RCA Secret Artists Party

Yesterday saw the public opening of RCA Secret 2010, the Royal College of Art’s annual exhibition of thousands of original postcard-sized artworks – the sale of which go to help the college’s students. Every year, as a thank you to all the artists who contribute, the RCA throws an opening party. Here are a few photos from that party.

 

This fantastic character, Peter, has been exhibiting at RCA Secret since it began.

Ooh - I can see one of my cards here.

WANTED - New Studio Space

I’ve not been having a great deal of luck lately on the studio front. After just a few months in my new space in Whitechapel I find out that the building is to be redeveloped and we all have to be out by the end of December.
So if anyone out there knows of any suitable East London (Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Whitechapel etc) space that I can use as a studio please get in touch. Anything over 130 square feet would be perfect. Here’s my email address – waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk . Cheers.

RCA Secret Time Again

Well it’s that time of year again – the RCA Secret 2010 show is almost upon us. This year I have entered four pieces as Wayne Chisnall and two pieces as Chig (the name that most friends have known me by since I was ten or eleven). To give you a clue as to which ones in the exhibition are mine, I can tell you that four are pencil drawings and two are black biro drawings. What do you mean ‘those are crap clues’? OK then – here’s a big clue. Two of them relate to the latest set of sculptures that I’ve been working on (see earlier posts). And here’s an even bigger clue – one of the drawings relates to last year’s ‘Love Is’ card.

To anyone that doesn’t know about The Royal College of Art’s annual RCA Secret postcard show, here’s the info (lifted direct from their website – cos I’m too slack to type it out myself) –

RCA Secret is a unique annual exhibition and sale of original postcard-sized art, made by professional artists, designers and illustrators, plus current postgraduate students at the Royal College of Art.

THE SECRET
The postcards are displayed anonymously and are signed on the reverse, so that the artist remains a secret until after the cards are purchased and their signature is revealed on the back.

THE ARTISTS
Over 1,000 artists have donated work to RCA Secret this year, including Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Yoko Ono, Jake Chapman, Olafur Eliasson, Yinka Shonibare, Sir Peter Blake, John Baldessari, fashion designers Manolo Blahnik, Mary Quant and Sir Paul Smith, animator Nick Park, photographer David Bailey, film maker Mike Leigh and designers Ron Arad and James Dyson, as well as up-and-coming students and graduates from the Royal College of Art.

THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition opens on Friday 12 November, then from Sunday 14 November until Friday 19 November, 11am-6pm, with a late opening on Thursday 18 November until 9pm. Please note we are CLOSED on Saturday 13 November due to Government security restrictions for the Festival of Remembrance. Free Admission. The postcards will also be available for viewing on this website from Friday 12 November.

THE SALE
The cards are sold to the public at a one-day sale on Saturday 20 November, from 8am-6pm. Each postcard costs £45 and a maximum of four cards may be purchased per person. Postcards will only be available to purchase in person at the sale. It is recommended that you prepare a list of cards in advance, as the exhibition will not be open for viewing on the day of the sale.
You must have a Collector's Number to purchase a card. Click here to register.

THE RAFFLE
There is a raffle for a chance to win a place in the first fifty people at the front of the sale queue. Raffle tickets will be on sale at the exhibition (with a maximum of 10 tickets per person) until an hour before closing on each day.

WHERE WE ARE
Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU
Tube: South Kensington/High Street Kensington
Buses: 9, 10, 52, 452

Gone Postal

I must admit that I have been a bit slack lately when it comes to playing my part in the postal art project, Collaborations, that was recently set up by the Finland-based photographer and artist, Adam Monaghan. Although I completed the first two of the four pieces straight after receiving them many months ago – I have only just now got round to completing the second two and posting them all off to the next artist on the list. Now I just have to get round to starting the next four that have arrived.

 

 This is the third piece in the set – BEFORE I added to it.

This is the third piece in the set – AFTER my addition (note the naughty tentacle).

This is the fourth piece in the set – BEFORE I added to it.

This is the fourth piece in the set – AFTER my addition. I’m not quite sure where the long armed egg thing came from – I think it was getting late and I was getting tired.

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, Larry Crittenden in Texas, Irene Runayker in Eastbourne, Carmen Dominguez in California, Kunigunda Dineikaite in Lithuania, Saara Konttinen in Helsinki, Peter Scribetta in New York, Adam Monaghan in Finland and myself here in London.

Last Night's Melt Private View

Thanks to everyone who managed to make it to last night’s opening party of the first ever Melt Art Fair at the Art Pavilion. The turn out was fantastic and it was great to catch up with a few old friends and chat to some of the other artists.

Unfortunately I’m not going to be in London this weekend so I can’t be here to mingle during the fair’s busiest two days. But the show carries on till 5pm Sunday, so if you are in London over the next few days and looking to check out the various art fairs then feel free to come along to Melt. It’s a great show, with some fantastic work, in an unusual and beautiful space, right in the middle of Mile End Park (a short walk from Mile End tube station).

I like this image. It looks like two characters that have found a common bond in hairiness.

Melt Art Fair, Mile End Art Pavilion, Clinton Road (off Grove Road), Mile End Park, London E3 4QY

Melt Art Fair - Opening Party (Wed 6pm - 8:30 pm)

Here are some photos from Monday’s installation of the Melt Art Fair at the Art Pavilion in Mile End Park. The venue has to be one of the most amazing exhibition spaces in London. As well as being an architecturally stunning building (half buried under a man-made hill), it is almost magical how the light reflects from the adjacent pool and plays across the ceiling and walls of the gallery interior.
Along with 40 artists from the UK and abroad, I will be exhibiting a couple of my sculptures, Fetish and Nail Box. Melt is an independent venture, organised by Arthemisia.eu, as an alternative to the established London art fairs, Frieze and Zoo.

