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Jake and Dinos Chapman

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For the Iowa politician, seeJake Chapman (politician).
"The Chapman Brothers" redirects here. For the creators of Homestar Runner, seeThe Brothers Chaps.

Iakovos "Jake" & Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman (a.k.a. Chapman Brothers)
Born1966(1966)
1962(1962)
United Kingdom
Known forVisual Arts
AwardsTurner Prize (2003)
A Jake and Dinos Chapman fused mannequin piece from the exhibitionCome and Seeat the Serpentine Gallery

Iakovos"Jake"Chapman(born 1966) andKonstantinos"Dinos"Chapman(born 1962) are British visual artists, previously known as theChapman Brothers.Their art explores deliberately shocking subject matters; for instance, in 2008, they produced a series of works that appropriated original watercolours byAdolf Hitler.In the mid-1990s, their sculptures were included in theYBAshowcase exhibitionsBrilliant!andSensation.In 2003, the two were nominated for the annualTurner Prizebut lost out toGrayson Perry.In 2013, their paintingOne Day You Will No Longer Be Loved IIIwas the subject ofDerren Brown'sChannel 4specialThe Great Art Robbery.

In 2022, with the announcement of Jake Chapman's solo showMe, Myself and Eye,it was disclosed that the Chapman brothers had ended their professional association. Jake Chapman made reference to mutual "seething disdain" and told theGuardianthey were both "sick of the partnership" and were "no longer having fresh ideas together".[1]

Lives and careers[edit]

Jake Chapman was born inCheltenhamand Dinos Chapman in London. Their father was an English art teacher and their mother an OrthodoxGreek Cypriot(hence "Jake" an anglicised diminutive of the orthodox Iakovos, and "Dinos", a typical diminutive of the orthodox Konstantinos). They were brought up inCheltenhambut moved toSt Leonards-on-Seawhere they attended a local comprehensive (Christ Church Primary) & (William Parker School). Dinos studied at theRavensbourne College of Art(1980–83), Jake at theNorth East London Polytechnic[2](1985–88) before both together enrolled at theRoyal College of Art(1988–90), when they also worked as assistants to the artistsGilbert and George.[3]

Art collaboration[edit]

3D models of Goya's work

They began their own collaboration in 1991. The brothers have often made pieces with plastic models orfibreglassmannequinsof people. An early piece consisted of eighty-three scenes oftortureanddisfigurementderivative of those recorded byFrancisco Goyain his series ofetchings,The Disasters of War(a work they later returned to) rendered into small three-dimensional plastic models. One of these was later turned into a life-size work,Great Deeds Against the Dead,shown along withZygotic Acceleration, Biogenetic, De-Sublimated Libidinal Model (Enlarged x 1000)at theSensationexhibition in 1997.

Their 1995 mannequinTwo-faced Cuntwas of a naked young girl with two heads joined together by a vagina, which sold for £91,250 in 2011.[4]The Chapman brothers continued withFuck Face,a series of mannequins of children, sometimes fused together, withgenitaliain place of facial features. For example, one has a male toddler wearing a bright red smock with an erect penis in place of his nose and an open anus in place of his mouth. It sold for £115,250 in 2010.[5]

Their sculptureHell(2000) consisted of a large number ofminiature figuresofNazisarranged in nine glass cases laid out in the shape of aswastika.In 2003, with a series of works namedInsult to Injury,they altered a set of Goya'setchingsby addingfunnyfaces. As a protest against this piece, performerAaron Barschakthrew a pot of red paint over Jake Chapman during a talk he was giving in May 2003. (Barshack was imprisoned for one month for the incident.) The Chapmans' oeuvre has also referenced work byWilliam Blake,Auguste RodinandNicolas Poussin.Jake Chapman has published a number of catalogue essays and pieces of art criticism in his own right, as well as a book,Meatphysics(Creation Books, 2003). The brothers have also designed a label forBecksbeer as part of a series of limited edition labels produced by contemporary artists. Using a title from theTim Burtonfilm, in 2004 they curatedA Nightmare Before Christmasas part of the occasionalAll Tomorrow's Partiesmusic festival atCamber Sands.In October 2013 the Chapman brothers took part inArt Warsat theSaatchi Gallerycurated byBen Moore.The artists were issued with a stormtrooper helmet, which they transformed into a work of art. Proceeds went to the Missing Tom Fund set up by Moore to find his brother Tom who has been missing for over ten years. The work was also shown on the Regents Park platform as part ofArt BelowRegents Park.

