Helen Chadwick: Constructing Identities Between Art and Architecture (International Library of Modern and Contemporary Art)

Highly respected by her peers and hugely influential on the subsequent generation of artists, British artist Helen Chadwick produced a wide-ranging body of work in a variety of media. She also drew upon a panoply of references, from classical Greek through to contemporary architectures, micro-biology, sub-particle physics, and esoteric philosophies. Stephen Walker identifies and explores a consistent range of issues and enduring interests that accompanied and supported Chadwick's realised work, including the relationship between body and space, self and the world; between art and science, the creative self and the creative process. Dismantling and reassembling her thought, Walker here combines a close reading of Chadwick's notebooks and research with broader speculation about their ongoing relevance for artistic and architectural work today.00. Highly respected by her peers and hugely influential on the subsequent generation of artists, the British artist Helen Chadwick produced a wideranging body of work in a variety of media, which shifted from early institutional and architectural critique to operatic installations, and to photographic projects and sculptures. Stephen Walker looks behind this apparent variety, identifying a consistent range of interests - ranging from classical Greek through to sub-particle physics - that accompanied and supported Chadwick's realised work. Although she enjoyed significant critical attention in her lifetime, this is the first study to explore the rich archive which informed her oeuvre. Critical of the impact that limiting political, philosophical and scientific constructions have on identity, Chadwick's work can offer insights into the relationship between body and space; self and world; art and science; artifice and nature; theory and practice; the creative self and the creative process.Dismantling and reassembling her ideas, this book combines a close reading of Chadwick's notebooks and research with broader speculation regarding their ongoing relevance for artistic and architectural work today. 'Shifting from early institutional and architectural critique to personal, poetic installations, photography projects and sculptures, British artist Helen Chadwick (1953-1996) produced a wide-ranging body of work in an assortment of media. In this book, Stephen Walker looks beyond the apparent variety of this work and identifies a consistent range of issues and enduring interests. Critical of the impact that limiting political, philosophical and scientific constructions have on identity, Chadwick's art can offer insights into a number of major, enduring the relationship between body and space, self and world; between art and science; between artifice and nature; between theory and practice, the creative self and the creative process. Walker combines a close reading of Chadwick's notebooks and research with a broader investigation of their ongoing relevance for artistic and architectural work today.' List of Illustrations viiiAcknowledgements ixPreface xiIntegration of Sources xvIntroduction: New negotiations 1Part One: the creative process and the creative persona1: the Creative Self2: the Creative Process and 'Total Pattern'Part Two: experience, architecture and identity3: Body and Self4: 'Multi-Stability' and Viewing PositionPart Three: artifice and nature5: the Grotto and Architectural Conceit6: Architecture, the Divinities and the Authority of Science7: 'Viral Architecture' and the Rapprochement of Art and SciencePart Four: theory and practice8: Geometry, 'Stereonomy' and Surface9: the Role of MakingConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex Shifting from early institutional and architectural critique to personal, poetic installations, photography projects and sculptures, British artist Helen Chadwick (1953-1996) produced a wide-ranging body of work in an assortment of media. In this book, Stephen Walker looks beyond the apparent variety of this work and identifies a consistent range of issues and enduring interests. Critical of the impact that limiting political, philosophical and scientific constructions have on identity, Chadwick's art can offer insights into a number of major, enduring questions: the relationship between body. Highly respected by her peers and hugely influential on the subsequent generation of artists, British artist Helen Chadwick (1953-1996) produced a wide-ranging body of work in a variety of media. Stephen Walker identifies and explores a consistent range of issues and enduring interests that accompanied and supported Chadwick's realised work