{{Short description|British sculptor (born 1984)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Use British English|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox artist |name = Alex Chinneck |image = Portrait of Alex Chinneck.tiff |image_size = |caption = Alex Chinneck standing next to ''A Pound of Flesh for 50p'' |birth_place = |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1984}} |field = Public art, sculpture |education = Chelsea College of Arts, Royal British Society of Sculptors |works = ''A Pound of Flesh for 50p'' }}
'''Alex Chinneck''' MRSS (born 1 October 1984) is a British sculptor known for creating temporary public artworks.
==Early life== Alex was educated at Bedford Modern School, where his father taught PE.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/Artist-turns-house-upside-Blackfriars/story-21723830-detail/story.html|title=Artist turns the house upside down in Blackfriars|work=Bedfordshire News|accessdate=29 December 2014}}</ref> He had ambitions to become a cricketer, having captained his school team at county level, before his interest in art at the age of 16.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mohammed|first1=Syma|title=Hackney artist wins acclaim for house that appears to be falling down|url=http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/hackney_artist_wins_acclaim_for_house_that_appears_to_be_falling_down_1_2904284|accessdate=26 November 2014|newspaper=Hackney Gazette|date=19 October 2013|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024810/http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/hackney_artist_wins_acclaim_for_house_that_appears_to_be_falling_down_1_2904284|url-status=dead}}</ref> He studied painting at Chelsea College of Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, and became a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alex Chinneck MRSS|url=https://sculptors.org.uk/artists/alex-chinneck|publisher=Royal Society of Sculptors|accessdate=28 July 2022}}</ref>
==Career== Shortly after college, he was granted a Gilbert Bayes award by the Royal Society of Sculptors to help in his transition to professional practice, following which he collaborated with Conrad Shawcross on his work.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lingham|first1=Daniel|title=Interview with Alex Chinneck|url=http://sculptorvox.com/alex-chinneck/|work=Sculpture Vox|accessdate=26 November 2014|date=26 June 2014}}</ref> After initially focusing on small sculptures, influenced by ''House'' designed by Rachel Whiteread and the work of Richard Wilson, Chinneck started working on large scale designs.<ref name="Wainwright"/>
Most of Chinneck's earliest public artworks were realised across Greater London. His early works include ''Telling the Truth Through False Teeth'' (2012), where the artist used 1,248 pieces of glass to create 312 identically smashed windows across the derelict facade of a factory in Hackney, ''From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes'' (2013) in Margate where Chinneck created the illusion that the entire facade of house had slid into the garden, and ''Under the Weather but Over the Moon'' (2013), a commercial property situated on Blackfriars Road created to look as if it had become completely inverted.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Macdonald|first1=Fiona|title=Alex Chinneck: The man who makes houses melt|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141010-the-man-who-makes-houses-melt|publisher=BBC|accessdate=26 November 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011201313/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141010-the-man-who-makes-houses-melt|archivedate=11 October 2014|date=10 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Karbowska|first1=Iwona|title=In pictures: 'The Upside Down House' art installation unveiled|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/in-pictures-the-upside-down-house-art-installation-unveiled-8983008.html? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204223300/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/in-pictures-the-upside-down-house-art-installation-unveiled-8983008.html |archive-date=2013-12-04 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|work=The Independent|accessdate=26 November 2014|date=4 December 2013}}</ref> For his work in Hackney, local residents have described Chinneck as the "Banksy of Glass".<ref>{{cite web|title=Telling the Truth Through False Teeth by Alex Chinneck|url=http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/18/telling-the-truth-through-false-teeth-by-alex-chinneck/|publisher=Dezeen|accessdate=28 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Milliard|first1=Coline|title="Banksy of Glass" Pushes Broken Window Theory to New Heights|url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/814449/banksy-of-glass-pushes-broken-window-theory-to-new-heights|accessdate=26 November 2014|work=Blouinartinfo|date=18 July 2012}}</ref>
Subsequent works include ''Take my Lightning but Don't Steal my Thunder'' (2014), a building located in Covent Garden designed to appear as if it floated in the air, and ''A Pound of Flesh for 50p'' (2014), a house on Southwark Street made from 7,500 paraffin wax bricks which slowly melted.<ref name=HuffPost>{{cite news|last1=Weingus|first1=Leigh|title=This Creepy Wax House Is Slowly Melting to the Ground in the Middle of London|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/29/melting-house-london_n_6070254.html|accessdate=31 October 2014|work=The Huffington Post|date=30 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Alleyne|first1=Allyssia|title=Strange case of the melting house: Alex Chinneck's mind-bending buildings|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/25/world/alex-chinneck-mind-bending-buildings/index.html|work=CNN|access-date=30 March 2015|date=25 November 2014}}</ref> The installation, ''Pick Yourself Up and Pull Yourself Together'' (2015) saw a Vauxhall Corsa suspended upside down in Southbank Centre car park.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Livingstone|first1=Cheryl|title=Artist gets behind the wheel of new Vauxhall sculpture|url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/motors/496689/artist-gets-behind-wheel-new-vauxhall-sculpture/|accessdate=6 March 2015|work=The Press and Journal|date=19 February 2015}}</ref>
In 2015, Chinneck was commissioned to create one of the flagship projects for London Design Festival on Greenwich Peninsula. Chinneck’s response to the site - an inverted electricity pylon standing 37 metres tall - has been voted among the best public artworks in London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 20 public sculptures in London |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/art/top-20-public-sculptures-in-london |website=Time Out London |access-date=6 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Titled ''A bullet from a shooting star'', the sculpture forms part of The Line, London’s first dedicated public art walk, which also features work by Anthony Gormley and Anish Kapoor.
