Love and Protest, 2011 (Detail)

Love and Protest, 2011
In these times of peaceful protest in the face of armed repression, a protester and soldier kiss.

UC Davis Protest, 2011
I find it disturbing when people in positions of power abuse it and lose any sense of humanity. I was shocked to see the footage of the pepper spraying of people sitting in a peaceful protest at UC Davis. I felt a need to capture this incident in time.

Photograph: Wayne Tilcock/AP

Captured, 2011
CCTV cameras and three people photographing and videoing. Everyone is capturing everyone.

Comfortably Oblivious, 2011
Here two people fail to give up their seat to an elderly woman with walking stick and bags walking round and round.

The Beautiful Game, 2011
A footballer holds aloft a trophy in the form of a pound symbol (£) as three prospective WAGs fight for his attention.

Love and Protest, UC Davis Protest and Captured are on display at La Scatola Gallery until the 10th of January.
Comfortably Oblivious and The Beautiful Game are on display along with The Sitting Man and Unrequited Handshake at Phillips de Pury until 31 January 2012.

For larger images visit my project website page here
You can see the earlier watch sculptures here

To mark the 10th anniversary of the War Bowl I have created two new limited edition versions. The red Battle of Waterloo bowl is made with melted British Artillery and French Infantry figures. The black English Civil War bowl uses Royalists and Republican figures.

The War Bowls, together with limited edition prints of my invention drawings and anti-theft rust bike stickers are available online here here .

The War Bowls are also available over christmas at

Phillips de Pury, 45-47 Brook Street at Claridge’s, London, info here

and

The Temporium, 65 Monmouth Street,
Seven Dials, Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9DG
see info here

The War Bowl is hand made in small numbers, each bowl is stamped on the base by me with the date.
Each bowl is unique due to it’s hand made nature and comes with a loose set of the soldiers that were used in it’s creation.
The new red and black bowls are limited to an edition of 250 each.

The watch sculptures will be exhibited at Dezeen Space in Shoreditch, London from 17 September to 16 October.
54 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3QN.
more pictures and info on my other site dominicwilcox.com

London Looter: I had to walk across Mare st in Hackney to get home during the riots. I remember seeing a boy carrying a lcd tv down a back st. I noticed how the police seemed unsure how to react, holding their circular shields while the boy held a rectangular tv.

Adventures of a young vegetarian : a small girl attempts to stop a butcher chopping up a pig by hanging on his arm while the pig floats away.

The Sitting man: A man sits for a moment.

Hide ‘n’ seek

Watch sweeper: the numbers and hands are swept away on the second hand.

A man so engrossed in his iphone that he fails to notice a monkey balancing on the head of a weightlifting boy on the arm of an elderly roller skater.

One man stands with arms folded while another moves around in continual hope that his hand will be shook.

This photograph was taken by photographer Joe McGorty for an article about me in this month’s 100th edition of icon magazine. Since my studio can be anywhere, I decided to make a Tree Branch Work Desk to enable me to think up a tree with a cup of tea and pencils at hand. We decided to document the making of the desk as seen in the animation put together by Joe.

Photograph of Dominic Wilcox copyright Joe McGorty

I am happy to say my gloves cast from my own hands are in the excellent exhibition ‘The Power of Making’ at London’s V&A museum.

“Power of Making celebrates the role of making in our lives by presenting an eclectic selection of over 100 exquisitely crafted objects. The exhibition is a cabinet of curiosities showing works by both amateurs and leading makers from around the world, presenting a range of skills with imaginative and spectacular results.” Curated by Daniel Charny

KKoutlet recently approached me to take part in their exhibition ‘Object Abuse’. The challenge was to ‘take an everyday object, remould, rebuild and repurpose it to create an entirely new item, using as little additional materials as possible.’

One day I was walking through an art shop and looked at the brushes. They seemed pleasant objects so I decided to come up with something using one of them. I remembered how I used to forget to wash paint brushes after using them and then would find them hard and unusable the next day. After quite a few trials and mistakes I managed to make something useful, a coat hook. Handily there is a hole at the top of the handle for the screw.

OBJECT ABUSE, PRIVATE VIEW THURSDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 7 – 9PM. EXHIBITION RUNS 2 – 25 SEPTEMBER
KK OUTLET, 42 HOXTON SQUARE, LONDON, N1 6PB
Exhibition PDF info
For hi res images email

‘The challenge is to design a pylon that has the potential to deliver for future generations, whilst balancing the needs of our communities and preserving the beauty of our countryside.’

Personally I quite like their current look but here is my idea to solve two issues in one, the fact that we are running out of landfill space and the desire for pylons that preserve the beauty of our countryside. They could even be built around existing pylons so are low cost.

Alternatively just rename pylons, Mini Eiffel Towers and the public will adore them, maybe even pay to go up them.

This is an alternative to my idea I did a while back for hill covered tower blocks.

