'National Mesmeric' - Work In Progress

These days the whole of my house is filled with the smell of turpentine and linseed oil. And it's glorious! The reason for this pervading odour? Well, whereas my sculpture studio and workshop are located in my back garden, my painting studio happens to be a room in my house, and after a twenty year break I have returned to oil painting (having previously been working mostly in acrylics, painting-wise); hence the  gloriousness of this much-miss smell - and the memories it triggers.

I'm currently working on a 1.5m x 1.2m oil painting called 'National Mesmeric'. It's based upon the BBC's TV Test Card F that was used from 1967 till the late 90s but I'll reveal more about it in a later post, once the painting is finished. For now here's a picture of me working on it.

Sketchy Thoughts

As much as I love spending hours walking around art galleries, scrutinising works by my favourite artists and discovering pieces by artists that are new to me, one thing that I always want to see more of is their accompanying sketchbook work. I'm fascinated by these visual diaries/notebooks and how they reveal the thought processes behind the finished works that we see up on the gallery walls. And it's with this in mind that I thought that I'd give you a little insight into my creative musings by posting a few recent scrawls from my current pocket sketchbook (these days I rarely use a sketchbook bigger than A5 size).

My own sketchbooks are amongst my most precious possessions; probably the first things that I'd try to save in the case of a house fire. To me they serve multiple purposes. Often they are repositories for pretty much fully formed ideas for potential future artworks (mostly sculptures) - having long ago realised that if I don't get an idea down on paper straight away, I'm liable to forget it forever. But they are also where I go to work out the not-so-fully-formed ideas. Sometimes an idea is so vague that it's not until I start to see it take form on the page in front of me that it is actually realized. Sketchbooks are also great places to knock lumps off of forms before you attempt it in the real world. By this I mean that you can experiment and make your mistakes on paper, before you commit to the physicality of the actual sculpture. It's also a good place to refine the form of the sculptural work that you are going to pursue - the place where you discover its ideal outline.

I have more ideas for artworks than I'll ever have the time in which to create them, especially since the act of constructing a sculpture always generates ideas for various different versions of itself (usually there will be multiple points in the construction of a sculpture where you are confronted with the option of taking the work in one of at least two different directions), so I content myself with the fact that if I manage to get my ideas down on paper at least the work exists in some form.

Although the majority of my sketchbooks are filled with preliminary drawings, I do also use them for making working drawings of mid-construction sculptures - as a way of working out some of the finer details of a work in progress. I find that it can also be useful to make sketches of sculptures that I'm working on, purely as a way of temporarily distancing myself from the sculpture, and in which to see it from a fresh perspective.

As you've probably noticed from these few examples, I usually eschew the pencil; instead preferring to work directly in ink on paper. I like the immediacy of working with a pen. Knowing that you can't erase a mistake, trains you to be more accurate and economical with your mark making, or to incorporate rogue lines into the body of the drawing. Although, saying that, some of my thumbnail sketches can occasionally lean towards the clumsy, especially if I'm more interested in quickly jotting down an idea (usually accompanied with a few notes on materials and construction methods) than I am in pure joy of drawing.

Another thing that I love about sketchbooks is that they can act as an inspiration store. I have sketchbooks dating back decades and every now and then, when flicking through them, I will come across a forgotten drawing or set of notes that triggers an idea for a new work.

I smile now when I think back to my early days at art college, when the tutors would try and impress upon us the importance of sketchbook work, and would demand to see a body of preparatory drawings accompanying each finished piece of artwork. Inevitably we would all disregard this - go straight ahead with our main piece of work, then, once it was finished, we would laboriously try and come up with the pages of 'preliminary drawings' that had led us to that end point.

'Chronica' Sleeve Artwork

I woke up this morning (I say 'morning' but technically I'd missed the cut-off for that time of day by about an hour) to find a note shoved through the letter box, telling me that the postman had left a parcel for me, tucked between the wheelie bins. Having a pretty good idea what the parcel contained I excitedly nipped out to retrieve it, before it could get rained on. The last time a parcel was left there, I'd been away from home for a week. And if you know anything about the British weather, then you can guess what state it was in by the time I found it.

The parcel turned out to contain exactly what I thought it would - 'Chronica', the new gatefold, double album on heavyweight vinyl, by The Scaramanga Six. Even though I completed the sleeve artwork some months ago, this was the first time that I'd got to handle a copy of either the vinyl version or the CD (digipack double-CD is on lovely reverse-board finish) version of the record. I must say that I'm very pleased with the results. The colour reproduction and sleeve design is spot on, and matt finish to the cardboard sleeve not only looks great but adds that extra tactile element. Now all I have to do is dust off my trusty gramophone and give this baby a spin...

