Monster Chetwynd lives in Glasgow, UK. Chetwynd’s practice intertwines performance, sculpture, painting, installation and video. Her work incorporates elements of folk plays, street spectacles, popular culture and Surrealist cinema.
2016 Biennial Year Find out more
Her performances and videos often employ troupes of performers – friends and relatives of the artist – and feature handmade costumes and props. She has performed and exhibited internationally, and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2012.
Since April 2016, Chetwynd has been working through workshops and live performances with 34 children and 44 teenagers from across Liverpool to make the film Dogsy Ma Bone, using the city as a backdrop to the action. Presented at Cains Brewery, the film is inspired by Betty Boop’s A Song A Day (1936), in which Betty sings to exotic animals in a hospital she owns, and Bertolt Brecht’s satirical musical Threepenny Opera (1928). Over Liverpool Biennial’s opening weekend, some parts of the film are being performed live in the space by the children and teenagers themselves.
Solo exhibitions include those at Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK (2014); Studio Voltaire, London, UK (2014); Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy (2014); Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK (2014); and The New Museum, New York, USA (2011-12). She has been involved in numerous group exhibitions such as the Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh, UK (2015); the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Göteborg, Sweden (2013); and ‘Performance Now: The First Decade of the New Century’, various venues, USA (2012-14). Her upcoming group exhibition will be Glasgow International, Glasgow, UK in 2016.
Dogsy Ma Bone, 2016
HD video, 35 mins
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial in partnership with METAL
Exhibited at Cains Brewery
Various character costumes from Dogsy Ma Bone film, 2016
Water based paint, calico, latex, plastic hemispheres, cardboard, thread, textiles
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial in partnership with METAL
Exhibited at Cains Brewery
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Monster Chetwynd, Jesus and Barabbas puppet show, 9 October 2014 at Cricoteka, Kraków. Photo by Jan Smaga. Copyright the artist, courtesy Cricoteka and Sadie Coles HQ, London -
Monster Chetwynd, Listen Up!, 6 September 2014. Performance. Copyright the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London -
Monster Chetwynd, The Idol, 26 March-14 May 2015 at The Abbey Leisure Centre, Barking. Photo: Chairliff, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London -
Monster Chetwynd, Dogsy Ma Bone, 12 June 2016 at Cains Brewery, Liverpool. Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London. Photo: Mark McNulty
Marvin Gaye Chetwynd: Dogsy Ma Bone on Tour
“There’s no better way to get young people excited about exhibitions and art than seeing something that is made by people of a similar age.”
The inaugural Liverpool Biennial touring programme takes Dogsy Ma Bone, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd’s spectacular production made with and for children, to Touchstones Rochdale in Greater Manchester. Originally commissioned for Liverpool Biennial 2016, the film and performance take inspiration from Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera (1928) and Betty Boop’s A Song A Day (1936), with original music and hand-made animal costumes and props. Hear the artist and young performers discuss the making of the piece and visit the free exhibition until 8 July 2017.
Film by Carl Davies, FACT Video Production Services