This grand old building in central London is being demolished from today to make way for a new student union building at LSE. I was amazed to find this out and I am sure there will be many in that area that will get a bit of a shock when it starts.

I was contacted about making something in the building for a quickly organised exhibition that referenced it’s life and history in some way. The St Philips building started in 1903 as a workhouse Infirmary for the poor before going on to be a hospital for women and then bought by the London School of Economics.

I was shown around the building, all rooms were empty apart from one remaining locked office that was abandoned with all it’s contents intact. I thought that it was as if the room was waiting to die and I wanted to ease its transition from this world.

I double and triple checked that the contents of the room were no longer wanted and they were left to the fate of demolition.

My thought for the office was to leave it intact but to remove the colour from every aspect in the room (via white paint) thereby taking away a layer of reality and connection to our world as it moves closer to its imminent death.

In order to distance the room from our world further I decided to keep the door locked so people had to peer in through the small window.

I was interviewed by Paul Coyte yesterday on the UK’s national radio station Gold you can listen to it here…

America’s national public radio NPR did a nice little piece on it here…

It has been featured on The Discovery channel in Canada see here (after the ads)

It was also in the Metro newspaper in London.
And it’s been all over the web. It is interesting how things start spreading out across different media.

To go to the original Finger-Nose post click here

I sometimes use my touchphone in the bath. I know it’s stupid. One problem I encounter is that when put my left hand in the water without thinking, it gets wet and unusable for touchscreen navigation. It is too risky to try to hold and navigate with one hand. I found that I could use my nose to scroll but I couldn’t see where my nose was touching precisely. It was at that point that I came up with this idea of a nose extension ‘finger’ that would allow navigation while my phone is firmly held by one hand.

I did send a tweet from the bath last night which was typed as ‘Hello I am tweeting with my nose’ unfortunately due to the phone’s
auto-correct it sent it as…

I lost 2 followers.

It’s also very handy when out and about multi-tasking on a cold day while wearing gloves. I imagine it would be a great accessory for iPad users.

I bought a handheld stylus that I embedded in the plaster nose. The plaster comes mixed with fibres that make it look hairy.

Although this is handy for me in the bath and outdoors it touches on possible uses for people without use of a hand. Though the design could be made more ‘subtle’ for everday use maybe coming from around the neck.

UPDATE: see the amazing amount of press this received here
It was on BBC’s Have I got News for You here

If you like this you might find my other projects interesting listed on the left menu like my Speed creating project where I made something creative each day for 30 days.
Follow me on twitter or facebook.

For new visitors, VariationsonNormal.com is where I put my sketchbook ideas and experiments. On the left you can see a list of categories for easy navigation. Recently I completed a project called Speed Creating where I made something creative each day for 30 days.

Save space in the graveyard, use the tomb stone as a screw handle.

This is a drawing I showed back in september 2008 in the design and architecture magazine Icon.
Follow me for new things on twitter or facebook.

US translation: stud = cleat, sweet = candy

You might be asking ‘why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?’ But the garden fence industry is very powerful and they kill any idea that would threaten their plank quantity sales. When I was twelve, while lying in bed, I worked out how to make a perpetual motion machine. This would solve all the world’s energy problems, I fell asleep in the excitement of planning how I would spend the profits. When I woke up I realised that I had forgotten what my idea was. I apologise. I’m frowning in regret as I write this even today. However, now in the age of the internet I can quickly put my ideas on this website so that the world can reap the rewards before I forget.

This idea was first shown in Icon magazine, 2008 in my ‘Lost sketchbooks’ series. Follow me on twitter or facebook.
Update: An artist has recently made something similar but with a window net, it works well… see here

Before the vertical bounce trampoline came this horizontal version. Influenced by the old bat and ball on elastic band game. It nearly took off, particularly when the elastic snapped.

My website has been nominated for a Webby Award. If you like my ideas it would be wonderful if you could take a minute to vote for this site here.
Follow me for new things on twitter or facebook.

In the future, scientists will create objects that have the properties of living organisms. This idea is a bike that loses and gains weight depending on how much it is used. The owner will have the satisfaction of getting fit themselves but also enjoy sliming down their bike as every mile passes. As the bike sits in the garage getting fatter each day the owner will feel increasingly ashamed.

What better way to announce the start of a new day in your life.

Ceci n’est pas un mouton.
I was looking at a chair while I lay down. After a little while I saw four legs, a body and a neck. I looked around to get my camera and find something for a head. The case for my camera was perfect, the straps when attached to the chair even resembled ears. I showed the picture to a friend who stared at it for a while and said, ‘yes, a chair and a bag’. I said ‘no, it’s a sheep’. Now she and I can’t look at it without seeing the sheep. There are things all around us that are waiting to be noticed we just need to see them and place a spotlight on them. I am on the look out.

On a similar theme of ‘Seeing’ you may enjoy Matt Stuart‘s photography.

Music can touch people, some say it is the highest of all the art forms. Surely it is time for the human body to go beyond the hand under the armpit trumpet.

