Given the chance, Bored Panda reached out to Alex with some questions about his work! Reflecting on how he selects locations for his installations, Chinneck explained, “My first public artworks were self-facilitated. I had an idea, for example, to create a sliding house and then I set about finding the right building and situation to realize it. In that case, it was a derelict building in the seaside town of Margate that was going through a major process of regeneration. The building was owned by the local council who had plans to demolish it and replace it with social housing, which created a window of opportunity for me to do something creative with it first. Since then, I’ve received invitations from museums, developers, brands, and festivals who are seeking artworks for particular sites, so often the setting is presented to me. In those cases, the creative process is reversed and it becomes about finding the right creative response to the context. The location plays a decisive role in the conception of my public artworks, and there is always an important relationship between the two. I try to create sculptural illusions that are born from and feel belonging to their setting. Contextual integration heightens their believability. You can always feel the difference between a public artwork that is considerately placed and one that is plonked.”
Alex's creative process begins with concept exploration and sketching, followed by an intricate collaboration with his long-time engineer, Simon Smith, and a skilled team of fabricators and collaborators. He shared, “The first step for me in any project is a period of concept exploration and sketching. We then develop the drawings into digital models that help me refine each design and communicate them to others. Then I call my engineer, Simon Smith. We have been collaborating for over a decade now and I place an enormous amount of trust in his judgment. Simon’s feedback typically informs the evolution of the massing of the sculpture and its materiality. Refinement continues for months while we submit planning applications, draft contracts, plan logistics, identify and collaborate with fabrication partners, and occasionally raise funds. My studio oversees the entire project, working very closely with a broad team of brilliant collaborators. The larger projects are 5% creative and 95% technical and administrative execution. We take long, complex, and at times stressful paths to reach playful and hopefully uplifting visual moments.”
When discussing memorable reactions to his work, Chinneck recalled an early piece and how it influenced his approach to accessibility in art. “One of my first sculptures was for my final show at Chelsea College of Art. I made an interactive, kinetic, minimalist sculpture called Donald and the Judds. I remember a child interacting with the sculpture and then starting to cry when her mother took her away. I thought that was an incredible reaction and I’ve since tried to integrate accessibility in my work. I like to make sculptures, particularly in the public realm, that can be visited, understood, and enjoyed by any onlooker irrespective of their age or background. Conceptual accessibility sometimes feels like a crime in the art world, but it feels important within my practice and comes naturally to me. My favorite reactions are when people don’t realize that I’m the artist responsible, which is often the case. Those responses, positive or negative, are refreshingly unedited and honest. The spectrum of responses when working in the public realm is so broad; I can't allow compliments or criticisms to inform my perception of each sculpture’s success. The right response to a setting isn’t always the approach that receives the most attention and celebration—some sculptures need time to bed in with people and place.”
Balancing the engineering challenges of his projects with his artistic vision is no small feat, as Alex admitted to us: “This is my constant battle. If the illusion that I’m seeking to create is going to work, then it has to look effortless. That almost always means hiding a tonne of engineering and technical complexity behind a seemingly simple sculptural form. You have to be prepared to fight for it and apply an obsessive level of focus to detail, quality, and execution. It’s one battle after another, but the greatest illusion in sculpture is that of ease.”
On the idea of collaboration, Chinneck reflected, “My projects involve constant collaboration, with engineers, fabricators, photographers, filmmakers, commissioners, and communities. Despite that, it’s fair to say that I have quite a singular vision for my work and a strong creative identity. While my projects are highly collaborative, my art isn’t really, so I suppose I’m drawn to collaborate with practitioners from other disciplines. I’d really like to design an entire street, from the houses to the lamp posts, so I guess someone that could help facilitate that.”