The Scaramanga Six, for an English indie band, are pretty much in a class of their own. They're theatrical songs and flamboyantly aggressive stage presence has made them a significant band on the Leeds rock scene. Described as "the closest we'll see to a British answer to Fugazi", The Scaramanga Six exist in a Lynchian-like soundscape where the likes of Cardiacs or Tony Bennet wouldn't seem out of place.

So here's a little about the concept behind the double album (lovingly lifted from the band's own site).
The title of this work is ‘CHRONICA’ – containing an abstract story roughly hewn from a concept of a dystopian island society. A place where everything has fallen into ruin, yet people still seem to have the same preoccupation with the trivial crap they had before. The population trudge through a chaotic existence on top of each other with absolutely no hope of a better life. Society is reduced to its base behaviour yet people still crave superficial fixes. The human condition carries on regardless. There is no outcome, no lessons to be learned. Familiar?

Before I started work on the album sleeve artwork, the band sent me loads of notes on the concept and other useful information. Rather than try to tackle as many of the elements from the notes as possible (in a straightforward illustrative manner) I decided to try and produce something that engaged with feel of the run-down dystopian island society that the album describes, whilst still staying true to the aesthetic of my own work. To achieve this I started by collaging together distressed, old materials, on top of sections of antique packing crates (check out some of the gorgeously grubby old labels, still attached to the wood), sourced from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where I used to work. Then I painted over areas of the collage with images adapted from my own drawings of found objects, morphing in and out of one another.

Creative Debuts - Haunted House of Horrors Exhibition

It would seem that I've made a bit of a blunder over my blog post scheduling for the announcement of the final days of the Creative Debuts' Haunted House of Horrors exhibition (in which I had five of my small paintings), at their Shoreditch, London exhibition space. I had thought that it was to run till the 4th of December but it would appear that the show has already ended. Oops!

However, you can still find a small selection of my artwork, available to buy, on the Creative Debuts site.

Dyslexia Amazing Art Award 2017

On Saturday I was honoured to receive the Amazing Art Award at the 2017 Dyslexia Awards ceremony, which took place at the Engenuity science museum (part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums group). Here I am, proudly receiving my award from Jill Bagnall, the designer/maker behind Fusing Ideas Glass. Not only did Jill's company sponsor the award that I won, but Jill also designed and created the wonderful glass trophies for all of this year's winners.

©Infocus Photography – Michael Wilkinson 2017

As some of you may have spotted from my ten years or so of blogging, I am dyslexic - although, through the use of spell check and laborious self-proofreading, hopefully not too much of the negative side of the condition shows through in my writing. I say negative 'side' to highlight the point that dyslexia isn't just a disabling condition. The dyslexic brain can allow, what some might actually consider, an unfair advantage when it comes to creative thinking; especially when you consider how many pioneering creative minds were themselves dyslexic. People such as Leonardo da Vinci, Agatha Christie, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Alexander Graham Bell, Walt Disney, Erin Brockovich, Richard Branson, John Lennon, and John F Kennedy, to name but a few. Not that all dyslexics can claim such talented and versatile minds - but at least it's nice to realise that you're included in the same pool of potential. And it's fantastic that we have people like Elizabeth 'Eli' Wilkinson, who set up the Dyslexia Awards organisation to help celebrate, and raise awareness of the positive aspects of Dyslexia.

I'd like to end this post by saying a massive thank you to all my friends, family and colleagues, who generously sent it such heartfelt and lovingly composed supporting nominations - and to the judges who selected me for the award, based upon what they read in those nominations. Last but definitely not least, thank you Eli and the rest of the Dyslexia Award team for all your dedication and hard work.

All Aboard The Salvator Mundi Bandwagon

Did someone shout 'bandwagon'? Well, here we go then...

 

AP photo/Julie Jacobson

If you were one of the many (pretty much all of us) who couldn't afford the $450M price tag for a Leonardo da Vinci (that possibly isn't actually a da Vinci anyway - yes, I'm talking about you Salvator Mundi) then don't worry - I have come to save the day. For a mere £8, plus postage, you can be the proud owner of one of my 'DaVincipus' tote bags - 100% genuinely guaranteed not to have been anywhere near a Fifteenth Century, Italian Renaissance polymath. My design is, however, based upon Leonardo's Vitruvian Man drawing - but me being me, I've replaced the limbs with tentacles and turned the square and circle line work, as depicted in his original drawing, into a frame from which my 'cephalopodised' (what do you mean, that's a made-up word? Aren't all words made-up?) man suspends himself.

