Scrawl light (detail), etched silvered glass and copper
Scrawl light, etched silvered glass and copper with aluminum bracket, 30cm x 30cm
Scrawl light, etched silvered glass and copper, 70cm x 20cm
Colin Chetwood
Colin Chetwood first studied Fine Art at the Slade where he won the Coldstream Drawing Prize; he went on to do various part-time courses at the Wessex Guild of Blacksmithing and more recently, in 2004, he spent a year at Cardiff University on a postgraduate fine art course. Mark-making has always held a fascination for him, from time spent drawing the human figure to sketches made for designing forged metal furniture and gates. Now combining mark-making with light, he has arrived at a series of gestural pieces that he hopes will stir the emotions as well as provide functional illumination.
This series of work grew out of a collaboration with Nick Grant to provide lighting for the new offices of architecture practice Architype, which received the 2007 RIBA prize for sustainable architecture. Nick's background in engineering and sustainable building design provided the practical knowledge of how to illuminate a large office space efficiently using energy-saving technology, while Colin found ways of translating this into spectacular lighting by etching gestural lines on to mirrors.
Influenced by Cy Twombly's early white-on-black, graffitti-like canvases, I have returned to the root of drawing, focusing on the movement of the hand to express meaning. By shining light through these etched lines, I restore the original energy of the gesture and hope to transform the humble scribble into something extra-ordinary.
Colin Chetwood, 2008