Michael Chaikin

It was while he was living in Brighton as a doc. that one of his lodgers - an art student - left open a book about Marcel Duchamp - a true nutter but a genius and an unconventional artist who was obviously just having fun, taking the piss and doing whatever he felt like to challenged the art world (and making some really good art along the way)
Chaikin had always worked in clay as a hobby, even during medical school, but he suddenly realised that art can be absolutely anything you want it to be - funny, outrageous, mechanical, mad, beautiful. This was a revelation which opened up a whole new world to him and one which he fell in love with.
The art he wanted to see was mad, crazy, mechanical but also moving and beautiful and really well made as if, dare I say it, by a craftsman!
Fortunately, his sculptures look cronky enough for the brilliant engineering that underpins all his work to pass unnoticed.
Michael Chaikin was born in 1957 studied Medicine and was a hospital doctor for a while before falling in love with Sculpture. He then studied Foundation Studies at Eastbourne Art College, East Sussex, UK in 1986 then Fine Art at Falmouth Art College, Cornwall, UK (1987 - 1990) where he obtained an honours degree in Fine Art.
He taught sculpture at Hawkesbay University, New Zealand and then Joined Red Herring Studios in Brighton as a working sculptor. Exhibited in London, Brighton, Hamburg, Paris with numerous one man shows. He has showscurrently in London, Dubai, Chicago and Qatar.
Currently he has a 50 ft window display in Covent Garden, London.
He lived and worked in Brighton until 1999 then moved to Falmouth, Cornwall, UK to start his own studio complex in a derelict water mill which he renovated and turned into eight studios keeping the largest for himself.
Michael then went on to work with The Eden Project and a number of Theatre Companies making moving sculptures.
Movement is his great obsession. Most of the things he makes move in some way and it is his life’s work to strive to make sculptures that look beautiful when they are still and spectacular when they move.
Michael lives and works in Penzance, Cornwall, UK with his wife and two daughters.

contact info:
Email: garyboulton1971@gmail.com

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Michael Chaikin

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