This is me and my stand at the 2008 Battersea Contemporary Art Fair. The fair took place at the Battersea Arts Centre from the 16th-18th May.
It was pretty tiring doing the stand but I met some fantastic people and there was a lot of interest in my work. The three most popular pieces that I exhibitied were the sculpture, Nail Box, and the two paintings Kitchen Blue (seen here in the photo) and The Ambassadors. I had to keep on my toes for the entire time I was there because Nail Box was sitting on top of a tall thin plinth and people kept catching their clothes and bags on it as they leaned in for a closer look. More than once I had to make a lunge to catch it as it tried to leave with a visitor.
Most people think that the figure in the painting, Kitchen Blue, is a bloke but it's actually a girl called Joolz. She just had very short hair at the time.
Me at The Battersea Contemporary Art Fair
Battersea Contemporary Art Fair (16-18 May)
Yes - I know I've used this image in my blog before but as I've been using it in all my press releases to advertise my stand at this week's Battersea Contemporary Art Fair I thought I could get away with using it again.
I do have a very limited supply of two for the price of one tickets to the fair so if anyone out there would like me to post them one just email me your address and I'll pop one in the post to you. But be quick - you know what the postal service is like. Here's my email address - w.chisnall@vam.ac.uk
The Battersea Contemporary Art Fair, which takes place Friday 16th - Sunday 18th May 2008, is one of the largest and most popular independent art exhibitions in the UK. Now in its sixteenth year, the fair will once again take place at the Battersea Art Centre, showcasing around 150 artists.
I will be at stand L28 and will mostly be showing 2D work including Spidie Pods and The Ambassadors. Some of my smaller sculptural pieces will also be on display.
My popular Spidie Pods print (see image above) will also be available for sale at a special Fair price of £100. This limited edition, hand-printed, silk-screen print is on acid-free, archival high grade paper. Each print is signed and numbered (edition of 300). Dimensions: 58 x 53 cm.
Maria Newton, director of BCAF, comments: "The Battersea Contemporary Art Fair is tried and tested triumph for both artists and buyers. By cutting out the industry 'middlemen', the public enjoy keen prices and personal interaction with the artists, and our competitive stand costs ensure that the fair is on the map for fresh talent and established exhibitors alike."
Wayne Chisnall comments: "I love the buzz and the informal nature of art fairs. Being able to meet the person who has bought your work and find out what it means to them is amazing. Art fairs are also great opportunities for the public to chat to artists and find out what the artwork is really about."
When: May 16-18 May 2008 Where: Battersea Art Centre Lavender Hill London SW11 Time: Fri - 6-9pm (with drinks and live jazz music) Sat - 11-5pm Sun - 11-5pm Tickets: £7 (concessions £4)
www.bcaf.info
Magnet
I know this is a bit short notice but if anyone is planning to go along to the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park this weekend please pop along and have a look at this piece that I have showing at the Stark Gallery stand (K8). Alternatively you can view it the following week at the Stark Gallery on 386 Lee High Road, Lee Green, London SE12 8RW.
I would have mentioned me showing my work at the fair earlier but this was a bit of a last minute thing that only came about through last night's private view.
Title: Magnet
Dimensions: 112 x 46 x 46 cm
Materials: plastic toys, wood and casters
'& When I'm a Man (I'll Think As a Man)', Wayne Chisnall
I've posted an image of this piece because this year is the tenth anniversary of the year that I properly became a sculptor and this sculpture was the starting point. Although, technically speaking I started making the molds for it in the latter part of 1997.
A couple of years after I first exhibitied this piece I started getting emails and phone calls from friends asking if I was exhibiting it in different galleries all over the place. It turned out that a few other artists had made similar sculptures after I had made mine. I suppose there was a bit of a zeitgeist thing going on. I'd be interested to know if anyone had made something similar before 1998.
Ironically, 'And When I'm A Man' is probably the largest sculpture that I have made to date. Most of my current sculptural work tends to be made up of small detailed components that grow outwards or upwards.
