Those Old Chestnuts refers to a fable Glen Hayward has been thinking about which explores the difference between looking at art and ‘seeing it’ - thinking about what and why an artwork has been created, even when it looks like an everyday object.
Battered old boxes carved out of custom-wood represent the artist's interests and the way people organise objects in the world. One inspiration for this work was a pile of old boxes found in a disused section under his flat and the artist's desire to sculpt commonplace everyday objects that would traditionally not have warranted elevation to the sculptural realm.
By doing this the artist is exploring how people react when they discover that what had seemed like a pile of old boxes turns out to be perfectly rendered carved sculptures.
Download
→ Glen Hayward: Those Old Chestnuts, 2002, publication
Ephemera
→ Glen Hayward: Those Old Chestnuts, 2002, exhibition card
→ Glen Hayward: Those Old Chestnuts, 2002, exhibition pamphlet