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Krikey! Kentemporary Prints: Exhibition Catalogue
2010
Jake and Dinos Chapman
Jake Chapman and Dinos Chapman were born in London in 1966 and 1962 respectively. Dinos studied at Ravensbourne College of Art in Chislehurst, Kent, and Jake studied at North East London Polytechnic. They began working together in 1992 and are well know for making controversial art work which often centres on the themes of politics and religion, as well as philosophy and society. They continued their studies at the Royal Academy College of Art and gained experience working as assistants to Gilbert & George. Working together, the brothers have produced etchings, as well as sculptures and installations. They were nominated for the Turner prize in 2003, and were part of the Young British Artists (YBAs). They have exhibited extensively throughout the world, with solo shows at Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover (2008), Tate Britain and Liverpool (2007), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2005), and Modern Art Oxford (2003).
The Chapman brothers came to the public's attention with their sculpture Disasters of War (1993), a three-dimensional interpretation of the original plates by Francisco Goya bearing the same name: Los Desastres de la Guerra, or, Disasters of War. The brothers have a continuing fascination with the prints of Goya, particularly visible in a series of etchings entitled Los Caprichos (1797 - 98), and Jake not Dinos (2006) is a reworking of one of these etchings. Writing for the Guardian newspaper about Chapman's Insult to Injury (2003), another piece based on the work of Goya, Richard Dorment claims that 'The Chapman Brothers have not just defaced Goya, they have enhanced him.'
They often use traditional themes within a modern setting as metaphors for contemporary society. The themes of life and death, and growth and degeneration are treated in a surreal, fantastical scenario in The Birth of Ideas (2003). The etching shows what appears to be levitating lands and within them, dreamlike creatures. Locateed at the top left corner of this scene is a yellow sun, which seems to be on the verge of being overshadowed by the chaos below.
Commenting on the dominating, and perhaps oppressive, presence of globalisation throughout the world, Unhappy Meal (2002) shows a McDonald's 'Happy Meal' box laden with images which contradict the usual conditions in which it appears. Unhappy Meal is part of The Chapman Family Collection (2002), which is predominantly made up of tribal inspired sculptures of figures and masks embedded with the McDonald's logo, products and merchandise. The incorporation of McDonald's in this work, the Chapman brothers explain: highlights the fact that corporate companies are subtly present in all aspects of everyday life, like 'so many corporate snakes in the grass.'
Unhappy Meal appears to ask us to consider whether the corporate world has created a population that is happy and empowered or one that is demoralised and exploited. These works reflect the Chapman brothers' characteristic focus on bringing age-old social predicaments into the present by adding elements of humour. However, behind the humour, the Chapman brothers aim not only to critique the social circumstances in which we live today, but also, in their own words, produce a 'moral panic.' Indeed, much of the Chapman brothers' creative production seems to interrogate this complex question of morality through the relationship between contemporary society and its images. They explain: 'That' what we do. We present the viewer with a puzzle. We put an injunction on speedy consumption, by refusing to offer a straightforward aesthetic experience. And to defend the integrity of the work, we produce a bit of turbulence that makes it more than a simple sip - of art.'
(Written in collaboration)
The Chapman brothers came to the public's attention with their sculpture Disasters of War (1993), a three-dimensional interpretation of the original plates by Francisco Goya bearing the same name: Los Desastres de la Guerra, or, Disasters of War. The brothers have a continuing fascination with the prints of Goya, particularly visible in a series of etchings entitled Los Caprichos (1797 - 98), and Jake not Dinos (2006) is a reworking of one of these etchings. Writing for the Guardian newspaper about Chapman's Insult to Injury (2003), another piece based on the work of Goya, Richard Dorment claims that 'The Chapman Brothers have not just defaced Goya, they have enhanced him.'
They often use traditional themes within a modern setting as metaphors for contemporary society. The themes of life and death, and growth and degeneration are treated in a surreal, fantastical scenario in The Birth of Ideas (2003). The etching shows what appears to be levitating lands and within them, dreamlike creatures. Locateed at the top left corner of this scene is a yellow sun, which seems to be on the verge of being overshadowed by the chaos below.
Commenting on the dominating, and perhaps oppressive, presence of globalisation throughout the world, Unhappy Meal (2002) shows a McDonald's 'Happy Meal' box laden with images which contradict the usual conditions in which it appears. Unhappy Meal is part of The Chapman Family Collection (2002), which is predominantly made up of tribal inspired sculptures of figures and masks embedded with the McDonald's logo, products and merchandise. The incorporation of McDonald's in this work, the Chapman brothers explain: highlights the fact that corporate companies are subtly present in all aspects of everyday life, like 'so many corporate snakes in the grass.'
Unhappy Meal appears to ask us to consider whether the corporate world has created a population that is happy and empowered or one that is demoralised and exploited. These works reflect the Chapman brothers' characteristic focus on bringing age-old social predicaments into the present by adding elements of humour. However, behind the humour, the Chapman brothers aim not only to critique the social circumstances in which we live today, but also, in their own words, produce a 'moral panic.' Indeed, much of the Chapman brothers' creative production seems to interrogate this complex question of morality through the relationship between contemporary society and its images. They explain: 'That' what we do. We present the viewer with a puzzle. We put an injunction on speedy consumption, by refusing to offer a straightforward aesthetic experience. And to defend the integrity of the work, we produce a bit of turbulence that makes it more than a simple sip - of art.'
(Written in collaboration)