The Rape of Creativity[edit]

From April–June 2003, the Chapmans held a solo show atModern Art OxfordentitledThe Rape of Creativityin which "theenfants terriblesof Britart, bought a mint collection ofFrancisco Goya's most celebrated prints – and set about systematically defacing them ".[6]The Goya prints referred to hisDisasters of Warset of 80 etchings.[6]The duo named their newly defaced worksInsult to Injury.[6]BBCdescribed more of the exhibition's art: "Drawings of mutant Ronald McDonalds, a bronze sculpture of a painting showing a sad-faced Hitler in clown make-up and a major installation featuring a knackered old caravan and fake dog turds."[7]WhileThe Daily Telegraphcommented that the Chapman brothers had "managed to raise the hackles of art historians by violating something much more sacred to the art world than the human body – another work of art",[8]they also noted that the effect of their work was powerful.[8]

The Chapman brothers were nominated for theTurner Prizein 2003. As well as includingInsult to Injury,their Turner Prize exhibit debuted two new worksSexandDeath.Sexdirectly referenced their previous workGreat Deeds against the Dead.The original work shows three dismembered corpses hanging from a tree,Sexshows the same scenario, but in a heightened state of decay. Additionally clown's noses are now present on the skulls of the corpses; snakes, rats and insects (like those found in joke shops) cover the piece.Deathis twosex dolls,placed on top of each other, head-to-toe in the69 sex position:despite appearing to be made of plastic it is in fact cast inbronzeand painted to look like plastic. That year the prize was eventually won byGrayson Perry.

On 24 May 2004, afire in a storage warehousedestroyed many works from the Saatchi collection includingHell.The brothers subsequently made a very similar, though more extensive, work calledFucking Hell.

Disputes with journalists[edit]

In 2006, the journalistLynn Barberclaimed that she had received a death threat from the brothers, following conducting an interview with them.[9]

In 2007, they were criticised by journalistJohann Harifor adopting an anti-Enlightenment philosophy, and for Jake Chapman saying that the boys who murdered Liverpool toddlerJames Bulgerperformed "a good social service".[10]This followed a public media brawl between Jake Chapman and journalistCarole CadwalladrinThe Observerand on the internet the previous year. Cadwalladr told readers that Chapman told her she made him "feel sick" and threw her out of their studio "into the pouring rain", ordering her to "get out, just get the fuck out!".[11]Chapman made two profanity-laden, ranting, poorly-spelled public replies; the first was addressed to Cadwalladr, making reference to her "hopelessly toothless" wit and making offensive reference to things he claimed to associate with her which he stated made him "quite queasy", including "kippers" and "frumpy laura ashley blouses reeking of stale mothballs" [sic]. In the second, toThe Observer,addressing Cadwalladr's employers as "unobservant dullards" and making reference to Cadwalladr as "gwendalin silverspoongob" [sic], he claimed to be "laughing at the sheer arrogance in documenting such a forgettable meeting" and concluded "you may grace your readers with the meek tones of plum-mouthed middle-Englanders, but don't send them round to my studio I'll make [...] mince meat out of them, ha ha ha."[12]

Art by Adolf Hitler[edit]

In May 2008,White Cubegallery exhibited 13 apparently authenticated watercolours painted byAdolf Hitler,to which the brothers had added hippie motifs.[13]Jake Chapman described most of the dictator's works as "awful landscapes" which they had "prettified".[14]The central device and context of this exhibition were strikingly similar to those of the artist Ira Waldron in her project "Die Damen mit den Hündchen", first exhibited at the Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary art in May 2007.[15]Waldron also entered into an artistic duel with Hitler, seen as a mediocre bohemian artist,[16]by overlaying her motifs and colour on to expanded copies of thirteen of his drawings.[17]

Also included in the Chapmans' 2008 exhibition wasFucking Helland a series of doctored eighteenth and nineteenth century-style aristocratic portraits in oils.[18]

In 2011, in their "Human Rainbow" and "Introspastic" series, the Chapman Brothers produced further works based on the same Hitler drawings ofGeli Raubaland his dogs which had been previously appropriated by Ira Waldron in her 2007 exhibition.

