CHRIS DOBROWOLSKI
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      • "Don't Make Me Take It All Back Home With Me!"
      • How We Won The War
      • "Stop me and buy one!"
      • 'The Cornfield'... free gift inside
      • "Catalogue!"
      • The Contemporary Art Scene
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      • "Untitled" hanging itself
      • Buy My Fucking Painting!
      • Absolut Ship !
      • Executive Toy!
      • Art Stunt Suicide Disaster
      • Roll up, Roll up. Get your Art here!
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      • Tank Caravans Paint Brush
      • Buy to Let
      • Section 21
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      • Project outline
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      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
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      • Project Outline
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      • Project Outline
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      • tours and extra stuff
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    • Toy Stories
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    • Covid lockdown with Boris >
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      • 'EK52 UDP'
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    • Vanishing Point >
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      • Red Sports Car, East To West
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      • Ambulance Emergency
      • Pink Mustang, at the Golden Gate Bridge
      • Matchbox
      • Instant Gratification
    • Badgast Residency >
      • Short Essay
      • De Wrede Zee
      • Fish
      • Chips
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      • Panorama Mesdag
    • Selfie Slot Car Racing >
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      • City magazine review
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      • Aerial, wind, sun and radio
    • Group Projects >
      • oceans
      • Talk to me
      • & Model
      • Middlesbrough Art Weekender
      • Translating the Street
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      • Catalogus Mareado
      • Kunst Over De Grens
      • This Flat Earth
      • The Uses of an Artist
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      • Millennium Encyclopedia
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 GIVE ME THE MONEY!

"Give me the money" was commissioned in 2006 by Kath Woods at the Firstsite gallery Colchester, Essex. The original commission was to make a donations box for the gallery but I approached the project the same as I would any other artistic commission. It seemed the perfect vehicle to explore notions of art and commerce, a subject that had been an ongoing theme in my work. (See the other projects 'Offer Must End Soon', 'Cheap Cheap' and 'A Portrait of Casper DeBoer').

This work was on long term loan from Firstsite to Artsadmin on display at Toynbee hall, Whitechapel, London. Currently back in storage but due to go to the Minories gallery also in Colchester.
Picture
Photo: Doug Atfield
Picture
Photo: Doug Atfield
​"Give me the money" is constructed from a tall thin found box that is divided into three sections. In the middle compartment there is a caged area from which a shelf protrudes. On the shelf is gun made partly from a paint brush. The middle section is uncleaned and grimy. There is a miniature painting on an easel, brushes and a saw from a dolls house tool kit. In one corner stands a 1970’s, vintage, talking `Action man'. Although there is a speaker in its chest it is not the original. The sound comes from a cassette tape player located elsewhere in the box.The action man wears paint spattered jeans and no shirt.

This compartment is reminiscent of the stereotypical image of a starving artist's garret. It also has echoes of a bank counter or prison cell.
Picture
The paintbrush gun switch. the action man figure is holding an actual gun but it has been decomissioned. Photo: Doug Atfield
Picture
The coin slot. Photo: Doug Atfield
​When the trigger on the paint brush gun is pulled a light comes on and a recording of my voice comes out of the Action Man. Angrily it shouts.... "Give me the money"
Picture
Photo: Doug Atfield
​Coins can be inserted in a slot on the side of the box. This puts them into the first compartment- A painted landscape. To begin with they roll down a paint brush handle that has a deep groove cut into it. Then, if they follow the intended route, they pass through the construction as follows. 
From the first paintbrush the coin should drop onto a second, then a third and switch back on itself to roll into the back of a toy security van. ​There is a hole in the bottom of the van and another cut through the floor of this compartment. The coins drop through into the next compartment- The starving artist's garret.
Picture
The coins drop into and through the purse. Photo: Doug Atfield
Picture
Photo: Jason Lee
Picture
The speaker is in action mans chest (its an original talking Action Man) the Photo: Jason Lee
​As the coins drop through the floor above they fall into an open purse. This also has a hole cut through it and the coin drops through the floor into the third compartment.
Picture
Photo: Doug Atfield
Picture
My jeans, my pocket. Photo: Doug Atfield
When the coin has gone through the purse it falls into an empty plastic turpentine bottle. This has been cut and shaped so that the coins are directed onto another paint brush with a groove cut in it.

