Artist Alex Chinneck’s playful intervention enlivens a west London facade
Artist Alex Chinneck has completed his first large-scale permanent work, ‘Six pins and half a dozen needles’, which playfully modifies the facade of Assembly London, a major mixed-use development of four buildings on Fulham Palace Road in West London.
Commissioned by AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, the work is intended to lend a quirky, ‘creative’ identity to the complex of offices, retail units and restaurants, but makes reference to the site’s former use as a publisher’s headquarters by resembling a torn sheet of paper – albeit 20 metres tall and rendered in heavyweight masonry.
Constructed from 4,000 bricks and over 1,000 stainless steel components, and weighing 10 tonnes, the installation required a 14-month collaboration between the artist, engineer Smith & Wallwork, steelwork fabricator ASME, contractor Collins and brickmaker Ibstock.
The project continues to develop the surreal architectural themes of Chinneck’s earlier large-scale public works, which have included a 35-metre-high inverted electricity pylon, a melting house constructed from 7,500 wax bricks, a ‘hovering’ stone building for London’s Covent Garden Piazza, and the brick facade of a Margate terrace house that appeared to be sliding down the face of the building.
“The work was conceived to engage people in a fun and uplifting way”, says Chinneck. “Although we use real brick, it was designed with a cartoon-like quality to give the sculpture an endearing artifice and playful personality. I set out to create accessible artworks and I sincerely hope this becomes a popular landmark for London and positive experience for Londoners.”
Earlier works by Alex Chinneck
