Abigail Fallis – Cod and Chips


‘I read in the news that overfishing is making our favourite takeaway extinct. I headed to my local chippy for a large cod and chips then rushed them off to pangolin foundry to be cast into bronze, a future reference of what we lost. Just imagine Great Britain without fish and chips.’
About the artist
Abigail Fallis was born in East London, England in 1968. She studied silversmithing and metalwork at Camberwell College of Arts in London.
Fallis first came to public attention with her sardonic ‘underwear sculptures’, such as Cock Eyed Jack (2000). This framed series of men’s ‘Y-front’ pants played on UK’s ‘Cool Britannia’ reputation, referencing the British flag and other symbols of nationhood in stitched-on images and text man’s meddling with nature, mass consumerism, and environmental destruction. Fallis is fundamentally interested in topical issues that affect our daily lives, and often deploys a subtly double-edged sense of humour to deliver her ideas.
Fallis is concerned with the making process, experimenting widely with materials ranging from silver and bronze to papier-mâché, fish skeletons and neon-lit tubing. Her works combine an unconventional beauty with subtle comments on issues that trouble her.
Fallis exhibits regularly at Pangolin London, in October 2008 she became the foundry-come-gallery’s first sculptor in residence. Culminating in a solo exhibition titled ‘Fallis in Wonderland’ in 2010. The following year, Fallis participated in the group show ‘Women Make Sculpture’ at Pangolin London. Her sculpture, DNA DL90, a double-helix structure made from supermarket shopping trolleys, is on show at Newcastle upon Tyne’s Forth Square until 2014. This sculpture will then be part of the London Meridian sculpture trail ‘THE LINE’ a new sculpture trail following the meridian line from the Olympic park to Greenwich.
Fallis lives and works in Gloucestershire.