planetiod’ piece but I’ll tell you more about that one later.

Converse Bag Launch

To mark the launch of their new bags and accessories range, Converse invited a few experts on style and self expression to customise some of the range with a nod to the phrase ‘back to school’. I was fortunate enough to collaborate on one of the bags with the very vocal and self expressive Chantelle Fiddy, the journalist and renowned commentator on the London grime scene. Miss Fiddy’s music credentials span from editing titles including Ctrl.Alt.Shift, RWD Magazine, Mixmag and Live, to working with the likes of Dazed & Confused, Sunday Times Style, and Guardian, and as a presenter on Channel 4’s ‘Generation Next’.

Here you can see us posing with our creation on a photo shoot organised by the lovely people from Coffin on Cake PR. I’m the not so pretty one on the right. To see more customised bags and their colourful creators check out the article ‘How to Work Your School Bag’ at Cooler. And mine and Chan’s creation is also featured the FHM article, ‘Converse Duffle Bags (graffiti not included)’, as well as in Fused Magazine.

For my part of the collaboration I took elements that were pertinent to Chan from her school days and reinterpreted them in a tattoo-style design, painted directly onto the canvas bag. I know that she is into fonts and the colour pink so this provided the background details. And for the main section I incorporated a heart and the crossed guns symbolism from the happy hardcore days whilst defusing the negative aspect of gun culture by having images of Chan’s favourite flowers emerging from the barrels – a reference stolen from the Peace Movement of the 60’s (check out Bernie Boston’s iconic Flower Power photo, taken during the last big march on the Pentagon in October 1967). And in keeping with old school tattoo designs (my dad was a tattooist) I tied it all together with a scroll which I left blank, ready for Chantelle to add the finishing touches.

And here is the finished product, complete with badges and text – ‘Fire What You Got’.

Repurposing with a Passion

My work and I (god, I sound like the queen) have just been featured in the article, ’Repurposing with a Passion’ by the artist, writer and curator, D. Dominick Lombardi. In the article for Public Art and Ecology Magazine Beijing, China, Lombardi asks a number of artists from around the world to answer four questions about their art practice and the use of recycled materials in that practice. The article starts on page 59 of the magazine and my work is featured from pages 61-63 (the 2nd and 3rd pages of the article as they appear on screen).

Of my work Lombardi says:
‘From his studio in London, England, Wayne Chisnall creates art that references such things as structure, time and Modernism as they pass through a very contemporary mindset that focuses on humor, transience, functionality and futility. There is also the presence of popular culture in his thinking, as he addresses the differences between reality and perception, and how that affects the needs, wants and even the formation of
the human psyche.’

To find out what questions Lombardi asks of his chosen artists and to find out our responses please feel free to check out the article.

“Repurposing with a Passion”
by D. Dominick Lombardi.
Public Art and Ecology Magazine
Beijing, China
http://media.icompendium.com/ddlombar_RepurposingwithaPassion.pdf

Above photo courtesy of Phil Sofer

Big Up from Hattie Collins

I’d like to say a big thank you to the lovely Miss Hattie Collins (Editor of RWD magazine, Music Editor for i-D Magazine, freelance contributor for The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Q etc and all round music journalist extraordinaire) for giving me and my work a mention in her interview with Arts London News.

Hattie was one of the first people to buy one of my limited edition Spidey Pods screen prints when I brought them out so what can I say – she obviously has good taste!
My Spidey Pods prints, along with my Swirly Skulls prints, are now available at various outlets in Carnaby Street and Leicester Square, London but if you would like one direct from my good self at the commission-free price of £100 then feel free to drop me a line at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk
and we’ll work out how best to get one to you.
The prints are all hand pulled, 3 colour, screen prints on acid-free, archival paper. The paper size is 58.6 cm x 54.2 cm (image 38.7 x 39.4 cm). Every print is signed and numbered (maximum edition of 300).

Planetoid Designs

I’ve been spending a lot of time in my studio lately, working on my new Orifice Tower sculpture – which is coming along nicely (although I’m probably being a bit over indulgent with the fine details). However, in between waiting for the glue to set on some of the joints and inner box structures, I’ve been working on a few sketches for a potential new body of work and experimenting with a new material. The material in question is soil (well, it’s new to me as an art material). The designs are based upon an idea I had a few years ago – and are a follow on from the sketch that I made at the time.

The designs all feature buildings or building-like structures perched upon spherical planetoid-like masses that are far too small to properly support them. This tiny drawing shows a small cluster of towers.
The challenge with using soil as an art material is to find a way of stabilising it but fortunately my first experimental mixture of soil, glue and other materials seems to have worked even better than I’d expected - so I’m raring to go with the first piece.

Orifice Tower (Work in Progress)

As much as I love socializing and taking full advantage of London’s amazing nightlife I have some how managed to make a bit more time for my studio practice. And the latest piece that I’m working on is a variation on my recent Orifice Box sculptures. But this time I’ve decided to elevate the work and substitute my signature wheels with a rickety wooden box and scaffold-like framework.

Like my wheeled orifice box structures this one also has a carved elliptical orifice in the front face of the box. This work-in-progress photo shows the top half of the sculpture that will eventually stand at around six foot tall. In the lower right-hand corner of the photo you can see one of my sketchbooks and the working drawing for the new orifice tower.

And here’s a closer view of the drawing – showing a few mid-process alterations.

Being a bit of a night-owl I prefer to work through the early hours. This means that I have the building to myself so can have the radio on pretty much as loud as I like. My friend Lisa gave me an old Roberts radio and the only bearable channels that get a clear reception are Radio 3 and 4, so I tend to mostly listen to classical music while I work.

Anyway – I’ll get to the point. A few nights ago, whilst working on this new piece I happened to be listening to some very fine choral music and it struck me that the orifice section of the work looked a bit like a mouth, singing. So I quickly sketched out this idea for a set of new orifice tower sculptures, each equipped with an internal speaker and collectively playing the same piece of choral music. Hopefully I’ll get to make this new body of work one day but it’s also very likely that it’ll just get relegated to my sketchbook graveyard of creative ideas.

Congratulations Nail Box

I’ve just received an email from the nice folks at Saatchi Online to let me know that my Nail Box sculpture has made it into the next round of their Showdown competition. Out of the 2900 entries my piece made it into the final 300 (out of which only 5 are sculptures) which will now go to a juried selection. If Nail Box makes it into the final 30 selected for the last round, which will be a public voting round, then I may have to send out a few emails asking if anyone is feeling generous enough to give the little fella a helping hand (and yes, I do tend to anthropomorphise a lot of my work).