Join the League of Super-duper Artists

OK, it might not be the new hi-tech secret headquarters for a team of crime-fighting super heroes but I am looking for 5 artists to join me in renting a massive live/work space that I’ve found in the heart of Shoreditch, London ('the place to be'). The space is available from the end of this month. It’s the whole of the second floor of an old office block situated halfway between Old Street Tube and Liverpool Street Station – just off Great Eastern Street. The place is massive so there will be loads of space to work and to chill out in. there are already enough rooms off the main open space to use as bed rooms - so we wouldn't have to build our own. Although we should free to make any improvements or alterations that we see fit. There is a good sized kitchen area, a few toilets but only one shower so we’ll either have to make do with that or put another one in ourselves. The rest of the floors are home to a few art collectives and there are roof-top gardens where fruit and veg have previously been grown. I imagine that come Summer, a few barbecues will be taking place up there too.

I'm still waiting for the landlords to get back to me with the actual price but hopefully it will be about £3000 per month (all inclusive) for the whole floor which would work out at £500 per person, per month. I think that they will probably be asking for a month's rent in advance and a months rent as deposit but as I said, I’m still waiting for them to get back to me with the final details.

Obviously I want this to be a positive and creative environment so I’m looking for motivated and productive artists. If you are interested then please get in contact (you can email me at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk), telling me a bit about yourself and either send me a couple of images of your work or include your website or blog address and a contact number.

Please feel free to pass this message onto anyone that you think might be suitable and interested.

waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk

Images from The Grand Plasto-Baader-Books

To see and read about some of the work from KALEID Edition's The Grand Plasto-Baader-Books exhibition check out Katie Dominy's article in Art Threads (my work gets a mention at the bottom - YAY!) at - http://blog.artsthread.com/?p=1598
The show, at 23-25 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London, runs until 24th December so there are still a few days left to check it out before it closes.
http://blog.artsthread.com/?p=1598

Book Art Show This Tuesday

Book Tower II (Nostalgia For a Childhood That Wasn't Mine), originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

It was a close call but I've just managed finish my latest sculpture, Book Tower II (Nostalgia For a Childhood That Wasn't Mine), and deliver it to KALEID Editions gallery before the hand-in deadline expired. Although there are some similarities to my original Book Tower sculpture, this one has a more open structure and I decided to make the top section entirely out of interlocking books. None of them are glued together. As with a lot of my work, this one relates to my interest in nostalgia. Only this time it is a constructed or fake nostalgia - a nostalgia for a childhood that wasn't mine. The books that I chose to use mostly originate from the 50's or 60's and suggest a comfortable middle-class (and naively racist, judging from the Gollywog book) white family life - with titles like Enid Blyton's Famous Five Have a Smashing Time Doing Whatever They Do (or something like that) and some dusty old text books.

Anyway, below is the info that I lifted from the press release. Hopefully I'll catch up with a few familiar faces at the opening this Tuesday.

Unique Artists' Books
2-24 December 2009
Private View: Tuesday 1st December, 6-9pm

KALEID is proud to announce an exhibition first: a group show dedicated to unique artists’ books.
The exhibition will bring to life ‘the aftermath of an accident between a trolley car and a newspaper kiosk', recalling Maud Lavin’s description of Johannes Baader’s original exhibition Das Grosse Plasto-Dio-Dada-Drama. Drawing inspiration from Baader’s original architectural feat, fifty pieces have been selected for their originality and conceptual response to the traditional book form.

KALEID curator Deeqa Ismail challenges the viewer to consider not what a book is but what a book can be. Reaching out to an international network of artists, exhibition highlights include:

Samantha Huang’s deformation of the found book is a rejection of the literal reading. Neglected by past owners, the book is conscientiously destroyed in order to disseminate its physical potential back into the public domain. Liz Jackson’s minimalist interventions draw attention to the physicality of the paper. Her demarcation of the edges transforms the book into a sculptural form, opening it to new ways of reading whilst hiding the true content of its pages. Finlay Taylor’s buried, decomposed and subsequently exhumed books that are transformed into unique pieces by worms and mollusks whose digestive journey offers a personal account of subterranean history. With his Dictionary Story, Sam Winston seeks to transcend the visual limit of language. His wild transformation of words into abstract form creates a style that pushes the boundaries of typography and the letterpress. Pete Williams’ 12ft Tower, made from rescued scrap wood and woodcuts, has been assembled in defiance of the material’s destruction. The installation as a focal point in the gallery, offers its ledges, nooks and crannies for the imminent arrival of fifty unique books.

