Known for her anarchic performances, plays, sculptures and paintings, Monster Chetwynd’s work often features handmade costumes, sets and props, which have a conspicuously and deliberately rudimentary aesthetic, constructed from cheap materials. Sexuality, the grotesque, the humorous, and the spooky, all vie for attention in her aesthetic signature.
Chetwynd’s contribution to the Istanbul Biennial is in two parts. The first consists of sculptures of hybrid creatures, in which a snake, a crocodile, a spider and a bat all take humanoid form. The second is an imaginative, immersive and permanently installed playground in the shape of a giant Gorgon’s head in Maçka Art Park.
Monster Chetwynd (b. 1973, London, UK) lives and works in Glasgow. Known for her bric-a-brac style performance pieces, featuring handmade costumes, props and sets, Chetwynd describes her work as ‘impatiently made’, often re-using cheap materials that are easy to process and to use by the many performers she invites to participate, emphasizing the notion of collective development that informs much of the artist’s work. Recent solo exhibitions include De Pont, Tilburg (2019); Villa Arson, Nice (2019); Winter Commission, Tate Britain, London (2018); The Owl with the Laser Eyes, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2018); Uptight upright, upside down, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (2018); and Camshafts in the Rain, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2016).
EXHIBITED WORKS
The Gorgon’s Playground, 2019
Sculptural installation
282 × 600 × 345 cm
Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London.
Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Produced and presented with the support of Koç Holding.
Hybrid Creature Bat, 2019
Sculpture (iron, fabric, cardboard, latex, paint, willow and wire)
200 × 160 × 50 cm
Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ London.
Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Presented with the support of British Council and Outset Scotland.
Hybrid Creature Snake, 2019
Sculpture (iron, fabric, cardboard, latex, paint and wire)
220 × 150 × 170 cm
Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London.
Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Presented with the support of British Council and Outset Scotland.
Hybrid Creature Crocodile, 2019 Sculpture (iron, fabric, cardboard, latex, paint and wire)
180 × 100 × 250 cm
Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London.
Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Presented with the support of British Council and Outset Scotland.
Hybrid Creature Spider, 2019
Sculpture (iron, fabric, cardboard, latex, paint and wire)
150 × 100 × 90 cm
Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London.
Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Presented with the support of British Council and Outset Scotland.