My DaVincipus design is screen printed in black and white ink on cotton tote bags, in a range of 17 different colours (limited edition of around 4-5 bags per colour). The bag dimensions are 40 cm x 37 cm (not counting the handles).

I should just mention though - if you follow the link to the full range of colours, the olive green bags have now sold out. And my 'Swirly Skull' tote bags have now, all but for one pink and six unbleached, also sold out.

New Print - 'If They Were Bunnies'

After lots of research into Fine Art giclée printing and artwork reproduction capture (with helpful tips from friend and fellow artist, James White) I am pleased to announce the arrival of my new print, 'If They Were Bunnies'. With this print I worked closely with the amazing Mark Parry, of The Artist's Print Room, whose eye for detail is spot on. I was so impressed with Mark's work that I also commissioned him to photograph the artwork that I produced for the new Scaramanga Six album, 'Chronica' (but more about that later).

Aside from Mark's unparalleled photographic and reproduction skills, one of the major selling points for me, in using The Artist's Print Room, is his use of cutting edge Epson® HDX Ultrachrome archival pigments inks, as opposed to ordinary dye-base inks, which are more prone to fading over prolonged exposure to UV light.

At this point I'd like to interject an apology for the white balance on the photograph (which you see here) that I took of the finished 'If They Were Bunnies' print. In the actual print, the bunnies and border are the pure white of the paper, as opposed to the off white that you see here. My Bad!

I created the original image for 'If They Were Bunnies' by first selecting a newspaper image of British police officers attacking demonstrators. I then placed a clear animation cell over the image, and painted out the protestors - replacing them with my own cartoon rabbits. After scanning the image I then tidied up a few bits on my laptop to heighten the contrast between the crisp graphic line work of the bunnies and the, just about perceptible, halftone modulations of the newspaper image.

As well as the archival pigment inks, that I previously mentioned, 'If They Were Buinnies' is printed on Hahnemuhle Bright White 310 gsm; an acid-free, premium heavy-weight archival paper. The image is 45.5 x 33 cm, and the paper size is 50.5 x 39.3 cm. Each print is signed and editioned (being from a limited edition of 100). The prints are also embossed with an authentication stamp (see close-up photo) in the lower left corners of the border.

For a limited period I'll be offering 'If They Were Bunnies' at the reduced price of £120 to members of my mailing list, or to anyone wishing to join the list. So, if you are interested in one of the new prints, or just in joining my mailing list, please feel free to drop me a line at wayne@waynechisnall.com

Slave/Master at the V&A Museum

I recently had the pleasure of working with two friends, Moin Roberts-Islam and Brooke Roberts-Islam of London-based innovation studio, BR Innovation Agency (BRIA), when they called me in to help design and to build the wooden elements of the set for their latest project, Slave/Master - which runs until Saturday 24th September as part of London Design Festival at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Slave/Master combines contemporary dance, cutting-edge robotics and interactive projection graphics in a collaborative performance, with the audience able to roam freely around the installation space, viewing it from all angles.

The time allocated for the construction of the set was pretty tight but the 'innovation destination', Plexal (at Here East, on the Olympic Park site), kindly provided space for the dancers to rehearse, the robotics guys to do their thing, and for me to build the set. I build the two circular dance platforms, the framework for the 7.2 metre by 5.5 metre tall projection screen, the computer desk, and the 4.5 metre wide projectors platform at the back.

On our last day at Plexal the dancers gave a last preview of their routine with the robots (which is where I shot this little video) before we dismantled everything and shipped it all over to the V&A, ready for the following mornings' install. Unfortunately I had to head up to Shropshire straight after reconstructing the set at the V&A, so didn't get to see the performance at the V&A, and the dancers in their costumes, but from what I've seen online it looks amazing.

The concept, costumes and production were devised by BRIA, with projection graphic technology and creative support from Holition and dancers and choreography from the London Contemporary Ballet Theatre. Robotic arms, software, engineering support and sponsorship were provided by KUKA Robotics UK Ltd, Autodesk, Adelphi Automation and SCM Handling.

