Born in 1957 in Redditch near Birmingham, Shend is the founder and frontman of cult Dadaist jazz-punk band, The Cravats, since 1977. He uses dada and humour in the music and record artwork to illustrate the ridiculousness of society and the world we inhabit.
Shend has embraced many ways of expressing himself over the years; becoming a TV/Film actor and frequent cartoon villain, a writer for various magazines, a jazz club promoter and also a (somewhat grumpy) radio DJ, but creating art is at the base of everything he does.
For CONCLAVE’s Group Show 3, Shend is showing five works from his ‘Patently Obvious’ series. These are – at their core – an anti-consumerism statement, each using various failed vintage patents which are layered on top of each other (up to 8 different patents are employed in each work) and then carefully edited to create a new, totally useless device that the world doesn’t need. Each word on the diagrams corresponds to a number from one of the original patents, and whether made up, backwards or real, they were chosen to represent how that particular detail ‘felt’ whilst constructing the piece. The colour palette on all pieces is based on a set of scientific wall-charts from the 1950s.
For “Hit for 6” The Shend is showing us “Tom” and “Jack” – two new works showing us Shend’s take on the inner workings of Toms Waits and Jack Nicholson’s minds…and the fabulously surreal “Clock-Faced Apple Fish Man”. Dada at its best!
Clock-Faced Apple Fish Man, Limited-edition A2 giclee print, £55 
Tom, Limited-edition A3 giclee print, £30 
Jack, Limited-edition A3 giclee print, £30 
Romantic Germ Addler, Limited-edition A2 giclee print, £90 
Deciduous Fusion Blouse, Limited-edition A3 giclee print, £45 
Lazarus Octi-Choke, Limited-edition A3 giclee print, £45 
Harrogate Clench Biscuit, Limited-edition A3 giclee print, £45 
Enginear, Limited-edition A4 giclee print, £25
Interested in buying one of these works and have a question? Email us with any queries, or call us on 01273 729729 (during opening hours).