Students from the Birmingham City University School of Art recently held an exhibition in collaboration with the GAP Arts project. The exhibition titled Heart of the Matter was held in a new exhibition space that has recently been opened by the GAP project.
The aim of the exhibition was to raise awareness of new talent that is emerging amongst Birmingham's art scene and promote students work that could be enjoyed by everyone.
One of the upcoming artists, Daniel Ward drew a lot of attention from his exhibition piece titled 'Armchair Inventor’. Daniel gave us an insight into his world and the creation of his piece and also his inspiration behind his creation.
How did you become interested in studying fine art and creating artistic pieces?
It started from a very young age for me. When I was around 4 years old my mum would often ask me what I wanted to be when I’m older. I would always reply, either and artist or a magician. This is something that has been with me all through my life so far and hasn’t really changed. I’ve always been interested in art and creativity. It’s always been a part of me.
You’ve been highlighted for creating very physical pieces of art, what would you say your art style is?
I would describe myself as an inventor who creates these kinds of whimsical and quirky machines of some sort. My work is quite cosy. It’s like if you were to go to your estranged uncles shed or something along those lines. You might find those sort of weird kind of contraptions. That is the sort of effect that I go for.
What would you say is your inspiration and who would you say inspires you most?
I’ve always been interested in anything old really as I’m kind of a nostalgic sort of person. Even for things not from my lifetime. The Victorian era is definitely a big influence on me. In terms of an inspirational artist, I would say Rowland Emett who designed the machinery in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I saw an exhibition of his work around the same time I came to Birmingham to study and has really been the start of my university career.
What are your aspirations for the work you create? Is there any kind of particular message you try to convey in your art?
I used to be really against the idea or an artwork having to have some kind of meaning behind it. However recently I found out I’m always adding meaning into my work without consciously thinking about it. The more I do think about it though, the more it becomes about creative play, the want to stray away from the norm. I’m not a fan of the artwork that is kind of clean cut, I like things that are a bit grubby and mashed together. Bashed around with nails etc. So I would say there is elements of being a little bit punk in there. Somebody once described my work as whimsical anarchy which was quite a nice little phrase.
Talk us through how your piece ‘Armchair Inventor’ came to be?
Well, an armchair enthusiast is somebody who might research a lot into a subject but then not actually practices it. So for example, you get armchair football fans that who will watch football devoutly on he TV but won’t go to the matches or play the game or anything else for that matter. Another example is armchair historians that just read but don’t do anything with the knowledge or go out into the world. So really my piece is a play on that. The chair is full of all these contraptions. So the inventor is sat in the chair with the mentality of doing something and is constantly adding to this chair. I’d like to think that there is more to this world that this inventor has created than just this chair and so that became the thought process for designing the piece.
Your piece has recently just been exhibited at the GAP art project as part of the Heart of the Matter exhibition. How did you find the responses to it and also the added element of interactivity?
I think for me being part of my piece is how I’ve always thought of my work. It has always been a case of being an extension of myself. If I had made a piece and then walked around a show saying "this is my piece" I think, I would feel as if I’m not giving enough to my artwork or not really showing it in the best light.
So you would say much like music and creating songs, there is a very personal element to it?
Yeah definitely, I think that’s a fair comparison that it’s a very personal thing with the creation process and that it is an extension of myself on a very personal level.
You did something rather interesting during the show’s opening night.
The idea of a wing back chair to me is something of comfort, that it’s this thing you can sit back into with your arm rests and the wings you can rest against and fall asleep if you wanted to. But from the back, a wing back chair has this sort of grandeur and a kind of anonymity as well. So you look at the back of the chair and you are curious about what might be on the other side of it. Then you walk around and you see me in my dressing gown, pyjamas and slippers sipping on a glass of wine. I like that sort of play on how people witness the piece. It was quite important that I place the chair so that when people came into the space that they see it from the back and not me sat in the chair first. So placement of the chair was extremely important.
There was a lot of intricate detail on the back of the chair, such as knick knacks, sweets and little jars of snake oil for example. Would it be fair to say you piece achieved its objective of creative play?
Yeah definitely. I mean that’s kind of part of me really. I am very interested in the kinds of things like little trinkets etc. I love going to charity shops, they are amazing and you can find shelves of so many interesting objects that are only like a couple of quid. You gather these kinds of things up and they become useful for the creation of my pieces such as the fine details on the chair. The chair is kind of an extension of me and also of this character based world that its ben created in.
For each piece it also important to create a character that goes along with the piece?
Yeah definitely.
What is next for you in terms of projects and beyond University?
I’m planning to develop this work further. I'm thinking about creating this shed that looks old and dirty from the outside that peaks people’s curiosity. Inside however it would be like a den of all these amazing intricate trinkets and essentially be about mystery and discovery. This wonderful world inside of the shed that opens up to you. I’ve also begun doing some work with video and I’m really enjoying the process of filming my inventions and contraptions and things. Also, I am interested in capturing how people react to them. Before the exhibition opened, we wheeled the chair all the way through Birmingham city centre to the venue. My friend Tash recorded the whole journey and so to look back at that footage was brilliant. I could actually see myself as this character that I had created as part of my piece.
Really then you have almost a whole cross-media element here then?
Yes, definitely it’s almost like a whole package. The art piece with the theatrics and then being able to film the reactions. A more interactive experience in art.
I’ve also looked at opening a shop. Much like my thoughts on creating the shed piece next year. I envisage the shop being full of all these items where you look up to the ceiling and there are items all over. Having these kinds of items over the walls and the floors and having them all around you. I think this sort of theatrical element is something I’d like to play with a bit more. I’m currently playing with it a bit more certainly in terms of the video work and adding this element of theatre and performance to the pieces. I think going forward I need to take that a little bit further. Maybe push some boundaries in the industry and I definitely will continue onwards full steam ahead. Even if have to get a normal job, I’ll still be trying to push my art out there.
Daniels exhibit is currently being displayed as part of the Heart of the Matter exhibition currently being held at the GAP art project space in the Jubilee Centre, Birmingham. The show is currently running daily from 10 am till 5pm until the 20th May.
You can find out more about Daniels projects on his instagram page @ArtistWizard2 or like his Facebook page for further updates.