Two Days Left of Toy Box Exhibition

I thought that I'd just post a quick reminder that there are now just two days left (Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd) to see the art exhibition, 'The Toy Box: From Pop to Present' (curated by Jason White), in which I am showing two of my early sculptures, 'Magnet' and 'Baby Kit', at the Civic in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the show looks at contemporary artists and designers who use toys as a theme. My work will feature alongside that of Eduardo Paolozzi, KAWS, Jimmy Cauty (English artist and musician, best known as one half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb, and as the man who burnt one million pounds.), Ron English, Jason Freeny, Sarah Graham, Joe Simpson, Laura Keeble, Campana Brothers, Fyodor Golan, Freya Jobbins, Fabric Lenny, Steve Lovatt, and Julie Newton.

THE TOY BOX: FROM POP TO PRESENT
THE GALLERY@
29 JULY – 23 SEPTEMBER
Gallery | FREE ADMISSION
Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm (last admission 4.45pm)
http://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/whats-on

RCA Secret 2017 - The Reveal

The Royal College of Art's annual fundraising postcard-sized art sale, RCA Secret 2017, has finally come to an end, so it's now safe to reveal which of the two mini paintings were my contribution to the show. So here you go -

This year's RCA's postcard sale was smaller than in previous years but still featured over 2,000 postcard-sized drawings, collages, photographs and sculptures by some of the world’s most celebrated artists and designers, as well as by promising students from the College.

Every year the RCA Secret attracts high-profile art collectors and passionate art lovers. Each of the postcards on display were sold anonymously for £55, with the identity of the maker revealed only after the purchase was completed, and on the day of collection (this Saturday just gone). All profits from the sale go towards the RCA Student Award Fund, which helps emerging artists at a formative stage in their careers by funding scholarships to the College.

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I created four other mini paintings at the same time as this year's two RCA Secret entries, which I revealed online as a slight clue to the identity if my postcards. One of which being the last piece that you see here.

New 'Improved' RCA Secret 2017

The start of the RCA Secret show seems to have crept up on me this year, which is probably something to do with the fact that I finished and sent off my entries for the exhibition so far in advance. It wasn't until I started seeing tweets about the chaos of the new queuing and entry system to the show, which opened on the 9th September, that I realised it had already started.

I can't remember exactly how many RCA Secret shows I've donated work to but it's definitely been all of the last ones for well over a decade. So here are a few of my entries from years gone by.

In previous years, potential purchasers of the postcard-sized artworks from this annual sale at London's Royal College of Art (where all the artwork, donated by artists, designers and students, is displayed anonymously, until the point of sale) would queue up outside the gallery space for hours, if not days, in order to be one of the first through the doors when they opened on the morning of the sale. And all the postcards would be for sale on that day only. In later years a raffle was introduced, that enabled a few lucky people to jump to the front of the queue, but even so, most of the people who queued early still managed to get some pieces from their list of favourites. 

However, this year a new system was put in place that saw an end to people camping out in front of the gallery, nights in advance, and that spread the sale over several days (from 9-15th September). Also, the purchased cards will not be available for collection until the 16th September, at which point the buyers will be able to find out the names of the creators of said cards. Ooh, the suspense! I suppose it's only fair that I wait until then to reveal which are my two cards from this year's show.


As you can see from the unofficial RCA Secret Blog Twitter page, a lot of people were not happy with this new incarnation of the college's secret postcard sale, and with the chaos of the queuing system once they got into the exhibition space itself. But hopefully all these issues will be ironed out ready for next year's show.

Dyson Gallery

Royal College of Art
Dyson Building
1 Hester Road
Battersea
London SW11 4AN

Exhibition and Sale

9–15 September
9am – 6pm

Late Opening

11 and 15 September, until 8pm

Collection Day

16 April, 9am

FREE ADMISSION

http://london.secret.rca.ac.uk/2017/

Toy Box Exhibition - on till 23rd September

The latest contemporary art exhibition, 'The Toy Box: From Pop to Present' (curated by Jason White), in which I am showing two of my early sculptures, 'Magnet' and 'Baby Kit', is now up and running at the Civic in Barnsley. The show is on till Saturday 23rd September. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the show looks at contemporary artists and designers who use toys as a theme (at least I now have some images from the exhibition to show you), and my work will feature alongside that of Eduardo Paolozzi, KAWS, Jimmy Cauty (English artist and musician, best known as one half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb, and as the man who burnt one million pounds), Ron English, Jason Freeny, Sarah Graham, Joe Simpson, Laura Keeble, Campana Brothers, Fyodor Golan, Freya Jobbins, Fabric Lenny, Steve Lovatt, and Julie Newton.
 

