Clinton De Menezes

PricewaterhouseCoopers commission

2011-11-30T00:09:00.000Z

In the last few months my time has been consumed by the PwC commission I am currently working on.
I have included some images of the work in progress and the the press release.
Install date: 7 January 2012

CLINTON DE MENEZES NEW INSTALLATION FOR PwC

Artist Clinton De Menezes’s proposal has been selected for the Abbot’s Lane entrance to PwC’s flagship new building, 7 More London Riverside. Staff and partners were invited earlier in the summer to vote for

one of three short-listed maquettes. Clinton’s winning commission will be installed in the alcove in the

foyer early in 2012.

Entitled World Map, Clinton’s proposal was born out of his ongoing investigation into global trading and

migration in the 21st century and an interest in the dynamics of the individual and the collective. The

work references how the individual is the building block for the collective, and how the collective creates

the communities, countries and continents that constitute the world map. It also suggests how the

collective, through communication, interaction, teamwork and leadership, can create excellence, reflectingvalues that are so important to PwC.

The work, spanning almost 9 metres, will take the form of an aerial ‘landscape’ that has been digitally

manipulated and loosely redrawn to reference the world map. It will consist of three canvas panels

worked up using textured plaster, gesso and white oil paint as a base, with the ‘land-masses’ formed using 6,000 model figures to reflect the number of staff working in the building. The figures will stand proud from the picture plane, and will either be covered in the same colour as the ground, or will be painted meticulously in colour to ‘pop’ visually from the surface. The general movement of the figures will be from left to right, mirroring the flow of people from the Abbot’s Lane entrance to the central atrium. The three canvasses will each sit in a bespoke Perspex box, commissioned from specialist firm, John Jones.

Lighting will play a significant role, allowing dramatic shadows to be cast by the figures onto the white

textured ground. The play between the changing ambient light and spotlights during the working day will project constantly varying shadows from the figures, which will increase in density and movement across the panels.

Clinton De Menezes, born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1970, was awarded an MA in Fine Art from the Durban Institute of Technology in 2004. On graduating, he founded Alchemy Studios, to fabricate artwork for private and public spaces, and in 2007 he moved to the UK to market his company more fully. He has lectured in painting, drawing and history of art, and co-founded the Art and Sculpture Studio and ArtSpace Durban, co-coordinating and facilitating classes for adult learners. He was curator of The Cupboard Gallery and a member of Durban’s acclaimed Red Eye Art Collective. His work is in public, private and corporate collections internationally. In 2010 he was invited to install his signature work, Procession (Exodus), on long-term loan in the Contemporary Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

For more information:

Artist: Clinton de Menezes info@clintondemenezes.com www.clintondemenezes.com

Project managers: Dickson Russell Art Management dickson.russell@ntlworld.com www.dicksonrussell.co.uk

Vessel Plymouth

2011-09-26T11:30:00.000+01:00

I have been invited to install a work on VESSEL, an official fringe show of the British Art Show 7 In Plymouth, UK.

Link here VESSEL for more info.

The official press release:

22ndSeptember – 30th October

CURATED BYCARL SLATER & GLEN JOHNSTON

ARTISTS:

ELENA BAJO /BILL BALASKAS / SIMONA BRINKMANN / BEN COVE / BLUE CURRY / INEZ DE COO /

CLINTON DEMENEZES / RUPERT GRIFFITHS / GRAHAM GUSSIN / SIMON LE RUEZ / TOM LOVELACE /

PETER MATTHEWS/ MARTHA ROSLER / URI SHAPIRA / KATE TERRY / VESTANDPAGE / JAE YEON CHUNG

Sited withina disused industrial space in Stonehouse, Plymouth, Vessel is a gathering ofcontemporary artworks showcasing the work of seventeen international artiststhat focuses on the particulars of their postindustrial location in itsphysical, socio-cultural and economic contexts. Placed between the logic of thebuilding’s architecture and the city’s rich history, this is an exhibition thatinvestigates site-specificity and the means to artistic intervention. Acting asfootnotes against the backdrop of Plymouth, Vessel reveals itself as a temporal

structure ina display in memory of the site and a reflective commentary of the area’shistorical value and contemporary redevelopment.

Housingworks of installation, film, performance, photography and sculpture, it is notthe architecture that forms the focus, but the ambiguous authority of the workswithin it. The understanding of the temporal and dynamic character ofStonehouse’s landscape and the expectations of the site itself is paramount tothe reception of these works. The commissioning of this derelict space is wherethe vessel is the ship, the carrier and a container of function and delivery.

Since theSecond World War, the decline of industrial production and the successiveprocess of abandonment had rapidly affected the immediate fabric of thesurrounding communities. Due for demolition, the remaining industrialstructures on George Place can be seen as symbols of a better past and thereminder of an uncertain future, whilst the building’s interior shell offers asense of freedom, providing both an exhibition space and the fragmentedevidence of its industrious history. No longer is the area marginal toprosperous trade, or the ruins frombomb damage, but is instead a focus of architectural and social redevelopment.Like the exhibition space itself, it has become a site of interest throughlayering of artistic placement and construction, hinting at more fundamentalquestions of human existence and interrelations with changing urbanenvironments.

DuringVessel, Plymouth is hosting an influx of contemporary art, not only as anobservation of the city's cultural progression but also of its potential torevert back to active and successful design. Each artist has a particular inputinto the overall visual description of the site and for this brief moment willbe accommodating the space with

a variety ofpresentations including fortifications, detritus reconfigurations, conversationsof architecture, scenes of war, pillar inscriptions and the journeys ofUlysses. Unbound by the confines of art markets and clinical white spaces, theworks are all significant to the site and act as a temporal state for personalreflection and contemplation. The exhibition addresses the thought processesand shifting concepts of postmodernist values in contemporary art and suggestsa particular method of site-specific study into the impending condition of

developingurban infrastructure.

Exhibitionruns from 22nd September – 30th October

OpenThursdays till Sundays 10am – 5pm or by appointment only.

WWW.VESSEL2011.COM/ 22 George Place, Stonehouse, Plymouth, PL13NZ, UK

Vessel isSupported by:

PlymouthCity Council, Drew & Co, ArtsMatrix, Millfields Trust, RIO (Real IdeasOrganisation), Nom De Strip, Fotonow, Fire

Safety Matters SouthWest, Keylock, i-DAT, Foto+

Landscape of Change

2011-08-04T08:23:00.005+01:00

We are trying to raise funds to support this show. Please take a look. Great perks for your donations.
Wefund: Landscape of Change

The press release and info can be found here:
Landscape of Change

Passage Series: Container, 2010

BHVU Gallery
Private view: 26 August 6.30pm - 9.00pm
Exhibition run: 27 August - 18 September

PricewaterhouseCoopers

2011-08-03T22:52:00.000+01:00

I have recently been notified that I have won the tender for a major commission for the new offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers designed by Norman Foster. Below are some detail images of the maquette for the commission.

The completed artwork will be a triptych consisting of around 6000 figures, Scale 1:43, arranged in the shape of a world map. The work will be 200 cm x 900 cm in total and sit in the main entrance hall to the More London offices. The images here represent the third panel, the East section of the map consisting of Asia, Australia and the Pacific.