For more information and images contact Deeqa Ismail at the gallery: deeqa(at)kaleideditions.com - KALEID editions (artists who do books). Unit 2, 23-25 Redchurch St, London E2 7DJ. 07852134825

'Scratch' film set

'Scratch' film set, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

I spent most of this weekend on the set of a new film ‘Scratch’. Why, I hear you ask? Well I’ll tell you. On my birthday I met an interesting young film director by the name of Jakob Rorvik. After checking out, and being very impressed with his work (check out his website – www.jakobrorvik.com) I was pleased to receive an email from him asking if I would like to have one of my sculptures, ‘And When I’m a Man’ (the big green model kit piece) feature in his new film, set in the art world of East London. Strangely enough the original location was going to be Candid Arts in Islington, where the piece is currently stored. I thought ‘bonus’ – I won’t have to move it very far. However, the eventual location was to be the Jago Gallery in Redchurch Street, Shoreditch – a gallery where I had previously exhibited. In the end we used four of my sculptures in the shoot – with the other three being ‘Dreams of Being Batman’, ‘Baby Kit’ and ‘Nail Box’. Someone joked that it looked like I was having a solo show.

Here is some info about the film, that I lifted from Jakob’s site -

Lena is a young art student new to London. Calling it her art project, she obsessively follows and takes pictures of an unwitting Sol; a scruffy, charismatic 20 year old, by all appearances homeless, who drifts around in numerous detached relations to people affiliated with the art scene.
Her project takes a wrong turn when Sol discovers her. Fascinated by her odd behaviour, Sol is now the one to follow her.
Against a backdrop of contemporary East-London, Sol and Lena gradually expose each other’s dreams, fears and lies.

The cast includes Viktoria Winge (Reprise), Luke Treadaway (Brothers of the head, War Horse), Patrick Kennedy (Atonement) and Montserrat Lombard (Ashes to Ashes, Vanilla Song).
The film is produced by Tamsin Lyons at the Oscar-Winning production company Breakthru Films and Yngve Sæther at Motlys.

A Gothic Story art exhibition

A Gothic Story art exhibition, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

The opening night of the 'A Gothic Story' exhibition went really well. Lots of people turned up and every one seemed to enjoy the suitable eerie atmosphere of the venue, down in the basement of Shoreditch Town Hall, London. I'm sure the free drink also helped things along.
I had a fantastic response to my five sculptures displayed in the main entrance hall and the eight smaller pieces that comprised my shelf installation in the pipe room. 'Sleeping Beauty Box' (just about viewable in the above photo) proved to be a favourite with many people. This was great as it was the first time that I exhibited this piece. To view more images from the show simply click on the 'recent flickr images' slide show at the top left-hand corner of this page.

On Thursday 3rd July at 7pm there will be a talk and torch lit tour through the show. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Ambassadors @ The Jago

Ambassadors @ The Jago (2), originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

This is an interior shot of The Jago, the new gallery/bar located half way down Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, London.

At the moment I am showing three of my paintings here, The Ambassadors (as seen at the far end of the bar), Kitchen Blue and Spidey Segments. A few of my signed and editioned Spidey Pods prints (taken from my Spidey Segments painting) are also available from The Jago.

On a slightly different note - the Strychnin Gallery show which featured two of my sculptures, The City and Pelvis, has just come down. However, Pelvis can still be viewed throughout the new exhibition, downstairs in the gallery's permenant collection. The new show is called 'Ugly American' and I'm looking forward to meeting the artist, Chet Zar, at tomorrow's opening (Friday, 13th June, 7pm). If anyone else fancies checking out what looks like being an amazing show then the address for Strychnin is 65 Hanbury Street, off Brick Lane, London E1 5JP.

See ya there.