Although Melt officially opened today, we will be having opening party/private view tomorrow (Wednesday) from 6pm – 8:30pm (although the gallery will be open from 11am to view the artwork) so please feel free to come along and join us for a drink and a chance to meet the artist involved.

The opening times are from 11am – 6pm, Tuesday 12th to Sunday 17th October (closing at 5pm on Sunday) and the private view/drinks reception will be Wednesday 13th October (6pm – 8:30pm)
Melt Art Fair, Mile End Pavilion, Clinton Road (off Grove Road), Mile End Park, London E3 4QY

Melt Art Fair

It’s art fair season again in London and from the 12th till the 17th I will be exhibiting two of my sculptural pieces, Fetish and Nail Box, in the Melt Art Fair at Mile End Pavilion. Even though the show opens on the 12th, the private view/opening party will be on Wednesday 13th from 6 pm – 8:30 pm. So if you are in the area do come along and join us for a drink and a chat.

Melt Art Fair, Mile End Art Pavilion, Clinton Road (off Grove Road), Mile End Park, London E3 4QY. 12-17 October 2010. Private view: Wednesday 13 October (6 pm - 8:30 pm). info@arthemisia.eu

Last Night's friday Late View

Last night’s game of Two’s a Pair at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s ‘Friday Late View’ went well. Everyone who took part seemed to have a good time and happily walked away with a piece of original artwork at the end of it.

V&A 'Friday Late View' - Free Art

If anyone’s at a loose end this Friday then why not come and join me at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London for the ‘Friday Late View’ (Two’s a Pair).
And if you fancy walking away with a free piece of artwork then come along and put your name down to play the Two’s a Pair, Memory Game. But get there early as they plan to allocate tickets to who ever wants to play and it’s a first come, first served deal. In this game of memory, plays will have to turn over and try and match two identical cards from a selection of over a hundred giant cards – all designed by “leading international artists” (not my words, I promise). And if you manage to match up a pair then you get to take home one of the cards home with you - for free, gratis, nothing, nowt…
When I was asked to produce a pair of cards for the event I decided to reproduce my Gimp doodle from my late night quick-fire drawings project/bed time ritual.

Open Studio - Today and Tomorrow

It was great to see so many new and familiar faces at today's open studio event. The turn out was fantastic and there seemed to be a never ending procession of people popping through my door - although that could have had something to do with the fact that my studio was next to the free food (which was delicious by the way) and drink table. If anyone would like to come along tomorrow and join us for a chat and brunch, the doors will be open from Sunday 19th, 12 noon – 6 p.m. Here’s a map of the area.

At: La Ruche, 20 Buckle Street, Whitechapel, London, E1 8EH
Tube: Aldgate East

Open Studios - This Weekend

If anyone fancies coming along to the open studio event at my studio, La Ruche, this weekend please feel free to do so. I’m gonna try and be there for the whole time which is this Saturday, 18th Sept, 12 noon – 7 p.m. and Sunday 19th, 12 noon – 6 p.m. Here’s a map of the area.

At: La Ruche, 20 Buckle Street, Whitechapel, London, E1 8EH
Tube: Aldgate East

In conjunction with London Design Festival and Open House weekend La Ruche will be opening its artists’ studios to the public - visit some of London's most exciting Contemporary Artists and Designers in this unique artist's community and creative regeneration project at the heart of Whitechapel, E1 - conveniently located near to The Whitechapel Gallery and Aldgate East tube.

Participating Artists include: Gordon Cheung, Nahem Shoa,
Lizzie Cannon, Wayne Chisnall, Constance Slaughter, Ann-Marie James, Caroline Lambard, Marcin Dudek, George Sleap,
Jeremy Evans, Anja Henckel, Alice Planel, Lia Chavez,
Jeannie Lowen, Beatrice Jarvis, and Douglas Park
Resident Galleries and Creative industries: Janet Rady Fine Art, dalla Rosa gallery, Quare offsite project (exhibiting
Larry Achiampong), 20x20 magazine, Troika, and rAndom

For Press and any other enquiries please contact:
Hive at La Ruche (Landline): +44 (0) 207 481 3230 laruche@hivelondon.org
Aeon Rose - Communications Officer, Hive +44 (0) 7960 991 550 info@hivelondon.org

La Ruche Open Studios | This Saturday 18th Sept, 12 noon - 7 p.m and Sunday 19th, 12 noon - 6 p.m

Fun, Games and Free Art!

As part of this month’s ‘Friday Late View’ the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London have asked various artists and illustrators to each produce two identical over-sized playing cards for a game of Two’s a Pair. I think the idea is that members of the public are given the opportunity to play the game and then get to keep a card if they can match it to its pair. As one of the artists selected to take part in the event I’ve decided to produce blown-up versions of one of my latest doodles, ‘Gimp’. I’ll do one in black and one in red – in keeping with the normal colours you find in suits of cards.

Drawings of Nothing

I’ve just uploaded 24 new doodles, drawings, cartoons and scribbles. Doodling seems to have become part of my bed-time ritual lately. Most nights, just before I head off to sleep I try and force myself to knock out a few drawings. Sometimes I really get into it and am pleased with the results, while other times I’m either not in the mood or just too tired and end up with something pretty awful.

 ‘Amorphous 4’ (above) is the fourth in a series of drawings which are the products of trying to draw things that don’t look like anything in particular. This might sound easy but once you start sketching random forms it gets harder not to let parts of the drawing look like something already existing – you’ll start to notice an eye, an elbow or something finger-like beginning to appear here and there.

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.