Letter to Culture Secretary[edit]

On 1 October 2010, the brothers were co-signatories to an open letter to the British government's Culture SecretaryJeremy Hunt(feeaturing previous Turner Prize nominees winners) which opposed any future cuts in public funding for the arts.[19]

Personal lives[edit]

Jake Chapman[edit]

Jake married the fashion model Rosemary Ferguson in 2004. They have two children together and live in the Cotswolds.[20][21]

In August 2014 Chapman was quoted as saying that taking children to art galleries is a "total waste of time". The comment caused other notable artists to speak out against Chapman's thoughts.[22]

Dinos Chapman[edit]

Dinos was married to Tiphaine de Lussy; they are now divorced. They have two daughters and lived inSpitalfields,London.[23]

Both brothers are members ofArts Emergency,a British charity working with 16- to 19-year-olds infurther educationfrom diverse backgrounds.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^"'We had a seething disdain for each other': Jake Chapman on splitting from brother Dinos ".TheGuardian.com.11 May 2022.
  2. ^,"UEL Alumni – Arts Showcase".
  3. ^End game. British contemporary art from the Chaney family collection,exhibitionMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston,Yale University Press,New Haven/London 2008, p. 68.
  4. ^"Christie's".Christie's.Retrieved3 December2022.
  5. ^"Christie's".Christie's.Retrieved3 December2022.
  6. ^abcJones, Jonathan.Look What We Did,The Guardian,31 March 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
  7. ^Sumpter, Helen.[1],BBC, 17 April 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
  8. ^abDorment, Richard.Inspired Vandalism,The Telegraph,27 May 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
  9. ^Lynn Barber"How I suffered for art's sake",The Observer,1 October 2006, accessed 3 August 2008.
  10. ^Johann Hari"The art of subverting the Enlightenment"Archived7 February 2007 at theWayback Machine,The Independent,5 February 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2007
  11. ^"Meet the real brothers grim",The Observer,8 October 2006
  12. ^(3 August 2009).Jake Chapman vs. journo Carole Cadwalladr: Battling it out in the mosh pit,Art Design Publicity.Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  13. ^"Hitler gets Chapman treatment as Hell rises from the ashes"The Guardian,30 May 2008, retrieved 25 February 2009
  14. ^Brooks, Richard (25 May 2008)."Tracey Emin puts on erotic show for Royal Academy".The Times.London.Retrieved5 May2010.
  15. ^"Ira Waldron, Die Damen mit den Hűndchen"Tsantsanoglou, Maria, May 2007, Catalogue entry for 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art ", State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece, May 2007, retrieved 3 April 2015.
  16. ^"Салоники – Гетеротопии"Литический, Георгий, 4 июня 2007г, Первая Биеннале Современного Искусства, 21.05–30.09.2007, Информагентство Культура; Litichevsky, Georgy, 4 June 2007, "Thessaloniki – Heterotopias", First Biennale of Contemporary Art, 21.05 – 30 September 2007 ", Informagentstvo Kultura, Gif.ru. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  17. ^"Дамы с собачками, Мультимедийная Инсталляция Иры Вальдрон"21 апреля 2008. Государственный Центр Современного Искусства (ГЦСИ), 22–28 апреля 2008г. Информагентство Культура; Gif.ru. 21 April 2008. "Die Damen mit den Hündchen, multimedia installation by Ira Waldron", National Centre of Contemporary Art, Moscow (NCCA), 22–28 April 2008, Informagentstvo Kultura, Gif.ru. retrieved 24 March 2015.
  18. ^"The art of Adolf Hitler (with a little help from the Chapman brothers)"The Independent,30 May 2008, retrieved 25 February 2009.
  19. ^Peter Walker, "Turner prize winners lead protest against arts cutbacks,"The Guardian,1 October 2010.
  20. ^"All you need to know about Cruz Beckham's girlfriend Bliss Chapman".OK.Retrieved6 June2022.
  21. ^"Artist Jake Chapman enlists star friends to help in search for his missing dog".Evening Standard.Retrieved6 June2022.
  22. ^Tyzack, Anna (4 August 2014)."Jake Chapman: Taking children to galleries is a 'waste of time'".BBC.
  23. ^Danielle Demetriou, "My Home: Dinos Chapman, artist,"The Independent,13 June 2007
  24. ^"Media Diversity UK".E-activist.com. Archived fromthe originalon 23 December 2020.Retrieved25 October2013.

External links[edit]

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