Stone Totem Tower

In an increasingly materialistic world I'm not sure whether my love of found objects and appreciation of the beauty of rubbish (I'm actually mentioned in an on-line dictionary under detritus – nice!) is a good or bad thing. On the one hand most of the materials that I work with don't cost me anything but on the other I'm a compulsive hoarded so tend to fill my live and work spaces to capacity.

Most hoarders justify their activities with phrases like 'but I'll definitely use it' or 'as soon as I throw it away you just know that I'll need it the next day'. And it's true – I do use a lot of the stuff I collect but some individual items have been known to sit around for decades before they graduate to the 'status' of art material. One such item is a pebble which I've just used in a mini sculpture and belated birthday present for fellow artist Remi Rough.

I like the idea of taking everyday bits of rubbish or found objects, removing them from their original environments and displaying them in a way that elevates them (in this piece, literally) to something akin to that of an artefact. This is more evident in my earlier sculpture, The City, which with its multiple glass fronted boxes looks more like a mobile Cabinets of Curiosity.

But getting back to the pebble - I was trying to remember where I originally picked it up and how long I've had it for. Although all I could recall was that it's been sitting on my book shelf for as long as I can remember and has travelled with me as I moved home for at least the last twelve moves. Then I came across this, one of my earliest prints made some time in the early 90's and realised that it was the same pebble.

New Prints Coming Soon

In the next few weeks I'll be bringing out a limited edition box set of nine screen prints in collaboration with the very talented and hard working street artist (I'm still not sure if he likes being referred to as a street artist but what the hell - it's a tag that he keeps getting stuck with), Mister Remi Rough. The plan is that each box will contain four, nine by nine inch, signed and numbered screen prints designed by myself, four designed by Remi and a ninth one by the both of us. We have also talked about the possibility of producing a very limited edition version (of five boxes) where each box contains an additional four original works - maybe paintings or drawings.

In the meantime here's some info on three screen print designs that I still have available for purchase.

These hand-pulled, screen prints are in a limited edition of 50 - a much smaller edition than my Spidey Pods prints and each one is signed, titled, dated and editioned. I have cropped the prints down from the 70 x 50 cm paper, on which they were printed, to 60 x 45 cm as this size works best with the image. However, I have keep a couple back, un-cropped, just in case anyone would like to frame them in a larger frame with a wide mount. I know that Ikea do a nice 70 x 50 cm plain black or white wood frame, with a mount, for about £20 but I’ve not tried a print in one of these frames yet so can’t comment on how they look.

If you would like to get your hands on one of the black and white Swirly Skull prints at my special, commission-free price (usually 30-50% less than in shops and galleries) feel free to get in touch. I'm selling them for £50 each. So if you fancy buying one just drop me a line at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk.

However, for those of you who love skulls but also like a little bit of colour - here’s my 2 colour, ‘Swirly Skulls on Pink’ screen prints. They come in a strictly limited edition of 50 and each print is signed, titled, editioned and dated. The paper dimensions are 70 x 50 cm (larger than the new, single colour, ‘Swirly Skulls’ prints which are 60 x 45 cm). And as with the black and white Swirly Skull prints, these are also available for a super low, commission-free price (£60 each if bought directly from my good self). If you would like one just drop me an email at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk .

But if you fancy something with even more colour then how about one of my Spidey Pods prints? The most famous person, so far, to own one of these prints is the actor Andrew Garfield, who will be playing Peter Parker/Spiderman in the new Spiderman movie. Now if that’s not a good endorsement I don’t know what is.

The prints are all hand pulled, 3 colour, screen prints on acid-free, archival paper. The paper size is 58.6 cm x 54.2 cm (image 38.7 x 39.4 cm). Every print is signed and numbered (being from a maximum edition of 300). And if you would like to get your hands on one, my ‘commission-free’ price is £100 (around 33-50%off the usual gallery and shop price), just get in touch at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk.

To find out about the inspiration behind the print check out the original Spidey Pods sketch further down the blog.

Show Comes Down Early

If any of you planned to catch the current Urban Curations exhibition at the Triple X Tattoo studio in Hackney, London I'm afraid to say that the show has already come down. It had to be cut short as Triple X Tattoo are now re-locating to a new studio in Leytonstone, East London.

I popped along this evening to collect my toy tower sculpture, Magnet. As I just live round the corner from the show, at the bottom of the now artistically fashionable Vyner Street and as my sculpture is mounted on wheels I decided to take a gamble and push my work home. It took a while but I as it got home in one piece I now feel reassured by the robustness of its construction. Although having to carry it up three flights of stairs did make me question the logic of simply not taking it back to my studio.

Unfortunately I didn't get to have a proper look at the show before it came down. I missed the opening night as I was still in Miami for Art Basel and since I've been back in the country I've busy trying to sort out a few future projects before the Christmas holidays. One of them is a nine piece screen print box-set in collaboration with the fabulous Mister Remi Rough – but more about that in the New Year.