Bletchingley Arts Festival

I am pleased to say I have been asked to give an Artist’s talk on my life and practice at the opening of the Bletchingley Arts festival Art exhibition. More details below: Last year’s inaugural BletchFest Art Exhibition at Grange Meadow Bletchingley. successfully attracted interested visitors over a weekend in May. Local artists, working in differing media including paint, ceramics and photography successfully displayed and sold their creative works while Uncle Stubble2 , using spray paints ,gave a live demonstration of his art to admiring onlookers as he produced an 8 foot square mural. Giving local artists of all levels of abilities, some exhibiting for the first time, the joy of seeing their talents appreciated was a gratifying experience.

This year’s event, to be held over the 13th and 14th May with a preview event on the 12th features many more artists with added media such as decorative metal and wood crafts. The exhibition expects to showcase the art of wood turning along with many other examples of visual and creative arts. An exhibition can and should be a festive experience too and the sweet sound of music provided by local musician Nigel Chatfield will entertain as visitors browse the many unique artworks and creative crafts on offer.

As with all BletchFest’s events the focus is on the community. Both in providing a platform for local artists to showcase their talents and encouraging community engagement with the arts in its many varied forms but at the same time, supporting local community charities. This year’s BletchFest Art Exhibition sees Renewed Hope and Ukrainian Support Charities offering their own creative arts along with Bletchingley Skills Centtre. With some children’s activities to keep them entertained as you browse, taking the opportunity to admire and perhaps acquire unique original art, and a licensed bar in the Pavilion providing refreshments and snacks the BletchFest Artists and Artisans Exhibition promises to be both exciting and entertaining and at the same time relaxed.

Entry to the event is free! The doors open from noon to 6pm on Saturday 13th May and noon to 4pm on Sunday 14th May. So come along and appreciate the abundance of artistic talent we have in East Surrey.

Save the Date Terrence Higgins Trust Auction @ Christe's, London

On the 4 July 1982, Terry Higgins was one of the first people in the UK to die of AIDS-related illnesses. His passing inspired the formation of Terrence Higgins Trust and we have been at the heart of HIV and sexual health activism ever since. We support people around the country to live well with HIV; we campaign to end HIV misinformation and stigma; and we continue to urge government to take the steps necessary to ending HIV transmission once and for all. And we couldn't do any of it without supporters like you.

To help us mark 40 years of HIV activism, support and incredible progress, we are hosting our spectacular Auction on Monday 6th March at the world's most famous auction house, Christie's in London.

Our wonderful supporters are crucial to everything we have and will achieve, and we would love for you to join us to mark this important moment in our historyWe are delighted to introduce The Auction 2023

Taking place on Monday 6th March at the iconic Christie's Auction House we hope you will be able to join us in celebration of our 40th Anniversary.

Tickets can be bought here: https://ww2.emma-live.com/The-Auction-2023/?home_page=

Photograph by James Basire

Visual Aids New York Postcards from the Edge

I’m pleased to say one of my works will be available to purchase as a part of Visual Aids Postcards from the Edge fundraiser at Ortuzar projects in New York. Raising vital funds for this amazing charity. They have given me both the most amazing opportunities to exhibit in N.Y and several Artist grants over the years. Their work in normalizing HIV and Aids is needed now more than ever please support them in anyway possible.

https://www.ortuzarprojects.com/

COVID-19 ALUMNI SHOW CHELSEA COLLEGE OF ARTS LONDON JULY 2022

IM PLEASED TO SAY MY WORK WILL BE SHOWN AS A PART OF THE ALUMNI SHOW REALLY A POST COVID-19 THANKYOU BY THE UAL TO ALL THE STUDENTS AFFECTED BY THE PANDEMIC ACROSS SEVERAL SCHOOLS INCLUDING, WIMBLEDON, CHELSEA AND CAMBERWELL . THIS IS A HISTORIC MOMENT IN TIME FOR ALL OF THE FINE ART STUDENTS INVOLVED CURATED BY MARK LUNGLEY &
Zsuzsa Benke.

SOLO SHOW @ TURF PROJECTS, CROYDON, LONDON

THE TRONIE’S OF CROYDON-OH

TURF PROJECTS

6TH-9TH OF JULY 2022

PV AND ARTIST TALK 1PM -5PM SATURDAY 9TH

THE WHITGIFT CENTRE, 46-47, TRINITY COURT, CR0 1UQ, CROYDON, LONDON.

A NEW BODY OF WORK BY THE ARTIST MR PAUL DAVID CHISHOLM

A series of new paintings and sculptures by the Artist Paul Chisholm celebrating or commiserating a supposed post Covid and Brexit Britain. Created during lockdown in the past two years.

When someone asks you where are you from? And you say Croydon they respond with “oh”. The paintings are a continuation of the artists series “ The Lost Children of paradise” Taking the concept of the circus onto or into the streets and our houses where we were confined to during the pandemic.

 Mainly inspired by the new insights of peoples homes and their heads whilst live streaming from the confines of their homes. This pandemic gave us a new zeitgeist in terms of the way we hear, see and interact with each other especially via the news, peoples book shelves, the  mess and the interiors of their homes are broadcast live on TV, as well as social groups and special interest groups via zoom or skype. Suddenly our heads have become public figures and the ways in which we portray ourselves and our ideas are subject to our background image choices when using a video camera and our headshots.  i.e a Tronie. A Dutch term for a face portrait. Funnily enough the artists boyfriend is Dutch and they spend half the year in Amsterdam.

