Nail Heart

It's been a few weeks now since I last posted anything on my blog (partly due to excesses of the festive season and partly due to with me having to deal with an unusually large accumulation of boringly non-arty grown-up things – oh, if only I could just spend the rest of my life in a big, purely creative bubble) so I thought it about time that put up something new.

I've recently been tinkering with a few new sculptures - this being the smallest, which I made as a present for the photographer Rosie Mayell (who kindly photographed it for me). I'll post some pics of the others at a later date. As you can see, the piece is a wooden heart and much like my Nail Box sculpture, it's pierced with rusty nails and the odd screw here and there. Both pieces are heavily influenced by the minkisi carvings of the Congo.

Being a big fan of the immediacy of power tools, I carved the body of the Nail Heart on a band-saw which greatly sped up the carving process. The band-saw proved surprisingly versatile as a carving tool, if not a little scary – luckily I managed to finish the job with the same amount of fingers with which I started.

Before I added all the nails I let a few friends handle the lightly sanded and waxed wooden heart as it had a very tactile quality. And more than one person put this down to the fact that part of it looked and felt like a bottom. What can I say - maybe something subconscious filtered through during the production stage.

Congratulations Nail Box

I’ve just received an email from the nice folks at Saatchi Online to let me know that my Nail Box sculpture has made it into the next round of their Showdown competition. Out of the 2900 entries my piece made it into the final 300 (out of which only 5 are sculptures) which will now go to a juried selection. If Nail Box makes it into the final 30 selected for the last round, which will be a public voting round, then I may have to send out a few emails asking if anyone is feeling generous enough to give the little fella a helping hand (and yes, I do tend to anthropomorphise a lot of my work).

Saatchi Gallery Showdown 5

I’ve just checked my page on the Saatchi Online site to see how my Nail Box sculpture is doing in the new Showdown competition and was surprised to find that it’s current standing is listed as 32 out of 2900 entries. This seems pretty good as it’s normally the paintings that get all the votes. But it’s early days yet and I won’t be shocked if it doesn’t make it into the top 300 entries and therefore advance to the jury voting stage.
Also, I suspect that Nail Box is a bit vain and only wanted to enter the competition so that lots of people would get to see it.

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

Hairy Wednesday

Fetish, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

Just a quick reminder that you can get to see my Fetish sculpture (the one made out of human hair) this coming Wednesday at the opening of the Royal British Society of Sculptors’ new exhibition, Found, at their Gallery in South Kensington, London. And on Wednesday the 24th March I’ll be giving a short talk about my work with found materials. To find out the full details click on the e-flier below.

Invite to 'Found' at RBS (no, not the bank)

Here's the details for the upcoming show at the Royal British Society of Sculptors, where I will be exhibiting my Fetish sculpture (the one made out of human hair). The opening night is on Wednesday the 10th March but I will also be giving a talk about my work at 7 pm on Wednesday the 24th March. The opening night and the talks are free to enter so if you are in the area please feel free to come along.

The Royal British Society of Sculptors, 108 Old Brompton Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 3RA. +44 (0)20 7373 8615. info@rbs.org.uk

Sketchbook Archive # 01

The City/Fetish Mutated

If asked ‘what is the first thing you would try and save in a fire?’ I imagine that most artists would say sketchbooks (OK - if they had kids, they ‘might’ say kids first) – yet when it comes to exhibitions and the art world in general, these vital documents go largely over-looked. I know that not all artists use sketchbooks but to me they are invaluable. Not only do they act as a form of external memory (one of the worst things is to have a great idea for a piece, not make a note of it, then forget what it was) that you can come back to years later and find new inspiration in, but they also allow you to work out your mistakes without having to make them in the physical world.
So, as a tribute to the ‘the sketchbook’ I decided to start a regular (well, I say regular – I imagine that there will be more than one) Sketchbook Archive post on my blog, where I show a few examples of my working-drawings and talk about what was going through my mind at the time (cue the sound of wind and tumbleweed rolling across the prairie).
So, there goes –
The images above are perfect examples of what would happen if I could cross-breed some of my sculptures. Or rather, what the outcome would be if I started mixing some of the materials and techniques from one piece with that of another. These drawings take their inspiration from my earlier sculptures, The City (made mostly of wood and found materials) and Fetish, made from human hair. Ever since I first made Fetish I’ve been both fascinated and repulsed by the use of hair as an artistic medium. I love the look of it as a material but it feels horrible when you have to mix it, by hand, with glue. However, hair is a great thing to draw as it seems to dictate its own flow. But when I start introducing the rigid structure of wooden frames and boxes into the drawing, a kind of equilibrium or harmony comes into play and the two materials start to dictate the overall form the potential sculpture might take.
In a couple of the sketches you can see where I’ve experimented with adding items that I’d previously used in other sculptures – things like tubes, teeth and doll parts. This is one of the great things about sketchbooks – you can be a playful, dark or as silly as you like. And often, some of the best pieces come from what you originally thought of as just a stupid idea or from the crudest thumbnail sketch.

CALL FOR HAIR

'Fetish (Big Hairy Box)', Wayne Chisnall, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

OK - this might seem like an odd request but I'm on the lookout for more hair to use in my next sculpture. Hopefully I won't need as much as I used in my last hair piece, Fetish (above).

So, if there's anyone out there who's recently had a hair cut or is thinking of having quite a bit chopped off (the longer the hair, the better), and who wouldn't mind donating it to my little project, I'd much appreciate it.

If so, you can contact me at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk or send the hair to me at - Collections Services, V&A Museum, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL.

Cheers

Hairy Tower Sketch

Working Drawing 03, originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.

This sketch is of a sculpture that I've been planning for some time now. Its for a piece that would be a hybrid between my 'Fetish Tower' piece, which is made of human hair, and my sculpture, 'The City', which is predominently made of wood. It will be interesting to see how much the end result looks like this initial sketch.

'Nail Box', Wayne Chisnall

'Nail Box', Wayne Chisnall, originally uploaded by 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.

Fetish (Big Hairy Box)

Fetish (Big Hairy Box), originally uploaded by Wayne Chisnall.