LIFE AFTER METÀFORA
Interview with Paul Chisholm
Paul was a student at Metàfora during the Academic Year 2010-2011. It has been a pleasure see his work develop since. Soon, he will be opening a solo show at The Art Fund Prize Gallery, The Lightbox Museum, Woking, Surrey, England.
We asked about his experience on the Metàfora Studio Arts Program, his professionalising process, and of course, about the exhibition taking place between the 7th to 19th November.
What do you remember about your stay at Metàfora, and in Barcelona?
I remember it being the most magical of years. A chance to dedicate oneself fully to their practice, exploring new avenues, directions all under the umbrella of a critical discourse with like-minded artists from across the Globe many of whom are still best friends. Barcelona has a certain vibe and a buzz which reflected deeply in the work I created during that time.
In what ways has your experience at Metàfora helped you become the artist you are today?
At the time of applying to Metàfora I was considering a Masters in London. However I desperately wanted to get out of the rat race which is London and explore Europe. Metàfora really consolidated my practice to which it is today combining painting and conceptual sculpture. The course allowed time for experimentation, trying ideas out and ultimately I made several of my most iconic pieces whilst on the course. The course offered something which I don’t think many U.K colleges can offer…a truly international perspective, a highly conceptual approach and with a lot of 121 tuition and the chance to learn about Art therapy too!
How has your art developed since?
Since leaving Metàfora I lived a few years in Palma de Mallorca where I had an exhibition at Waka. Unfortunately in 2013 I moved back to London but eventually enrolled on an MA at Chelsea College of Arts in 2018. This really supercharged my practice in so many ways, connections, opportunities and a deep re-think of my practice. I now regularly dontate my work to the Terrence Higgins Trust annual Auction at Christies, London where my work has sold for double digits in aid of the charity. I have given talks on my practice in relation to Keith Haring at Tate Liverpool and all sorts of great great platforms which as a young artist at Metàfora I could only dream of. Never give up on your dreams keep creating, exhibiting and applying for things and even when no one else will give you an opportunity make one for your Art! I now live just outside of London in the countryside where I have a large studio subsided by the local council. This enables me to push boundaries in my practice, experiment and dream of sunny days in Barcelona! Art is a journey enjoy it!
(above) Mc Whimsical (below) Screw You, Virus Face
What is your upcoming exhibition about?
My exhibition is entitled The Lost Boys and mostly reflects upon the Aids & HIV epidemic both personal and political. The exhibition will include works made at Metàfora to the present day. This is my first solo Museum show. Which is so exciting! This body of work has been in my mind’s eye for many many years and will survey my practice surrounding these issues. In fact, as an alumni of Metàfora I was lucky enough to be invited back to do a talk on Arts Activism and the Aids Crisis in 2012. This gave me the chance to consolidate and present my research to a new cohort of Metàfora students… What a great opportunity Jette gave me! This area of research has fuelled my practice ever since…. These professional opportunities Metàfora gave me are the foundation for wanting to go on to do a PHD!
How did it happen? Can you expand on your professionalisation process?
My upcoming show is funded via a Developing your artistic practice grant by The Arts Council England plus grants from The Oppenhiem Johns Downes Trust and Visual Aids In New York. Applying for Arts grants is so important in being able to make the work you envision and see it exhibited and get things off the ground. Wherever you are based in the World there are Artist grants you can apply too which will with perseverance make your ideas a reality. Just remember rejection is a part of the process and never give up! It took me eight long years to get ‘Mc Whimsical’ a work I made and created at Metàfora off the ground in Barcelona and at the time it was a small scale installation eventually in 2019 I exhibited 101 creatures from the work in a Gallery in Hoxton U.K. Think big never give up… Dreams can, and do come true…
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
“The lost boys”
at The Art Fund Prize Gallery,
The Lightbox Museum,
Woking, Surrey,
England
Between November 7th -19th 2023
Open daily 10am-5pm.
