UKYA City Takeover

Don't Linger - Installation View: UKYA City Takeover, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 2019

Don't Linger - Installation View: UKYA City Takeover, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 2019

Don't Linger - Installation View: UKYA City Takeover, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 2019

It's always exciting to see members of the public activating Don't Linger and witnessing their reactions to the piece.

UKYA City Takeover Nottingham

Myself with Don't Linger - Installation View: UKYA City Takeover, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 2019

Don't Linger - Installation View: UKYA City Takeover, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 2019 

Don't Linger - Installation View: UKYA City Takeover, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 2019

UKYA City Takeover spanned the city of Nottingham for a week in early February 2019.  The festival united 250 artists from 25 countries, showcasing a huge variety of contemporary work, from visual arts to performance; music; applied arts; literature; digital arts and moving image.

I was very happy to be involved in one of the largest biennials of national and international artists in the world, by exhibiting Don't Linger at Surface Gallery.  I was very pleased at how the public engaged with the work and the conversations it provoked. 

Exhibitions

A selection of images of myself posing with my artworks at various exhibitions from over the past few years.  I believe that consistency is important.

Expectations

Expectations, Chaz Howkins, 2018, human hair on wax strips and pencil on paper

I was commissioned to create a piece of work which related to the theme of hair for an exhibition called Hair Matters.  I decided to focus on pubic hair and the expectations of bodies which are read as female.  The wax strips which surround the vulva are covered in real human hair to mimic pubic hair while swapping the expected colours of the vulva and the wax strips.

UKYA City Takeover

Don't Linger (detail), Chaz Howkins, 2018, pencil on paper and ink on toilet seats

Check out my artist's profile for UKYA City Takeover Nottingham for info about the work I'll be exhibiting:

http://www.ukyoungartists.co.uk/ukya-artists-1/chaz-howkins

UKYA City Takeover

Don't Linger, Chaz Howkins, 2018, pencil on paper and ink on toilet seats

Don't Linger will be exhibited at Surface Gallery, Nottingham, from February 7 - 13th as part of UKYA City Takeover Nottingham.

More info:

http://www.ukyoungartists.co.uk/notts19-exhibitions/2018/12/18/surface-gallery

Hair Matters

Hair Matters Exhibition

Hair Matters Exhibition Panel

I was invited to speak on a panel at the closing event of Hair Matters to discuss the exhibition.

Hair Matters

Hair Matters Exhibition

Hair Matters Exhibition 

Myself and my artwork - Expectations at Hair Matters

Hair Matters was an exhibition which spread across 5 venues in Dalston, London.  The exhibition examined the social and cultural symbolism of hair in the 21st century and featured the work of six young, queer artists who explore the personal and political significance of hair and body hair as incredibly charged symbols of identity. The public interventions included photo manipulations, work with textiles, collage material, graphic design, ephemera and audio material.

I was very happy to have been chosen for the exhibition and commissioned to create a new piece for the show.  I decided to make a piece about pubic hair and the expectations of female bodies.

Sketchbooks

Sketchbook - late 2017-March 2018

Sketchbook - March-September 2018

New sketchbook - September 2018 onwards

Recent sketchbooks - I've gotten into the habit of covering them in stickers so I can tell them apart as I'm gradually growing a pile of filled A5 black sketchbooks.

Selfies

Untitled Selfie (distressed screaming), Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper 

Untitled Selfie (smol and sad), Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper 

Untitled Selfie (sad centaur), Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper

Some sad selfies from the end of 2018.

Hair Matters exhibition poster

Hair Matters exhibition poster

I was very happy for my photographic work to be used as the poster for Hair Matters.

Selfie

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper

A sad selfie.

Roadtrip drawings

Capitol Reef (roadtrip drawing), Chaz Howkins, 2018, oil pastel on map

Arches National Park (roadtrip drawing), Chaz Howkins, 2018, oil pastel on map

Bryce (roadtrip drawing), Chaz Howkins, 2018, oil pastel on map

Bryce Canyon (roadtrip drawing), Chaz Howkins, 2018, oil pastel on map

Some drawings from my American roadtrip using oil pastels on top of the free maps given out at various National/State Parks.

Roadtrip drawings

Untitled (roadtrip sketch), Chaz Howkins, 2018, pencil on paper

Untitled (roadtrip drawing, rocks and road), Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper 

Roadtrip mountain painting, Chaz Howkins, 2018, acrylic on canvas

Some drawings and a painting from my roadtrip in America.

Roadtrip Drawings

Roadtrip - View From The Road, Chaz Howkins, 2018, pencil and ink on paper

Roadtrip Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2018, pencil and ink on paper

Some drawings from my roadtrip in America which included driving around Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado, I was glad to not have to do much of the driving so I could spend more time drawing/observing.

Selfies

Untitled Selfie (triple bois), Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper 

Untitled Selfie (ghost), Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper

Katya As Orink Medusa, Chaz Howkins, 2018, ink on paper

Aftermath of Ladies Room

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation 

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

I was very glad to see how many people interacted with Ladies Room while it was exhibited at Queer Art(ists) Now, creating a great pile of discarded toilet tissue on the floor below the dispenser.  Seeing the pile of tissues grow on the floor, being trodden on, dripped on, completely discarded really emphasised the throwaway nature of the comments people make to queer people in gendered spaces.  When someone in the ladies room asks me 'are you a woman?' it's a fleeting moment for them, they don't think about what they're saying, they just throw their words at me... but for me it sticks, it piles up, I can't just throw it away.

Queer Art(ists) Now

Ladies Room, Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Self with work - Ladies Room

Queer Art(ists) Now provides a snap-shot of what artists within our communities are making right now; an insight into the thoughts, preoccupations, aesthetics, and politics of queer artists.

I was excited to have the opportunity to exhibit Ladies Room as it is an interactive piece and I wanted to witness the public's engagement with it.  The piece had a very positive response with hundreds of people taking the toilet tissues from the dispenser and dropping them on the floor to create a great pile of the discarded words.