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18.5. – 27.7.2019
Monster ChetwyndHell Mouth 3
&
Monster Chetwynd Presents:The Decline of Western Civilisation
I–III
Directed by Penelope Spheeris
Eastside Projects + Home of Metal
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The world is understood through music. All meaning comes to us
through Heavy Metal. We can take control of the monsters of the
hell mouth to create our own meaning and form new myths. Fragments
of songs and half-remembered performances form constantly
re-imagined futures and new social aspirations.
Monster Chetwynd’s Hell Mouth 3 channels the decline of Western
Civilisation and legacies of Heavy Metal through the mouth to hell
of a 16th century engraving of a human devouring monster.
Chetwynd’s ‘monster’ will hold the future of metal, Birmingham and
humanity in it’s mouth as bands play for their lives within the
maelstrom of history and the failure of current society to support
and empower the once and future workers of the hell mouth of
industrial Britain.
Chetwynd’s fascination with Penelope Spheeri’s three part film
series The Decline of Western Civilisation I–III from 1981 to 1998,
featuring many of the ‘most influential and innovative musicians
and groups of all time’, has informed many of her works over the
past decade and screenings support this large scale sculptural and
performative spectacle set in the industrial space and area of
Eastside Projects and Digbeth at the heart of Birmingham.
Monster Chetwynd (previously known as Spartacus Chetwynd and
Marvin Gaye Chetwynd) is a British artist based in Glasgow, known
for reworkings of iconic moments from cultural history in
elaborate, compulsive and evocative performances. Chetwynd’s
practice intertwines performance, sculpture, painting, installation
and video. Her work incorporates elements of folk plays, street
spectacles, popular culture, from Heavy Metal music and Star Wars
to Berthold Brecht’s Three Penny Opera, and surrealist cinema. Her
performances and videos often employ troupes of performers,
including friends and relatives of the artist, and feature handmade
costumes and props. In 2012, she was nominated for the Turner
Prize.
Hell Mouth 3Monster Chetwynd
Eastside Projects86 Heath Mill LaneBirmingham, B9 4AR
[email protected]+44 (0)121 771 1778 During exhibitions
our gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday, 12–5pm
Very Heavy LaunchFriday 17 May, 6–9pm (Performance and bands
from 7pm)
Live bands: Chlamydia the Band & and Moving Plates.
Supersonic FestivalSaturday 20 July and Sunday 21
July(Supersonic tickets only)
12.30–2pm Doom Yoga (booking required)
4.30–8pm Live Bands: VÄLVĒ, Apostille, Victim, Water, Paddysteer
and Guttersnipe.
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Monster Chetwynd presents:The Decline of Western Civilisation
I–III
Directed by Penelope Spheeris
Home of Metal
A key influence on the practice of Monster Chetwynd, The Decline
of Western Civilisation I–III is a labour of love over two decades
by Hollywood director Penelope Spheeris. The Decline of Western
Civilisation I–III charts the sub-cultural behaviours of heavy
metal, punk, glam metal, hard core, and gutter punk from 1980 to
1988 in Los Angeles.
The films form a trilogy by Spheeris, depicting music scenes in
Los Angeles during the late 20th century offering a look into a
subculture that was largely ignored by the rock music press of the
time. Bands included are Black Flag, the Germs, X, Alice Bag Band,
the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, and Fear with footage and
interviews of legendary metalbands such as Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne,
Aerosmith, Megadeth and Motorhead.
Penelope Spheeris is an American film director, producer and
screenwriter who is best known as the director of Wayne’s World —
her highest-grossing film. The Decline of Western Civilisation
(1981) was her first documentary film which she followed up with
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II : The Metal Years
(1988) , this time about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene. She
later returned to the streets of Los Angeles and the punk rock
scene in 1998 for the documentary The Decline of Western
Civilization Part III . In part I , Spheeris haunted the city’s
sleazy punk dives gathering what has become a priceless time
capsule of the nihilistic, sometimes violent, scene that would
later inspire the hardcore and grunge boom captured in Part
III.
Some see the second Decline rockumentary as a comedy classic,
though that was not Spheeris’ intention. Ironically, Spheeris had
previously declined the chance to direct This is Spinal Tap: “I
feel stupid for turning down Spinal Tap , but I didn’t do it
because I didn’t want to make fun of heavy metal,” she says. “I
respected the music at the time. But I really think the key word
for my films is sociological. I’ve always been a music fan, but
really the human behaviour aspect is important to me. That’s what I
love. The music is important, but it’s really an excuse to see how
human beings behave.”
To watch the films you need to enter into our Second Gallery
through an earlier Hell Mouth sculpture by Chetwynd and we have a
lounge set up in the space utilizing the flooring by Freya Dooley
along with comfy seating to spend a few hours watching the
trilogy.
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Monster Chetwynd’s Bat Opera (Heavy Metal) Print Portfolio
presents eight new images adapted from her ongoing Bat Opera series
of paintings. This is a rare chance to own a substantial artwork by
the Turner Prize nominated artist at a special price as a
fundraiser for Eastside Projects.
Combining the delicate, sensitive paintings of what the artist
describes as ‘unworthy subject matter’ with the graphic approach of
Heavy Metal imagery, Chetwynd’s bats link her story telling and
performative processes with the metal genre’s use of heavy
distortion and dark depressing subject matter. The artist sees her
bats as anti-heroes, channelling Heavy Metal’s working class
expression of industrial control through the occult threatening of
traditional values, set against the backdrop of her new exhibition
Hell Mouth 3 and Home of Metal’s celebration of Black Sabbath’s
50th Anniversary and the legacies of Heavy Metal.
The eight prints are silk screened in 3 colours on mirrored
silver polychrome card and are presented in a black portfolio box
with signed and numbered sticker in an edition of 50.
Along with the Metal influences and legends, such as Ozzy
Osbourne’s infamous biting the head off a bat on stage in the early
1980s, Chetwynd’s series of beautiful miniature paintings depict
different species of bats in varying settings and groupings and are
inspired by the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, Constable’s cloud
studies, and zoological staged photography.
Chetwynd explains her fascination with bats: “They pollinate at
night, they have radar, they are mammals with wings and, of course,
they have the stigma of evil. They are perfect as unworthy subject
matter. Early on I had a quick recognition that I could use them as
comic anti-heroes. That classic tension in painting between
repulsion and attraction… Within painting discourse this can be
dubbed simplistic, but for me, this makes them great subject matter
— intriguing, repulsive, yet anthropomorphic qualities and, again,
a history of being associated with evil.”
Eastside Projects 10th Anniversary Artist’s Print Portfolio
Edition of 50Box set of 8 prints, each 26 × 34 cmSpecial Price:
£500 (£1500 after 27 July 2019)
To order one of the editions email [email protected].
Instalment plans are possible if required.
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1.Monster Chetwynd Hell Mouth 3, 20195 × 5 × 7.5mPaint, latex,
paper, fabric, foam, wicker, timber, glue, fixings.
2.Monster Chetwynd Hell Mouth 3 Wallpaper, 20195 × 13.6m 4.2 ×
4.98m 4.3 × 3.33mDigital prints on paper, tape, nails.
3.Penelope Spheeris The Decline of Western Civilisation
I–IIIPart I, 1981: 100 minsPart II, 1988: 93 minsPart III, 1998: 86
mins(Screening on demand between 12 and 5pm, Wed to Sat)
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