Huffington Post - Repurposing With a Passion

With the seemingly ever-growing interest in recycling, upcycling and repurposing in general, I thought I'd once again give the 'Repurposing With a Passion' article a mention. First published in Public Art and Ecology and then in the Huffington Post, it was written by the artist, writer and curator, D. Dominick Lombardi, and featured myself along with the artists James Boman, Ross Steven Caudill, Peter de Cupere, Ruth Geldard, Krzysztof Gliszczynski, Olivier Goethals, Catherine Johnston, Ismet Jonuzi, Masaki Kishimoto, Ana Krstić, Fiona Long, Nancy Gewölb Mayanz, Alex Mazzitelli, Yehudit Mizrahi, Mona Naess, Kalle Juhani Nieminen, Frank Plant, Lina Puerta, Kevin William Reed, Quim Rifà, David A. Smith, Isa Tenhaeff and Matthew George Richard Ward.

For the full article and to read about the rest of the amazing artists and their work click here. Below is the section of the article that features me and my work. Yes, I know... me, me, me.

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.

Mr. Chisnall’s responses: “Although I have used plastic toys (which I collected from regular visits to car-boot sales, long before I knew what I was going to do with them) in one of my sculptures I am normally drawn to materials that I feel have a certain ‘resonance’. These are usually organic materials that have either interacted in some way with the environment or with people. The materials vary according to the individual project but I generally use anything from wood, metal, glass, human hair, insects to bones and teeth.”

Wayne Chisnall, Magnet (1999), plastic toys, wood and casters, 44” X 18” X 18” (courtesy of the artist)

“As I prefer to use existing materials as opposed to freshly manufactured ones I tend to find my materials from all around me. This can become a slight problem however as I have a tendency to hoard more stuff than I will ever use.”

“The rusty nails and screws that I used to complete my Nail Box sculpture where mostly just picked up off the ground and collected over a four year period. Although most of the nails were found here in London, a good portion of them were also collected whilst I was travelling round Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Mexico and the US. A couple of them even came from inside the dome of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, when I was working there on a project.”

Wayne Chisnall, Nail Box (2007), rusty metal, wood & casters, 50 x 38 x 38 cm

“One of the most abundant sources of materials for me over the last decade has been the skip where I work. I’m fortunate enough to work part-time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and with it being the biggest, if not the oldest, design museum in the world it produces an interesting array of waste materials (old and new).”

“The work of animators such as the Brothers Quay and Jan Švankmajer inspires me. As a child I grew up in awe of their dark animated short films and was hypnotized by the way in which they imbued tatty old bits of detritus with life. I don’t know if this is where I gained my love of old things or if it just reaffirmed my passion for them, but either way, when I moved from 2D to 3D and started employing the use of found materials in my work, I felt that I was finally being true to myself as an artist.”