The artist’s first permanent London landmark was completed in 2017. ''Six pins and half a dozen needles'' (2017) creates the illusion that the front of a building on Fulham Palace Road has been dramatically cracked into two halves.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alex Chinneck Unveils First Permanent Artwork at Assembly London |url=https://www.artlyst.com/news/alex-chinneck-unveils-first-permanent-artwork-assembly-london/ |website=Artlyst |access-date=6 January 2021}}</ref>
In 2018, Chinneck was commissioned to create a temporary intervention for a development site in Ashford. His installation ''Open to the Public'' created the illusion that the walls of a 1960s office block had been unzipped to reveal the interior. The following year, in Italy, the artist created the same feat on a larger scale, unzipping the walls and floor of a seemingly historic Milanese building for Milan Design Week. The installation ''A sprinkle of light and a spoonful of night'' was named by Dezeen as one of the top ten art installations of 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dezeen's top 10 installations of 2019 |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2019/12/15/dezeen-top-10-installations-2019/ |website=Dezeen |access-date=6 January 2021 |language=en |date=15 December 2019}}</ref>
For his most recent public intervention, ''Alphabetti Spaghetti'' (2019), the artist has tied a series of traditional red pillar post boxes into knots. The artwork appeared overnight in three towns across England.<ref>{{cite web |title=Artist Alex Chinneck ties post boxes in knots across the UK for his latest public artwork |url=https://artdaily.cc/news/117172/Artist-Alex-Chinneck-ties-post-boxes-in-knots-across-the-UK-for-his-latest-public-artwork#.X_Wj_-lKiz4 |website=artdaily.cc |access-date=6 January 2021 |language=English}}</ref>
''The Guardian'' has called Chinneck a "master of architectural illusion".<ref name="Wainwright">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/02/alex-chinneck-covent-garden-mid-air-trick-architectural-illusion|title=Property boom: Alex Chinneck's brain-spinning trick in Covent Garden|last=Wainwright|first=Oliver|date=2 October 2014|work=The Guardian|accessdate=25 November 2014}}</ref> Alex Chinneck won the 33rd GNMH AWARD.
==Selected works== *''Telling the Truth Through False Teeth'' (2012) *''From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes'' (2013) *''Under the Weather but Over the Moon'' (2013) *''Take my Lightning but Don't Steal my Thunder'' (2014) *''A Pound of Flesh for 50p'' (2014) *''Pick Yourself Up and Pull Yourself Together'' (2015) *''A Bullet from a Shooting Star'' (2015)<ref name="Bullet">{{cite web |title=Alex Chinneck |url=https://the-line.org/artist/alex-chinneck/ |website=The Line |accessdate=6 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref> *''Six pins and half a dozen needles'' (2017) *''Open to the public'' (2018) *''A sprinkle of light and a spoonful of night'' (2019) *''Alphabetti Spaghetti'' (2019) *''Loop-de-Loop Canal Boat'' (2024)
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:From the knees of my nose to the belly of my toes.jpg|''From the knees of my nose to the belly of my toes'' File:Under the weather but over the moon.jpg|''Under the weather but over the moon'' File:Alex Chinneck - A bullet from a shooting star - 2016-04-17.jpg|A bullet from a shooting star 2015 File:A pound of flesh for 50p (The Melting House) (15617759019).jpg|A pound of flesh for 50p (The Melting House) File:Alex Chinneck - Straight jacket star jumps - 2017-10-27.jpg|Straight jacket star jumps File:"Alex Chinneck" Art sculpture in West London (40563285451).jpg|Art sculpture in West London File:Alphabetti Spaghetti sculpture by Alex Chinneck - Canning Town, London.jpg|''Alphabetti Spaghetti'' in Canning Town, London </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == <!-- Per WP:ELMINOFFICIAL, choose one official website only --> {{Commons category}} *{{Official website}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinneck, Alex}} Category:British male sculptors Category:21st-century British sculptors Category:People educated at Bedford Modern School Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Category:21st-century British male artists