Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd (b. 1973, London, UK) lives in Glasgow, UK. Chetwynd’s practice intertwines performance, sculpture, painting, installation and video. Her work incorporates elements of folk plays, street spectacles, popular culture and Surrealist cinema. Her performances and videos often employ troupes of performers – friends and relatives of the artist – and feature handmade costumes and props. She has performed and exhibited internationally, and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2012. 

Since April 2016, Chetwynd has been working through workshops and live performances with 34 children and 44 teenagers from across Liverpool to make the film Dogsy Ma Bone, using the city as a backdrop to the action. Presented at Cains Brewery, the film is inspired by Betty Boop’s A Song A Day (1936), in which Betty sings to exotic animals in a hospital she owns, and Bertolt Brecht’s satirical musical Threepenny Opera (1928). Over Liverpool Biennial’s opening weekend, some parts of the film are being performed live in the space by the children and teenagers themselves.

Solo exhibitions include those at Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK (2014); Studio Voltaire, London, UK (2014); Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy (2014); Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK (2014); and The New Museum, New York, USA (2011-12). She has been involved in numerous group exhibitions such as the Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh, UK (2015); the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Göteborg, Sweden (2013); and ‘Performance Now: The First Decade of the New Century’, various venues, USA (2012-14). Her upcoming group exhibition will be Glasgow International, Glasgow, UK in 2016.

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd at Liverpool Biennial 2016

---

Dogsy Ma Bone, 2016
HD video, 35 mins
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial in partnership with METAL
Exhibited at Cains Brewery

Various character costumes from Dogsy Ma Bone film, 2016
Water based paint, calico, latex, plastic hemispheres, cardboard, thread, textiles
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial in partnership with METAL
Exhibited at Cains Brewery