 “ A tronie is a type of work common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that depicts an exaggerated or characteristic facial expression. These works were not intended as portraits but as studies of expression, type, physiognomy or an interesting character such as an old man or woman, a young woman, the soldier, the shepherdess, the Oriental, or a person of a particular race, etc.[1][2]

The main goal of the artists who created Tronie’s was to achieve a lifelike representation of the figures and to show off their illusionistic abilities through the free use of colour, strong light contrasts, or a peculiar colour scheme. Tronie’s conveyed different meanings and values to their viewers. Tronie’s embodied abstract notions such as transience, youth, and old age, but could also function as positive or negative examples of human qualities, such as wisdom, strength, piety, folly, or impulsiveness.[2] These works were very popular in Holland and Flanders and were produced as independent works for the free market.”

The artist would like to thank Sane in London and Visual Aids in New York for their kind generosity in supporting the production of this work alongside Turf Projects, Croydon  for their commitment in showing the new body of work.

Paul Chisholm (1983) born in Canterbury, England and brought up in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He studied at Nottingham Trent University (2004) before doing his MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art in London (2018/2019). Chisholm’s practice has been featured on The BBC, The Daily Star, Metro Newspaper, Attitude magazine and more. He came to notoriety in 2017 when he sold “ The Worlds most painful dildo” as dubbed by the press at Christies, London in Aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. Recent exhibitions include Too much World at the Cookhouse Gallery, Chelsea London curated by Anni Lii from the Sotheby’s Institute , Cookies & Coke at The Old Biscuit factory, Bermondsey London ( Batch Artists) , Paint, White Conduit Projects, London & The Everyday exhibition, Curated by Visual Aids, La mama Galleria, New York. 

QUOTE “ WIKIPEDIA”

FOR MORE INFO: WWW.MRPAULDAVIDCHISHOLM.COM & FOR PRESS & SALES INQUIRES: MRPAULDAVIDCHISHOLM@GMAIL OR INFO@TURFPROJECTS                                                               

 TEL: 01883740435 FOR THE ARTIST  OR THE GALLERY @ 02032510108

New Studio & winner of the golden ticket

Im pleased to say the opening yesterday at Bletchingley Castle went super well. The winner of the golden ticket was Tony Elias a member of the board of trustees at Bletchingley Parish Council. The exhibition is on view until the 3rd of October by appointment only please telephone 01883740435. Bletchingley is close to redhill station which is twenty minutes by train from either London Bridge or Victoria stations and ten minutes by car from Gatwick airport.

Iwould qlso lie to ublicly thank the Parish council for unanamously voting for my new studio which is at 78a High street, Bletchingley.Surrey.

Too Much World @ the cookhouse gallery, Chelsea, London.

Too Much World (Anxiety in a Post Digital World) is an immersive and interactive installation about Anxiety. Join us on May 30 between 5-8pm when we transform one of the rooms at the Cookhouse Gallery into a bedroom for the duration of the show. Various video and sculptural works are staged within this environment, depicting experiences of anxiety from different angles and through different media. The room is also imbued with countless personal items contributed by the featuring artists who have had experiences with anxiety. 
The title of the show is inspired by German artist/theorist, Hito Steyerl’s seminal writing, ‘Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead?’. The exhibition continues her exploration of the dark side of technology, portraying the overwhelming world we receive through different screens of technological devices. 
Within Steyerl's framework, she lays emphasis on the notion that the world we live in is saturated with digital images that are constantly been edited and filtered via postproduction. Not only these images are overwhelming and anxiety inducing, but also they constantly migrate across screens and merge into our reality.They materialise as consumer goods that we own, altering physical places we occupy; they control who we are and what we want to be, and this does not even begin to scope what technology is capable of. 
We have all seen too much world.

This exhibition is a collaboration between Chelsea College of Arts and Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Curated by Anni Li, participating artists include Emily Mulenga, Bo Fan, Paul Chisholm, Qiaoer Jin, Rita Castanheira and Thomas Walker depicting anxiety through their personal experiences through different media and angels.The exhibition aims to confront the beholder’s relationship to technology, and draw attention to its relation to anxiety.

FANFARE - OOMPAH OOMPAH

LA MAISON BLEUE  PENTECOSTE @ VIC FEZENSAC, FRANCE 2018 

WEEKEND OF 18TH TO 21ST MAY. 

" FANFARE " it will be an absolute pleasure to document and dissect a very French festival in rural France one which I have been a lucky outsider to witness for over 15 years.... Pentecoste is the festival of the birth of the Church 49 days after Easter and commemorates the descent of the holy spirit in this small part of rural #France this #festival is celebrated by drinking shit loads of french wine, a combustion of #fanfare bands, the eating of foie gras and unfortunately the killing of #bulls in the arena( I am a Tauren btw ) . #Political, #religious and #ethical and brexit issues will be set aside in this exhibition instead the #celebration of #life #music and #dancing will be the main points of the show, cultural differences and the current #european issues will be set aside in a show of love is for all and #music is my first love.

(Side note note to this, I don't think I'm capable of making work which in some way is not provocative or does not raise issues however it will all be fun fun !!!)