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.

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.

Calling All Artists

If there are any artists out there who would like to put their talents to good use and help out the Oli Bennett Charitable Trust by creating one or more postcard sized pieces of artwork then please check out the details below.

I’ve just started working on my cards and here’s my first one. As you can see this pencil sketch bares a startling resemblance to one of my Orifice Box sculptures – although this one seems to be spawning or something (don’t ask me what it means – I only drew it). I’ll wait until after the sale before I post images of the rest – it supposed to be anonymous after all.

The Oli Bennett Charitable Trust (Registered Charity number: 1090861) is asking for donations of artwork for an anonymous postcard art show which will be held on 20 June 2011.

Oli Bennett was a young man killed in the 9/11 world trade centre attack. The charity is set up in his name to provide funding and grants for young people with business ideas, many of who are from an underprivileged background. It operates in a similar way to the Prince’s Trust. The fund has helped a wide variety of young people in the past set up businesses as wide ranging as wood recycling, sports coaching, fashion designing, jewellery making, ceramics, Car valeting, cake making etc.

The sale will be along very similar lines to the Royal College of Art secret postcard show RCA Secret.

Artists are asked to create postcard sized works of art in any media. They will be exhibited online for a week and then sold on the evening of the event for the sum of £20 each. The twist is that the artist signs the postcard on the back so the buyer doesn't know whose artwork they have got until they buy the card and then turn it over. All proceeds from the sale will go directly to the charity.

Any artists who would like to help by designing one or more postcards for the sale would be much appreciated. Please email your postal address to: olipostcards@btinternet.com

We will then get some cards sent off to you. The deadline for returning the cards is 1 June 2011.

If you would like to come to sale you would be very welcome, it will be on 20 June 2011 at Westminster School in central London. If you’d like to come let us know and we will send you more details. Thank you so much for your help.

Two Became One

I’ve just realised that I didn’t get round to posting a photo of the stilted spiky cube piece once I installed inside my Frankenstein’s Orifice Box sculpture. So here it is, peeking out through the carved orifice of the external box structure.

I had to add an extra light source just so you could see some of the details in the photo but when I come to exhibit the piece I will probably leave the interior without any artificial illumination. Although this will mean that the viewer won’t be able to fully see what is inside I do like the intrigue that comes with knowing that there is something half hidden going on. As a kid I was a big fan of horror movies and the ones that I loved the best were always the ones where you never fully saw the monster – where it was always lurking in the shadows (letting your imagination fill in the gaps).

So as if to totally shatter the illusion, here’s the internal piece just before I sealed it in. As you can see from the photo, I had to disassemble the outer structure in order to join the stilts of the inner cube to the base section (Ikea this ain’t). Originally I had planned to just remove the lid of the outer box and slot the stilts into the base that way but whilst I was hammering the nails into the inner cube the stilts must have realigned themselves so I had to do a bit of wrestling to get everything to fit back together (no, I’m wrong – it is just like Ikea).

Horned God Orifice Box

Months ago I showed you some images of my Horned God Orifice Box (yes, I’ve still not come up with a snappier title for it yet) whilst it was under construction and even though I finished it soon after I forgot to post any images of it in its finished state. So here it is, along with a few related sketches.

Here it is sitting on one of the work benches in my studio. The Horned God part of its title comes from the branches coming out of either side of it. And the Orifice bit – well that’s probably quite obvious.

This small drawing from my pocket sketchbook was made early on when I first thought about starting the Orifice Box series. Unlike the Horned God and Frankenstein’s Orifice Boxes this is to be left plain except for an external drawing decoration. I have yet to start this one though.

In this image you can see that, in-keeping with my love of using found materials, I have used the backboards from some old paintings. They came from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and you can clearly see one of the original labels and some of the remnants of gum tape. Although you can’t see it from the two photos, the inside of the Horned God Orifice Box is lined with a collage of bits of early 20th Century newspaper and over-drawn in a similar style to the external pattern on the small drawing above.

One thing that I want to get back into the habit of doing is the quick-fire drawing sessions that I used to do every night before I went to bed. I particularly enjoy the very fast sketches that only take a few seconds to execute. What you loose in accuracy you tend to gain in vibrancy. This one was made after I’d started the new series of Orifice Box sculptures and is a kind of cross between them and my earlier wall-mounted Orifice sculpture.

RCA No-longer Secret 2010

Well, the RCA Secret is over for another year so now I can reveal which were my six postcard-sized artworks.

Number 411 (Jellyscuttle). Quite a few people worked this one out because it’s a copy of one of my quick-fire drawings.

This tentacle orifice box pencil sketch which was bought by Mr Adam Stone (one of the many dedicated front line RCA enthusiasts who braved the cold weather and camped out for the opening) was number 701 in the show.

Like the previous drawing, this orifice box sketch (number 2002) was probably quite easy to work out as being one of mine, especially if you’ve look at my new series of sculptures.

Number 2441 is a follow up piece to last year’s Love Is card – and features one of the same creatures. A friend told me that they thought the Love Is drawing seemed cynical so I thought I’d up the ante a little with this one.

 

I entered these last two biro drawings under my nickname, Chig (I thought it needed an outing). They proved to be the hardest ones for people to work out as being mine. This one, number 2210, is of a crow (my favourite bird) with human-like hands instead of feet. Actually there seemed to be a few crow pictures in the show this year. I've just found out that my Werecrow card is now in the possession of Sandy Lyell, up in Edinburgh - thanks for the lovely email Sandy.

I drew this winged torpedo one, number 605, after I got back from viewing an exhibition by a Russia artist in Shoreditch. In the show the artist (whose name I shamefully can’t remember) had made a model submarine that travelled up and down a massive water-filled Perspex tube that ran the length of the gallery.

New Member of the Family

Here’s my latest Orifice Box sculpture. The pictures are courtesy of fellow RCA Secret contributor and photographer, Phil Sofer.

This one took quite a long time to construct as I wanted to cobble it together from multiple bits and pieces – to give it a bit of a Frankenstein’s Monster look. As with most of my box structures, I’m interested in the play between the organic and the geometric. Hopefully this can be seen in the interaction between the carved orifice and the angular interlocking wooden sections.

I’ve only just got round to putting the wheels on it – which is the part that I really look forward to as it gives a piece a sense of completion. However, this one isn’t totally finished yet. I’m working on a smaller cubic box (with an exploded front and back so that you can see straight through it) on stilts, that will sit inside this the sculpture. I’ve already completed the main structure of the inner box (which has now inspired me to make a series of them as sculptural pieces in their own right. This is one of the problems with sculpture – each piece can inspire multiple spin-offs) but before it is ready to install I intend to cover it in a thick coat of rusty nails, similar to my Nail Box sculpture.

This is me conducting rigorous structural integrity tests (don’t try this at home kids).

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.

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.

'Orifice', Wayne Chisnall

Orifice, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.