Vaughan Grylls

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Vaughan Grylls
VG at GX Gallery Nov 2014.jpg
Vaughan Grylls
Born (1943-12-10) 10 December 1943 (age 82)
Newark, Nottinghamshire, England
Alma mater Slade School of Fine Art
Goldsmiths, University of London
OccupationsArtist, author
Known for Sculpture, photography
StyleCollage/joiner photography
Website vaughangrylls.com

Vaughan Grylls is a British artist, photographer, author, and academic administrator. [1] He is known for conceptual and photographic works produced from the late 1960s onwards, especially panoramic photo-collages on historic and contemporary political and social subjects. [2]

Contents

Grylls was the director of Kent Institute of Art & Design before co-founding the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone & Rochester. [3] [4] He has work in various public collections, including the National Library of Wales [5] and University College London. [6]

Initially trained as a sculptor, Grylls began creating photo collages in 1977. [7] Some of his notable panoramic works include the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem (1979), Site of the Assassination of JFK (1980), and Britain Through the Looking Glass (1984). [8] [9] [10] [11]

Additionally, Grylls has authored seven books in the Then and Now series: Oxford Then and Now (2009), Cambridge Then and Now (2011), [12] [13] [14] Singapore Then and Now (2016), [15] Hong Kong Then and Now (2016), [16] Shanghai Then and Now (2017), [17] The Old West Then and Now (2019), [18] London Then and Now (2020), [19] and was photographer for Hollywood Then and Now (2013). [20]

Early life and education

Vaughan Grylls was born 10 December 1943 in Newark-on-Trent. From 1963 onwards, Grylls attended art schools at Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Goldsmiths, University of London, and the Slade School of Fine Art. [21]

Career

In the late 1960s, while attending the Slade School of Fine Art, Grylls gave guided tours of Cambridge to overseas visitors, and after graduating, his first teaching position was at the University of Reading, followed by Homerton College, Cambridge where he taught sculpture. [22]

Pun-sculptures

At Goldsmiths, University of London in 1968, Grylls produced an exhibition of his first photographically based pun-sculptures, each made from cardboard and called collectively 'Ludwig Wittgenstein's Palace of Pun.' [23] He took this with him to the Slade School of Fine Art and continued to make more pun-sculptures. His work was noticed at his final show at the Slade in 1970 by Jasia Reichardt, art critic and assistant director of the ICA. His first London exhibition was held at the ICA in October 1970 as one room in an exhibition entitled 'Ten Sitting Rooms.' [24]

Grylls' pun-sculpture work was also shown at an alternative exhibition space called The Gallery. The Gallery was opened in Lisson St, London in 1972 by fellow Slade graduate Nicholas Wegner. Wegner invited Grylls to show at The Gallery. The work Grylls exhibited in 1973 entitled 'An Indo-Chinese Punsculpture' was a large photo-mural commenting on the signing of the so-called Paris Peace Treaty. Wegner and Grylls then collaborated in an artistic partnership, inspired in part by Andy Warhol, from 1973 to 1975. Wegner closed The Gallery in 1978. [25]

Photography

From 1977, Grylls' style developed into works largely inspired by international news and political events. [26] [27] [28] He used photographic montage techniques to create a collection of images pinned together to produce one large image. [1] In 1977, he travelled to Istanbul and used a telephoto lens to produce his first panoramic photo-collage, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. It was exhibited in 1978 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. [7]

His next photo-collage exhibition was in 1979 called The Wailing (Western) Wall, Jerusalem and in Flanders Fields. [29] Grylls said that his overtly political art tried, in the case of The Wailing (Western) Wall, Jerusalem, to "examine a cultural and religious icon that has had a far-reaching influence on political events today." [11]

In 1980, Grylls created panoramic collages of the sites where President John F. Kennedy on Elm Street and Lord Mountbatten in Donegal Bay were murdered. [29] William Feaver of The Observer referred to Grylls' work as "mixed-media surveys, combining epic scale and humdrum particulars." [29]

In 1984, Grylls' 'Britain Through the Looking Glass', a twenty-eight by eight-foot work of colour Xerox photographs that were taken at the British Museum in London in the "Egyptian Mummy room" was exhibited at the Atlantis Gallery in London. [10] Also, in the same exhibition, were two equally large panoramas, one based on the Greenwich Meridian, the other on Wembley Stadium. [6]

Education

In 1984, Grylls was appointed professor of photography and video at Williams College, Massachusetts. [10] In 1989, Grylls returned to England to become Head of Art & Design at Wolverhampton Polytechnic [30] (later known as the University of Wolverhampton). In 1996, he became director of the Kent Institute of Art & Design. [31] [3]

In 2003, Grylls proposed creating a new university of more than 6,000 students studying art, design, and architecture by merging the Kent Institute with the Surrey Institute of Art & Design to prevent these free-standing art colleges becoming absorbed into their local universities. [32] [4] The merged institution was called the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone & Rochester (since 2009 the University for the Creative Arts). [33] [34] Grylls as founding Chief Executive of the merged institution [35] resigned soon afterwards, announcing that he intended to return full-time to his own work. [36]

In 2018, Bitter Lemon Press published Grylls' autobiographical book, Have You Come Far? A Life in Interviews. [37] [38]

2020s

Just America, exhibited at the Batsford Gallery, London from April 3–28, 2024, brought together works on the subject of the United States made by Grylls between 1973 and 2024. It included Fentanyl Drive (2024), a 20-foot panoramic photo collage on drug addiction in Philadelphia. [39] [40] [41]

Strongmen, exhibited at the Batsford Gallery, London from June 13–22, 2025, brought together works on the subject of authoritarian rule made by Grylls from 1973 to 2025. It included Second Coming (2025), a 26-foot panoramic photo collage depicting the penultimate Donald Trump rally at Warren, Michigan before the 2024 United States presidential election. [42] [43] [44]

