User talk:Mcd1974

MIKE CHAVEZ-DAWSON (Nee: Dawson)

Mike Chavez-Dawson graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University, Interactive Arts BA (Hon's) in 1997 and MA (Art as Environment) in 1999. Since then he continues to pursue his art practice whilst undertaking roles such as Curator for Polite Publishing (www.politecards.com), Visual Arts Editor for Flux Magazine (www.fluxmagazine.com), founding curator for Flux Space.

Chavez-Dawson is an interdisciplinary artist, whose varied art practice he deems as ‘performance orientated’, with facilitation and collaboration at the heart of his creative endeavors. His work over the last nine years had employed a company of alter egos (The Gallery Guard, Robin Nature-Bold, The Someone and Robert Cattelan), since his recent solo show ‘The Remarkable Apperception’ at The Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, Chavez-Dawson has chosen to retire his alter ego’s (10/02/08), but as ‘himself’ he continue’s to explore multifarious subjects and issues, such as power relations, systems of belief and fiction-non-fiction. Using complex narratives and cultural layers to research and present his findings. Art for Chavez-Dawson is an ‘Oxymoronic Dilemma’ whereby he seeks to unravel the myth of the artist’s vision against the potential perception of the audiences reading and maintaining the infrastructure and social fabric of culture as his medium.

“Of all the pop-culture icons, seminal texts, artistic practices and invented rituals that Chavez-Dawson folds together, one name leaps out: Andy Kauffman. The late comedian's outre cast of alter-egos - the foul-mouthed club comic Tony Clifton, Kauffman the misogynist inter-gender wrestler and Kauffman the naif, feeding his audience milk and cookies - are not precise matches for Chavez-Dawson's merry band, but the presentation of suspect facts and fleshed-out fictions as two sides of the same coin, true or false according to the inclinations of the audience, is Kauffman to a tee. And, like Kauffman, you'll either find Chavez-Dawson very funny or deeply infuriating. Infuriating because his work shrugs off questions that it is almost always worth asking of art: what does it mean? Is it any good?” Jack Mottram, The Herald, 2008.

His works have included durational performances such as ‘Band(ism)’ a three-year audio art project under his now retired alter ego Robin Nature-Bold, where he infiltrated the local music scene, ‘AUTO TEST PILOT’ a club night as an artwork, which examined the cross over between performance art and alternative ‘in-die’ music. More recent projects include ‘AFTERHOURS’ at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, where he has curated a series of live events based on the changing exhibitions, and ‘TRANS-INFORMER (Alchemic Propositions)’ a series of site related performances, where he has spent time trekking to desolate places in search of man-made items disregarded within the terrain, his interaction with the items are based on small narratives imagined, memory of artworks, films, songs and poems which are visualised for hours at a time.

He's worked on and exhibited both nationally and internationally, recent shows/projects include:

The Whitstable Beinnale '08, THE MIND PROJECTED CINEMA, Whitstable. THE REMARKABLE APPERCEPTION, The Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh. A TEMPORARY MEDIUM (A D.I.Y AUDIO COLLAGE), DELETIA in CABINET MAGAZINE, World Wide Distribution. POLITE LAUNCH EVENT '07 Showcasing: David Shrigley, Bob & Roberta-Smith, Gavin Turk, Shezad Dawood, Duke Garwood and Band(ism), The Cobden Club, London. Auto Test Pilot UK mini tour, The Work Place Gallery, Gateshead, The Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, The Spitz, London and Tiger Lounge Manchester. Gang Show, The Embassy, Edinburgh, Scotland. AWAKE! A CALL FOR REQUESTS, Awakening Unfrequented Spaces, (2006 2008), Deletia, Art Review, September & October 2005. The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow, L.C.C.A at the I.C.A, London. Band(ism), various venues throughout the UK. Auto Test Pilot, Tiger Lounge, Manchester. 'Ritual Bodies', The Walker Gallery, as a part of The Liverpool Biennial 04 'Independents', Liverpool. 'The Ambassadors', Philips Contemporary Art, Manchester. 'Plaza Suite', The Union Gallery, London. 'WE GO ROUND AND ROUND IN THE NIGHT AND ARE CONSUMED BY FIRE' (Curated by Dr Neil Mulholland, Produced by Flux Magazine), Comme Ca NY, New York, USA. 'AT THE END OF THE DAY' at Cornerhouse, as a part of 'artranspennine03', Manchester. 'Thermo03', The Lowry Centre, Salford, Greater Manchester. 'BOOTLEG' Spitzfields Market, 'ESSENTIAL PHENOMENA' VTO gallery, Bethnal Green, London.

He has also gained media coverage in Flash Art, Dazed & Confused, I.D, Arena, [a-n] (Artist Newsletter), The Guardian (G2, The Guide), The Observer (The Month CD-ROM) and The Metro (Northwest Ed).

His work has begun to be collected widely and is included in the collections of Frank Cohen and Tom Bloxham (Urban Splash).

Chavez-Dawson has been a consultant for several commercial galleries. He's become an invaluable cultural broker for the Manchester and Northwest art scene, by both profiling and curating local talent alongside national and international talent. His role as a cultural broker has led him to a new temporary research & development position for MIRIAD (Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design) at Manchester Metropolitan University (www.miriad.mmu.co.uk). A panelist and nominator for PILOT 2, Immediate 2 Site Gallery, Sheffield, Exposure (Experimental Film Section) 04 & 05, Cornerhouse, Manchester