Vaughan Grylls

Vaughan Grylls (born 10 December 1943) is a British artist and educationalist.Vaughan Grylls first showed at the ICA in 1970 immediately after leaving The Slade. He showed his ‘Pun-Sculptures’, an example being 'A Case for Wittgenstein' consisting of two white suitcases on one of which he had scrawled ‘I brought this in Case’ and on the other screened a photograph of the first case with ‘A Case for Wittgenstein' by Vaughan Grylls’ printed underneath in large black letters. In 1973 Grylls became co-director, with fellow Slade graduate Nicholas Wegner of The Gallery 65a Lisson Street NW1. Together they introduced ‘Display Exhibitions’. These shows normally lacked any artist e.g. 7th Kolner Kunstmarkt, Photography Hasselblad, Drug Abuse in Maine, and Contemporary Art. Artists were shown occasionally within the context of the display series e.g. John Latham and Rita Donagh.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Grylls showed large photo-collaged murals up to 10 metres wide on political and/or historical themes. e.g. In Flanders Fields (1979) and Site of the Assassination of President Kennedy(1980). William Feaver, The Observer’s art critic at the time described this period of Grylls work as ‘news-story, location and news-gathering combined’. In 1984 Grylls left for America with his first wife (Gillian Daniell, the theatre designer) and their daughter (Pinny Grylls, now a filmmaker) to set up and run a new photography and video department for Williams College Massachusetts. In 1985 a retrospective of his photo-collaged murals was shown at the Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin.In 1989 Grylls became Head (then Dean) of Art & Design at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, later the University of Wolverhampton. In 1996 Grylls became Director of the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD). Alumni include the fashion designers Zandra Rhodes, Karen Millen and Wendy Dagworthy, the graphic designer Martin Lambie-Nairn and the artists Humphrey Ocean and Tracy Emin.

In 2003 Grylls proposed the creation of a new specialist university of over 6000 students studying art, design, and architecture by merging the Kent Institute with the Surrey Institute of Art & Design. It came into being in August 2005 as the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone & Rochester. After it was launched Grylls left the academic world to return to his own work full-time.

An exhibition of new work entitled 'Places that Shaped Today's Middle East' was shown at the Dray Walk Gallery, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1 in April/May 2007.

References

Myfanwy Kitchin The Guardian London 27 February 1970 Ten Sitting Rooms’. Exhibition catalogue edited by Jasia Reichardt and published by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London October 1970 Caroline Tisdall, The Guardian London 8 February 1970

Vaughan Grylls ‘A Case in Point’, The Sunday Times London 28 March 1971

This is not an advertisement’, Studio International London, Vol 182 no 935 July/August 1971

Vaughan Grylls, ‘Benefitting from a Holiday’, The Sunday Times London 29 August 1971

John A Walker, ‘Contemporary Art, Flash Art Milan, nos 48/49 October/November 1974 ‘Time, Words and the Camera’ Exhibition catalogue edited by Jasia Reichardt and published by Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum Graz, Austria 1976

Vaughan Grylls, ‘Artists Thoughts on the 70’s in Words and Pictures’ Studio International London vol 195 no 991 1981 Richard Cork, The Standard London 22 January 1981

Brandon Taylor, Introductory essay to ‘The Panoramic Image’ exhibition catalogue published by John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton 1981

Vaughan Grylls’ Essay on Working Methods The British Journal of Photography February 1981

‘Vaughan Grylls. Views of Our Time’. Exhibition catalogue with notes by the artist an introductory essay by Brandon Taylor published by The Arnolfini Gallery Bristol January 1983 William Feaver, The Observer London 6 February 1983 Martin Holman, Art Scribe London no 40 April 1983

Brandon Taylor Aspects Newcastle-upon-Tyne ‘Art Against Conflict: the Photocollages of Vaughan Grylls’ Spring 1984 ‘Vaughan Grylls. Through the Looking Glass’ Exhibition catalogue with notes by the artist and an introductory essay by John CarlinPublished by the University of Wisconsin Elvehjem Museum of Art Madison Wisconsin November 1985

Robert Silberman Art in America New York March 1986

Philip Core The Independent London 16 December 1988

‘Vaughan Grylls. Wolverhampton Return’ Exhibition catalogue with notes by the artist and an introductory essay by Christopher Bailey.Published jointly by Wolverhampton Art Gallery September 1989 ‘Vaughan Grylls. White Man’s Tales’ Exhibition catalogue with notes by the artist and an introductory essay by Professor Ann H MurrayPublished by Wheaton College Massachusetts November 1995

External links

* [http://www.quick-hosts.com/~grylls/index.html Vaughan Grylls]