Entry is free.
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The Artist will be present on the 7th of November 1pm-5pm,
and again on the 19th of November 1-5pm
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For more information contact
the Artist mrpauldavidchisholm@gmail.com
or the gallery peter@thelightbox.org.uk
thelightbox.org.uk | mrpauldavidchisholm.com
The title of this exhibition comes from J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up but refers in the context of this exhibition to the boys who simply couldn’t grow up because of the Aids/ HIV crisis. Although this exhibition refers to Boys throughout its context it is no way limited by gender as this affects us all.
‘A stitch in time saves nine’, meaning if you sort out a problem immediately it may save a lot of extra work later; if you’re lucky! The AIDS crisis and those affected are not so lucky and it took seven long years for any ‘Art’ (Anti-Retroviral Medication) to come in effect and it was another 9 years- 1996 until this medication slowly became effective and in ‘the everyday cushions’ these concerns are played out. These cushions are rough in nature but soft at hand and are a labour of love and frustration, each stitch is a direct sign of life; a life the artist thought he would not live after his diagnosis of HIV in 2007. With each word a contradictory or opposing word appears on the cushions scattered across the gallery floor alongside these are black pencils that lie with red tips alluding to both blood, the black death and an artist’s career that may have been cut short like so many others in the 80’s and 90’s. Each pencil is varnished with anti-viral glitter this coating both suggesting protection against viruses and a reminder of ever present danger. This steri-coat varnish is often used in hospital settings, without the glitter of course! However each glitter shard stands as another star burning bright and a reminder of those who we have loved and lost.
On the wall hang two poems created using Chat GPT, one which the artist asks to create a poem about the lost boys due to the Aids Crisis’ and another ‘the Lost Gay boys due to the Aids crisis’. With each the artist raises questions upon the fact that a Virus knows no boundaries gay or just a boy. It’s interesting to note the change in language used by the AI when instructing it to use a label such as ‘Gay’. Either way the work ends with making the Artist cry.
A soft sculpture entitled ‘My magical mental illness power’ is covered with 101 red ribbons and Nazar badges – the Turkish amulet which deflects the evil eye. The red Ribbon was created as a way of remembrance by a group of 12 Artists in 1991, from the New York Arts charity Visual Aids. (A charity which the artist often exhibits with and is awarded arts grants by) Coupling both of these symbols of hope, remembrance and protection within the context of mental health the artist questions the ongoing stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, whilst simultaneously creating a sculpture which empowers those affected both those lost to history and those struggling today.
In a self-portrait from 2017 the artist has placed a badge on the heart and it states ‘ Over 1 million people die of AIDS each year that’s the population of Amsterdam gone’ This statement came from a poster when the International Aids Conference was held in Amsterdam in 2018 (The Artist splits his time between the City and Surrey, England). Just imagine… ‘That’s an entire city in silence every year, year on year’… Aids is not over…
On the opposing wall a large print of Paul Chisholm’s iconic ‘I’m Tired’ poem stands which was read aloud at the Keith Haring Art and Activism conference at Tate Liverpool in 2019. This work juxtaposes the AI generated poem giving a more human take on our collective consciousness. Ultimately the work ends by saying ‘I’m Tired but never too tired to keep creating Art which someday somewhere may touch another’s soul …’ And I think this exhibition is a testament to that.
About Paul Chisholm
Surrey based artist, Paul Chisholm presents a body of paintings and sculptures from his Lost Boys series which is inspired by the boys lost to the HIV epidemic throughout the decades and related suicide. It also points to stigma faced by those boys affected by HIV within modern day society.
Paul Chisholm (1983) was born in Canterbury, England and brought up in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He studied a BA in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University (2004) and Metàfora Studio Arts , Barcelona (2011) before doing his MA in Fine Art at Chelsea -College of Art in London (2020). In 2023 he was nominated for the Queer Britain Art Prize. This exhibition is funded by an Art Council England Developing your creative practice grant.