A Pound of Flesh for 50p | |
---|---|
Artist | Alex Chinneck |
Year | 2014 |
Type | Sculpture |
Medium | Paraffin wax |
Subject | House |
Location | London, United Kingdom |
51°30′17″N0°05′37″W / 51.5046°N 0.0936°W | |
Website | alexchinneck |
A Pound of Flesh for 50p, also known as Melting House, was a temporary outdoor sculpture by artist Alex Chinneck, located in London, England. Part of the city's Merge Festival, the two-storey house sculpture was constructed from 8,000 paraffin wax bricks and it was designed to melt with assistance from a heating apparatus over the course of the installation. [1] It was displayed from 26 September to 18 November 2014, at 40 Southwark Street, SE1 9HP, [2] the structure's roof being gradually lowered as the wax melted. After it had been reduced to "a pile of hardened goo", the sculpture was removed. [3]
Paraffin wax is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins to melt above approximately 37 °C (99 °F), and its boiling point is above 370 °C (698 °F). Common applications for paraffin wax include lubrication, electrical insulation, and candles; dyed paraffin wax can be made into crayons. It is not to be confused with kerosene and other petroleum products that are sometimes called paraffin.
Camberwell is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, 2+3⁄4 miles southeast of Charing Cross.
The London Borough of Southwark in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council.
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843.
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Lost-wax casting – also called investment casting, precision casting, or cire perdue – is the process by which a duplicate sculpture is cast from an original sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method.
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime.
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Urs Fischer is a Swiss-born contemporary visual artist living in New York City and Los Angeles. Fischer’s practice includes sculpture, installation, photography, and digitally-mediated images.
Pound of Flesh may refer to:
The year 2014 in art involves various significant events.
Alex Chinneck MRSS is a British sculptor known for creating temporary public artworks.
Andrea Hasler is from Zürich, Switzerland and crates sculptures that look like they were made with meat.
From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes was a sculpture and public art installation by the artist Alex Chinneck that existed in Cliftonville, Margate, from 2013 to 2014. The house was vacant for eleven years prior to Chinneck's project, and was subsequently restored as housing. The installation created the appearance that the building's facade had slipped down and was built at a cost of £100,000 with materials donated by British industry members who collaborated on the project.
Shut Up and Eat was a sandwich shop in Portland, Oregon. The business was established as a food cart in 2010 by John Fimmano and Glenn Hollenbeck, and later became a brick and mortar operation in 2012. Shut Up and Eat garnered a positive reception before closing in 2019.