As well as being made from 12 separate body casts of myself (a self portrait, I suppose) 'And When I'm A Man' is based on the type of model kit that I used to buy as a child. When creating the piece I was interested in childhood perceptions of adulthood and the role that toys played in this, as I noticed that many figurative toys were that of adult characters.
Date: 1998
Dimensions: 230 x 170 x 18 cm
Materials: fibreglass, resin & plastic.
The Ambassadors (with side view)
'The Ambassadors' takes its figurative element from a photograph that appeared in many of the British tabloids some years ago. It shows a fight between some English and Turkish 'football fans'.
This photo shows the side view of the painting where you can see how the lines sheer off over the edge. The white line of the drawing is actually the primed surface showing through, so when you actually 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 that the line of the drawing vibrates slightly.
'Spidie Pods' Print
Limited edition, hand-printed, silk-screen prints on acid-free Somerset paper. Signed and numbered. Edition of 300.
Title: ‘Spidie Pods’.
Dimensions: 58.3 x 53.9 cm.
Price: 100 pounds.
Artist: Wayne Chisnall.
To buy a print contact me at w.chisnall@vam.ac.uk
Alternatively you can buy this print from:
Beyond The Valley, 2 Newburgh St. London, W1F 7RD (020 7437 7338)
F-art, Cheshire St. off Brick Lane, East London (020 77295411)
'Nail Box', Wayne Chisnall
‘Nail Box’ is a sculpture greatly indebted to and influenced by the minkisi artefacts of central Africa. Many of these ritualistic objects are carved wooden totems that have had nails and other metal items hammered into them. However, where as the minkisi derive their power from their contents, with ‘Nail Box’ I was trying to create something that’s presence was derived from its adornment of carefully selected nails and rusty metal. By bringing together so many items that had interacted with the elements and their specific environments I hoped to create a piece that would generate a cumulative resonance.
As is the case with many of my sculpture, the found materials used in this pieces’ construction were selected for their ‘resonance’ and collected over several years.
Whilst most of the metal items used in this piece were found in London, anywhere from the streets of Hackney to the inside of the Dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, much of it was collected from the my travels around Britain and abroad, including Europe, Mexico, Cambodia, Thailand, Tunisia and India.
Considering the obsessive nature behind the way I collect and hoard the materials that I use in my work (you should see my studio – it is full of boxes of rubbish (a.k.a. treasure) – I fear that I am a lost cause), I see these sculptures as totems or magnifications of the ritualistic side of everyday life. Physical embodiments of the personal belief systems we all create around us.
Untitled Sculptural Component (Crabhead Doll)
This piece should eventually form part of a larger sculptural work. It's one a many small 'works in progress' that I just lump under the heading of Sculptural Components. With them I'm trying to force myself to work in a different way. Instead of starting with a fixed idea of how the sculpture should look and then trying to physically realise that idea (which is my normal way of working), I'm trying to work in a more organic way, without a rigidly fixed idea of the end result. Hopefully the components themselves will start to dictate the structures necessary for their interaction. I'm also interested in creating new works that can be disassembled and re-assembled in a variety of different ways.
Sun Worshipers 1
Title: Sun Worshipers 1
Dimensions: 45 x 58 cm
Medium: smooth Hammerite paint & primer
on aluminium
Date: 2004
Spidie Segments
Title: Spidie Segments
Dimensions: 58.5 x 58.5 x 7 cm
Medium: smooth Hammerite paint on MDF
Date: 2004
Crab Claw 1
Title: Crab Claw 1
Dimensions: 30 x 21 x 7.3 cm
Medium: gloss paint (oil) on MDF
Date: 2004
'The City' & Little Girl (ROLLO Gallery 2006)
Here sits a little girl, gazing at 'The City' sculpture that I exhibited in the ROLLO Art Gallery's 2006 (Sept - Oct) Contemporary Sculpture show, in conjunction with the Royal British Society of Sculptors (RBS). I over heard her say "mummy it's a castle".
TO SEE MORE EXHIBITION PHOTOS CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE.
