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Jupiter Art Land, 2016
Jupiter Art Land, 2016
Helen CHADWICK British, 1953-1996
Piss Flowers, 1991-1992
Bronze, cellulose lacquer
12 parts, each approx. 70 x 65 x 65 cm
Edition of 5 + 3 APs (numbered 2 AP)
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Perhaps Chadwick’s most iconic work, 'Piss Flowers' (1991-92) consists of twelve bronze sculptures, cast from the snow-packed moulds of Chadwick and her partner urinating in deep snow. The surface detail...
Perhaps Chadwick’s most iconic work, 'Piss Flowers' (1991-92) consists of twelve bronze sculptures, cast from the snow-packed moulds of Chadwick and her partner urinating in deep snow. The surface detail and shape of each ‘flower’, all approximately 70cm in height, reveal the contrasting imprints created by male and female urination. Through its title, Chadwick invites viewers to reimagine this most basic and private of human functions as something organic and beautiful.
“It may have been mischievous to piss in the snow, but it was damn hard work to end up with the 12 bronzes. Piss Flowers took two years, largely because I had to find £12,000 to make them” - H.C.
“It may have been mischievous to piss in the snow, but it was damn hard work to end up with the 12 bronzes. Piss Flowers took two years, largely because I had to find £12,000 to make them” - H.C.
Exhibitions
Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures, Hepworth Wakefield, 16 May – 27 October 2025Sculpture in The Park, Compton Verney, Warwickshire 2024
Piss Flowers, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2016
In Order to Join, Gallery MMB & Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, India, 2015
In Order to Join: The Political in a Historical Moment, Museum Abteiberg Monchengladbac, Monchengladbach, Germany, 2013
From Death to Death and Other Small Tales: Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the D. Daskalopoulos Collection, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2013
Helen Chadwick: Works from the Estate, Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, UK, 2013
The Life of the Mind: Love, Sorrow and Obsession curated by Bob and Roberta Smith, New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK, 2011
Gavin Turk und Helen Chadwick: PISS OFF, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria, 2008
Says the junk in the yard, Flowers East Gallery, London, UK, 2007
Flowers in Contemporary Art, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2006
Please close the gate: painted sculpture at Roche Court, New Art Centre, Salisbury, UK, 2006
Please close the gate: painted sculpture at Roche Court The White Station, Pump House Gallery, London, UK, 2004
Helen Chadwick: A Retrospective, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK, 2004. This exhibition later travelled to Manchester City Art Museum, Manchester, UK; Kunstmuseet Trapholt, Kolding, DK and Liljevalchs Art Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden.
Fluid, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK, 2001. This exhibition travelled to Bonington Art Gallery, Nottingham, UK, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff, UK and Middleborough Art Gallery, Middleborough, UK.
MAN - Body in Art from 1950 to 2000, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark, 2000
Helen Chadwick, Kingston upon Hull, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, UK, 1998. This exhibition travelled to Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Nottingham, UK and Pitzhanger Manor House & Gallery, London, UK.
Surroundings: Helen Chadwick, Hannah Collins, Willie Doherty, Steven Pippin, Catherine Yass, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1997
In Memoriam – Helen Chadwick, Galerie Eugen Lendl, Graz, Austria, 1996
Stilled Lives: Helen Chadwick, Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1996. This exhibition travelled to Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark.
Swinging the Lead, The Old Leadworks, International Festival of the Sea, Bristol, UK, 1996
Yksityinen/Julkinen = Private/Public: ARS 95, Nykytaiteen Museo, Helsinki, Finland, 1995
fémininmasculin: Le sexe de l’art, Centres Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, 1995
Poesies, Salzburger Kunstverein, Austria, 1994. This exhibition travelled to: Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland, 1995
effluvia, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 1994. This exhibition travelled to Fundació “la Caixa”, Barcelona, Spain and Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Something the Matter: Helen Chadwick, Cathy de Monchaux, Cornelia Parker, 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 1994
Helen Chadwick: Piss Flowers, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK, 1993
Bronzes, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK, 1993
Elective Affinities, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK 1993
Helen Chadwick: Piss Flowers (in progress), Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, UK, 1991. This exhibition travelled to Mercer Union Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada.
Literature
Woman's Art Journal, Fall / Winter 2024, Volume 45, Number 2. Illustrated page 32Great Women Sculptors, Phaidon, 2024. Illustrated p 64
Contemplations of a Collector: Irini Pari in conversation with Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Cahiers D'Art, 2024. Illustrated p 111
Capc 2023-1973 – Une Histoire d’Expositions, Published on the CAPC Museum's 50th Anniversary Illustrated page 192.
Muzeum Susch MS#4. Piss Flowers, archival images and Piss Posy poem. 2023 (illustrated pages 152-157).
Ulrike Draesner. A Companion. de Gruyter. Editors: Karen Leeder and Lyn Marven. 2022
Leonie O'Dwyer, Helen Chadwick: a critical catalogue raisonné, Leeds 2012 (illustrated in colour, no. 99).
Anneke Smelik (ed.), ‘Our Cells Our Selves Sexual Politics in Bioart’ in The Scientific Imaginary in Visual Culture Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities, Göttingen 2010 (p. 150).
Niclas Östlind, Notes on the art of Helen Chadwick, especially the early works, Stockholm 2005 (illustrated in colour, p. 29).
Penelope Curtis, Denise Raine et. al. (eds.), Sculpture in 20th-century Britain, Leeds 2003 (p. 41).
Helen Chadwick. Barbican Art Gallery, London, and Hatje Cantz Verlag, Germany, 2004. (illustrated p.120-121, 123)
Helen Chadwick. Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston, 1999. Contains essay pamphlets by different authors. (illustrated p.2; 5) Surroundings: Helen Chadwick, Hannah Collins, Willie Doherty, Steven Pippin and Catherine Yass. Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 1997-1998. (illustrated p.54)
Stilled Lives: Helen Chadwick. Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh, 1996, unnumbered pages Poesies. Salzburger Kunstverein, Austria, 1994. (illustrated p.21-25, 27-31)
effluvia: Helen Chadwick. Serpentine Gallery, London, 1994. (illustrated p7; no. 13-18)
Elective Affinities. Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, 1993. (illustrated p.48-51)
Helen Chadwick: Piss Flowers. Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, 1993. (illustrated) (unnumbered pages) Mark Holborn (ed.), Enfleshings Helen Chadwick, London 1989 (illustrated in colour, pp. 98-99).
Brian Redhead, The Inspiration of Landscape: Artists in National Parks, Oxford 1989 (illustrated in colour, pp. 88-89).
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