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns, Grylls produced a daily video series of short online performances via social media. The videos included piano playing, humour, and Grylls' personal anecdotes. The broadcasts became known as Vaughan's Socks, a reference to the brightly coloured socks that he wore during the performances. [45]

Publications

From 2023 onwards, Grylls, a long-time classic car enthusiast, published a series of illustrated motoring books for Batsford Books. The books cover the history and design of various European car manufacturers.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Solo exhibition from photographer Vaughan Grylls". Photography Monthly. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Holly Williams (29 July 2012). "Artistic retreat: Vaughan Grylls' charming 14th-century haven in Kent" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Professor going back to the drawing board". Kent Online. 6 October 2005. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Merger creates campuses for 6,000 students". Kent Online. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Washington DC [graphic] / Vaughan Grylls." [ dead link ] National Library of Wales. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  6. 1 2 Adrian Woodhouse (12 February 1984). "Using Hundreds of Prints to Produce the really big Picture". The Sunday Telegraph Magazine. London.
  7. 1 2 James Auer (3 November 1985). "Huge collages of small photos bring epic ideas home". Milwaukee Journal.
  8. ↑ William Feaver (11 January 1981). "Art: Vaughan Grylls". The Observer. London.
  9. ↑ Vaughan Grylls (5 February 1982). "Panorama". The British Journal of Photography.
  10. 1 2 3 Lisbet Nilson (June 1985). "Pilgrim at Plymouth Rock". New England Monthly.
  11. 1 2 Jacob Stockinger (28 September 1985). "Fractured Looking Glass Reflects us All". The Capital Times. Madison, WI.
  12. ↑ Grylls, Vaughan; Harrison, Ian (10 May 2009). Oxford Then and Now. London: Batsford. ISBN   978-1-906388-35-5.
  13. ↑ Vaughan Grylls (25 July 2011). Batsford's Cambridge Then and Now. London: Batsford. ISBN   9781849940221.
  14. ↑ Oliver Stroud (29 June 2009). "Travel books: Oxford Then and Now and Wales With Your Family". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Grylls, Vaughan (2016). Singapore Then and Now. Pavilion Books. ISBN   9781910904091.
  16. ↑ Grylls, Vaughan (2016). Hong Kong Then and Now. Pavilion Books. ISBN   9781910904084.
  17. ↑ Grylls, Vaughan (2017). Shanghai Then and Now. Pavilion Books. ISBN   9781911216926.
  18. ↑ Grylls, Vaughan (2019). The Old West, then & now. Pavilion Books. ISBN   978-1-911595-96-0.
  19. ↑ Grylls, Vaughan (2020). London Then and Now. Pavilion Books. ISBN   978-1-911641-39-1.
  20. ↑ Lord, Rosemary (2013). Hollywood: Then & Now. Pavilion Books. ISBN   9781909108394.
  21. ↑ "Vaughan Grylls." Archived 14 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine University of Wolverhampton. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  22. ↑ "Cambridge past and present". Cassone. July 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  23. ↑ "Work: 1960s Ludwig Wittgenstein's Palace of Pun 1968". Vaughan Grylls. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  24. ↑ Reichardt, Jasia. "Ten Sitting Rooms". Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, October 1970
  25. ↑ John A. Walker (2002). "Left Shift: Radical Art in 1970s Britain" (PDF). I.B.Tauris Publishers. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  26. ↑ McManus, Irene. "Visions from the Outer Edge." The Guardian, 4 August 1983.
  27. ↑ Spurling, John. "Arts." The New Statesman, 17 February 1984.
  28. ↑ Holman, Martin. "Vaughan Grylls at Arnolfini, Nicholas Volley at Ian Birksted." Art Scribe, no. 40, April 1983.
  29. 1 2 3 William Feaver (6 February 1983). "Scrambling the Landmarks". The Observer. London.
  30. ↑ Ogden, John, 'Weekend Star', "Express and Star", Wolverhampton, 7 October 1989
  31. ↑ Editorial, "The Times Higher Education Supplement". London, 5 July 1996
  32. ↑ Utley, Alison. "The Times Higher Education Supplement", London, 2 November 2000
  33. ↑ Hodges, Lucy. "The Independent" London. 6 May 2004
  34. ↑ Tysome, Tony. "The Times Higher Education Supplement". London, 7 May 2005
  35. ↑ 'First ever students enroll', UCA News Archive 2 September 2005. www.ucreative.ac.uk
  36. ↑ "Professor going back to the drawing board." Kentish Gazette, 26 October 2005.
  37. ↑ Vaughan Grylls (2020). Have You Come Far? A Life In Interviews. Bitter Lemon Press. ISBN   978-1-9122421-4-6.
  38. ↑ Purves, Libby (2018). "Vaughan Grylls: Have You Come Far?". TLS (Times Literary Supplement) (6036). NI Syndication Limited: 30–31. ISSN   0307-661X . Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  39. ↑ Exhibition catalogue (2024). ISBN 9789694492278. Essay by John Carlin.
  40. ↑ "Just America – Vaughan Grylls". The Batsford Gallery. 3 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  41. ↑ "Vaughan Grylls' Just America". Art Week. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  42. ↑ Exhibition catalogue (2025). ISBN 9781837330492. Essay by Tally De Orellana.
  43. ↑ "STRONGMEN: An Exhibition of Power, Myth, and Afterlife". The Batsford Gallery. 13 June 2025. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  44. ↑ "STRONGMEN – The London Group". The London Group. 2 June 2025. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  45. ↑ Vaughan Grylls YouTube channel archive (Vaughan's Socks).

Further reading

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