In other news I have been asked to talk about my work at an event on Thursday. Come along.
The Gopher Hole, 350-354 Old Street, EC1V 9NQ
7pm, 27th Jan (thursday) at 350-354 Old Street, EC1V 9NQ

‘As part of our inaugural exhibition, ‘About a Minute’, The Gopher Hole presents four designers, architects and artists from the show to discuss their own work and practice, followed by a discussion chaired by the curators.’

DOMINIC WILCOX
POST WORKS
CHRISTIAN KERRIGAN
THE NEW MINUTE SOCIETY

Chaired by aberrant architecture & Beatrice Galilee

I was asked to create something for the inaugural exhibition ‘About a Minute’ at a new gallery called The Gopher Hole. The premise of the exhibition was to ‘consider the fact that thanks to decades of exponential hyperactive consumption, the time that someone visiting our gallery will spend contemplating your piece is likely to be less than 59 seconds.’ I decided to play on the traditions of the gallery context by creating a wire sculpture of a chair on a white plinth. However I also decided to add an entertainment factor by integrating a game to keep the attention of those who’s mind jumps quickly onto other things. I thought about the old ‘buzz wire’ game where you try to navigate around a wire without touching it. Typically it makes a buzzing sound when touched but I decided to replace that with my voice saying ‘Do not touch’ to reference the usual stern warnings around galleries. It was very difficult to turn a long length of wire into something that held a shape and I went through a number of failures. You can see more images on my project site here. The exhibition details are below there are 14 other exhibitors.

About a Minute
10th Dec 2010 – 13th Feb 2011

The Gopher Hole
350 – 354 Old st
London
EC1V 9NQ

I know what you’re thinking, ‘So where can I buy this delightful garment?’

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My Friend the talented illustrator Clare Mallison whose work appears in all the big newspapers around the world has started a little web shop of a few drawings. She does particularly nice architecture drawings around London.

I’ve launched a little web shop where it is possible to buy signed prints of my invention drawings and objects like my War bowl series, Honesty stamps and Anti-theft Rust Stickers.

I’ve added two pages to this site on the left menu, Drawings and Concepts which hopefully make it easier to view my ideas.

Recently, I gave a recorded interview about recent projects and how I come up with ideas to Shift Run Stop which can be heard here. (The interview is dotted across the pod cast between other things).

I finished two years of my monthly ‘Lost sketchbook’ drawings in Icon magazine recently, here are some ideas from that series.

Buy this print here

More things to follow soon…

Here is a list of some other examples of people’s creativity that have emerged from a process of thoughtful, hands on experimentation.

Vase Made by Bees by Tomáš Libertiny who I met briefly in New York.
On his website you can see his full body sculpture made by bees (click through). Also see his tables made from the solder in a welding gun here
Maarten Baas is another example of a creative person who takes a path of experimentation in his work. His most well known work is his Smoke furniture range where he sets fire to furniture then strengthens it again with resin.
While I was at the Royal college of art there was a group of people who believed in re-thinking material use and making processes in order to create unique objects. One, more recent RCA graduate was Max Lamb who does some great work like this video of a table made from digging a hole in sand.

Anyway I had some packets left over from the day before and started making a little man and his son incase he was too heavy.

Then I found a newsagent shop that inflated birthday balloons for people.
Dominic: Hello do you sell helium?
Shop keeper: yes, what balloon do you want?
Dominic: Well actually I want to inflate a crisp packet.
Shop keeper: a what?
Dominic: Crisp packet
Shop Keeper: Not possible ( This is a regular answer to my questions by people)
Dominic: Why?
Shop keeper: The helium will just pass through the packet. (Helium is thinner than air and can just go through certain materials)
Dominic What even the metallic ones?
Shop keeper: hmm don’t know.
Dominic Can I try?
Shop keeper: Hmm yes.

As you can see in the video the packet just sank to the floor. undeterred I bought some multi pack packets as they are bigger and lighter. On returning to the shop they were too busy to help so i found a florist and went through the explanation again. This time the assistant was a tough looking man who was saying that it would be expensive and there would be lots of wasted helium. I thought ‘I’m not asking you to fill up my Zeppelin parked outside.’ I ignored him and found another assistant called Kevin who was very helpful.

It worked and my crisp packet was flying around the florist.

The other 2 packets I bought didn’t work so it was a bit of a failure in my attempt. I needed some extra lift to get my man in the air. However determined to end on a high (!) I bought two balloons to celebrate the 30th day of my Speed Creating project.

The crisp man was carried far into the distance heading in an easterly direction. I hope you have enjoyed following my 30 days of Speed Creating I am going for a nap now.

This is part of a 30 day Speed Creating project I am doing. Outcomes were exhibited at the Anti – Design Festival between 18th-21st September, Mestakes and manifestos, curated by Daniel Charny, Londonewcastle gallery, 28 Redchurch St, London. You can follow my progress on Twitter and Facebook, Click here to view all the days so far in a row.

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