The Civic is a gallery and theatre space in South Yorkshire, which hosts touring exhibitions from regular partners such as V&A, Hayward Gallery, Royal Photographic Society and Fashion & Textiles Museum, as well as their own curated exhibitions. 

Here's a bit more info about the show, that I shamelessly lifted direct from the gallery's website, and also featured in my earlier post about the exhibition (double shame!) -

" A well-crafted toy can be a conduit for learning and for nurturing creativity. A toy can also inspire feelings of nostalgia or recall memories of a childhood long gone.

In The Toy Box we will introduce to you artists and designers that have all used or have been inspired by toys in their own professions, either through a sentimental affection for the past or as a medium for telling stories about the present. The exhibition will explore the ways in which Pop Art informed movements such as Photorealism, Pop Surrealism and Street Art, and will showcase artists that have turned the notion of what is collectable art on its head by creating designer ‘art toys’.

Families will be invited to contribute to an art installation that evolves throughout the length of the exhibition. Aided by the help of artist Fabric Lenny, they will be inspired to design and create their own toy robots. Empty plinths and building blocks will be available for young children to build and display their own creations. As will bespoke gallery trails and worksheets, created especially for the exhibition.
National Curriculum Art & Design Key Stages 1 and 2, and elements of Key Stage 3 will explored throughout the exhibition’s engagement programme." 

THE TOY BOX: FROM POP TO PRESENT
THE GALLERY@
29 JULY – 23 SEPTEMBER
Gallery | FREE ADMISSION
Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm (last admission 4.45pm)
http://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/whats-on

Artwork Destroyed

Hopefully this blog post will act as a cautionary tale to any artists out there, intending to lending their work to an exhibition. Some years ago, when exhibiting in a show organised by Charlie Levine and Minnie Weisz, I made what I soon realised to be one of the most basic errors of exhibiting artwork.

Even if the institution or curator that you are working with sounds professional, never just presume that they are. Check with them beforehand that they have people that know how to handle artwork, will have insurance that covers your work whilst it is in their possession (and if they don't, which may be a bit of a warning sign, take out your own insurance), and that they are using transporters who know how to handle artwork - not just the transporter who collects it from you, but also the transport agent who is returning the work to you.

Obviously, for any artist just starting out you're more likely to be dealing with smaller and less experienced people and venues, but even so, you've put a lot of hard work into what you're exhibiting so don't under value it. Do everything you can to ensure that you are compensated should it get damaged or stolen (which is a lot more likely to happen when dealing with new, small venues or spaces where the exhibition of art is not their main activity).

So, back to my big art blunder. About six years ago I was asked by Charlie Levine (then curating for a gallery called Trove in Birmingham) and the photographer, MinnieWeisz, to take part in the group exhibition, The Event 2011, that they were both curating at the magnificent Curzon Street Station building in Birmingham. The piece that they wanted from me was my sculpture, 'The City'. As this was my favourite piece (although my giant model kit sculpture, 'And When I'm a Man', seems to get slightly more internet coverage), and the sculpture that has influenced the main direction of my sculptural work since its creation it in 1999, I was happy have it exhibited to the public.

Don't get me wrong it was a fantastic exhibition and it, and my piece, were both featured on BBC2's arts program, The Culture Show - but I failed to ask Charlie or Minnie if they had insurance to cover the artworks in the show.

After the exhibition came down my sculpture was transported to Minnie's studio in London where I went to collect it. The day that I went to pick up my sculpture was the day before I had to head out to Miami for Art Basel, so what I saw when I got to Minnie's studio kinda put a downer on what should have been a fun time in Miami. Minnie wasn't at her studio when I arrived to pick up the sculpture - she'd left an assistant there, to not explain what had happened. Apparently Charlie, rather than use an art transport company to deliver my sculpture to London, had used her dad's furniture removal company to do it, as they were passing that way anyway. I don't know exactly what happened to my work as Charlie and Minnie refused to tell me, but when I got to Minnie's studio I was greeted with the sight of 'The City', smashed to pieces. From the degree of damage I can only surmise that if it wasn't done deliberately then it was probably dropped from a considerable height - most likely off the back of a lorry.

Initially Minnie told me that it would be covered by Michael Levine's (Charlie's dad's) company's insurance - which was a small consolation as it would at least allow me time off work (I was then working at the Victoria and Albert Museum) to build a new version of the sculpture. However, Minnie later contacted me to say that as Michael's company was a furniture removal company and not an art transportation company, it wasn't covered for any damage that they did to artwork.

So there you have it! Hopefully this cautionary tale will help others avoid the same mistake that I made.