Mike Chavez-Dawson

Artist statement

Mike Chavez-Dawson is an artist curator based at Rogue Artists Studios, Manchester, UK. He curated and instigated the critically acclaimed shows ‘Unrealised Potential’ and more recently the David Shrigley solo show titled ‘HOW ARE YOU FEELING?’ for the Cornerhouse, (2012-2013).

“My art practice is interdisciplinary and research led, framed by an exploration into revealing the ‘myth’ of the artist’s vision against the audience reading. I intend to expand and challenge an audiences experience whilst offering alternative bridges and means for interpretation; this is usually through multi-part works that sit between ‘performance’ and ‘curation’. However, it is the continual habit of cross-referencing seemingly opposing disciplines, narrative structures and interpretative motifs that invigorate my work - as this often retains a critical opening in order to make transparent ideological conditioning for a non-didactic ‘creative frequency’.”
MCD, 2013

Chavez-Dawson work's crosses an interesting path of disciplines, such as fine art & design, performance, music, curating and publishing. To date he's ran a gallery in a publication, utilised alter egos as living portraits, ran a club night as an artwork, formed a band to explore the relationship between visual presentation and its audio, interviewed deceased artists & cultural figures through spiritual mediums, created a cinema using hypnotism, represented artists unrealised ideas as contractual certificates and gave gallery tour's as estate agents, crime solving detectives and revolutionaries.

He has exhibited and performed at TATE Britain, Barbican, ICA, Cornerhouse, The Whitworth Art Gallery, British Art Show 7 at Nottingham Contemporary and The Whitstable Biennale (2008). He has also had international shows/projects in Rome, New York, Sans Francisco, Lisbon, Seoul, Helsinki and Dresden.

Qualifications and training

2012 PhD by Practice, MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
1999 Art As Environment, Manchester School of Art, MIRIAD, Manchester
1997 Interactive Arts, Manchester School of Art, Manchester
1994 Art & Design Foundation, Camberwell Art College, London

Employment

2005 Art Publisher & Curator, POLITE Company, Bollington, Cheshire
1996 Visual Arts Editor & FLUX SPACE Curator, FLUX Magazine, Manchester

Solo exhibitions

2014 SoLoCO [Play Ground Docu Part 1], Yang-sun Contemporary Art (New Space), Korea
2010 'Apophatic Pareidolia is a condition...', BEARSPACE, London
2008 'The Remarkable Apperception, (The Market Place Requires Heykll & Jybe)', Embassy, Edinburgh, Scotland
2003 'Essential Phenomena, (Lavish Conviction, Part 2)', VTO, London

Group exhibitions

2013 School of Arts VOL. III, HfBK Dresden Academy of Art, Dresden, Germany
2012 Austerity Xmas BOGOF, WW Gallery, Hackney, London
2012 'SIXTY DRAWINGS', BANKLEY Studios & Gallery, Manchester
2012 PARAPHRASE, Contemporary Six [Courtesy of Tony Attard & Introductory Talk by Dr. Mark Turner], Manchester
2011 Enter a Small Room Arranged for this Purpose: Part Two, Project Space Leeds, Leeds
2011 MEMORY FLASH, Carter Presents..., London
2011 The Production of Curation, Rogue Project Space, Manchester
2011 Re-Covering, Untitled Gallery, Manchester
2011 ‘WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER', Bureau, Manchester
2011 Unrealised Potential, VOID Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland
2010 Unrealised Potential, NGCA, Sunderland
2010 Unrealised Potential, Cornerhouse, Manchester
2010 A Narrative of Montage, Changing Room Gallery, Stirling, Scotland
2010 This Is England, National University Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2009 Involved Socially, (This & That Curated by Christine Wong Yap), Triple Base Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
2007 Manky Bastards (Curated by Michael Farqhuar), The Fridge Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland

Curated projects

2012 David Shrigley solo project 'HOW ARE YOU FEELING?', Cornerhouse, Manchester
2011 Magda Archer: Crazy Mad, Cornerhouse, Manchester
2011 Re-Covering and The Reading, Untitled Gallery, Manchester
2010 Unrealised Potential, Cornerhouse, Manchester
2009 The Kiss of a Lifetime (Part 2), VANE (As part of the Northern Print Biennale), Newcastle

Live/Performance

2012 'Re-Carrying The Frame, Part 1', Cornerhouse, MIRIAD, International 3, Malgras Nudet, Rogue Project Space, Castlefiled Gallery, LDP, Manchester, UK
2012 'Reworked' [Live Drawing Performance], Contemporary Six - The Gallery, Manchester
2012 'Inter-Textual-Ventions Part 5' for EXHIBITION, Kraak Gallery, Manchester
2011 'Inter-Textual-Ventions Part 2' and 'Post-Medium Postulation', Leeds Project Space, Leeds, UK
2011 'Notational Portrait(s) Performance Fig.1 Billy Childish, 18032011', Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
2010 The Night of the Comet (Live Event), British Art Show 7, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham
2010 Re-Motive View(s), The Surreal House, Barbican Art Gallery, London
2009 Title Murdered, Storey Gallery, Lancaster
2009 'Selling the Psycho-Geographical Breakdown', Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
2009 'A bANdA dA' (Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009, Shezad Dawood Selects for Late at Tate Britain), TATE Britain, London
2008 The Mind Projected Cinema, Whitstable Biennale, Whitstable, Kent
2007 Mr. Nature-Bold as The Mariachi (Feature - Shezad Dawood), Wysing Art Centre, Cambridge

Intervention

2009 'ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION (THE ALCHEMIC MISERS TOUCH)', London Art Fair 2009, Business Design Centre, London

Artist talks

2012 Placing the Artist: Questioning the value of artist residencies, Chinese Art Centre, Manchester
2011 'Inter-Textual-Ventions Part 1', Islington Mill, Salford

Residencies

2012 Lionel Dobie Project Residency, LDP, Manchester
2009 AA2A, Manchester School of Art, Manchester
2008 Artists Residency, Embassy, Edinburgh, Scotland

Public commissions

2013 'The Specter of Derrida' for 'Rule of 3', Islington Mill, Salford, UK

Corporate commissions

2009 50 Years of Ellesse (Pentland Group), Chiostro, Rome, Italy

Competitions, prizes and awards

2013 Judge for neo:artprize 2013, neo:, Bolton
2008 Open Submission, Whitstable Biennale '08, Whitstable, Kent

Site specific

2011 'The Christmas Office Party', Ahmed & Carpenter, Office Studio, Rogue Artists Studios, Manchester

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