The stereotype of a starving artist living in a garret is not a million miles away from my actual existence. In this compartment is also a pair of old, paint spattered jeans that used to belong to me.

As the coin rolls along the paint brush it completes an electrical circuit which triggers another tape player. On the floor of this compartment is another toy security van with a speaker in it. Another recording of my voice says politely...."this vehicle is reversing".

​If the coin rolls the entire intended length of the route, it rolls to the end of the paintbrush and falls off into 'MY' pocket.
  • Home
  • in the art gallery
    • Transit Transition >
      • Train Wave
      • The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
      • Self Evaluation
      • something About Global Capitalism But Less Ernest
      • The Man From Human Resources Is Coming to See You
      • The Ofsted Inspection
      • The Risk Assessment
      • Personal development training day
      • My Matchbox Toy Lorry
      • The Zero Hours Contract
      • The Plinth
    • Remnants Of Utopia >
      • Austerity Miniature Mayday Parade
      • The Contract
      • Agitprop/anti-agitprop Train
      • Siberia
      • How We Won The War
      • Revolutionary Reminder
      • The Marketing Team
    • Antarctica >
      • Project Outline
      • Antarctica Essay
      • Reviews
      • Sledge
      • Toy Sledge
      • Airfix Antarctic Aeroplane Hoover
      • Eating Penguins
      • The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
      • Toy Snowmobile
      • Rat Box, Bird Island
      • Rejection Letters
      • The Last Roll Of Kodachrome In The World
      • John Deere Gator And Specimen
      • There Are No More Dogs In Antarctica
      • Furthest South- J C B
      • Captain Scotts Bookshelf
      • Antarctic Toy Portraits
    • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape , Escape >
      • Seascape Escape (No.1)
      • Landscape Escape (No.1)
      • Seascape Escape (No.2)
      • Timescape Escape
      • Landscape Escape (No.2) >
        • Sketches for Tank
      • Skyscape Escape
      • Essay/ Catalogue >
        • Introduction
        • Seascape Escape
        • Landscape Escape No. 1
        • Seascape Escape No.2
        • Landscape Escape No.2
        • Skyscape Escape
        • Timescape Escape
        • End-Piece
      • Reviews and Press
    • Offer Must End Soon >
      • Essay Jess Twyman
      • Reviews
      • Offer Must End Soon
      • Buy My Painting!
      • "Buy My Painting!" For the hard of hearing.
      • "Don't Make Me Take It All Back Home With Me!"
      • How We Won The War
      • "Stop me and buy one!"
      • 'The Cornfield'... free gift inside
      • "Catalogue!"
      • The Contemporary Art Scene
      • Camera Crash
      • "Untitled" hanging itself
      • Buy My Fucking Painting!
      • Absolut Ship !
      • Executive Toy!
      • Art Stunt Suicide Disaster
      • Roll up, Roll up. Get your Art here!
    • Big Country >
      • Big Country
      • The box you stick your head into
      • Europa, Hoek van Holland to Vladivostok
      • Caravans
      • magazine article
    • All at Sea
    • & Model >
      • Reviews
    • Give Me The Money
    • Music and domestic appliances >
      • Sketch for aeroplane
      • The Plinth
      • Cold War Monument
      • Wagon Wheels
      • Vacuum Cleaner Circle
    • ...on the wall...in boxes >
      • My Shitty Studio No.2
      • Sketch for aeroplane No.6
      • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Fire Escape
      • My horrible studio No.1
      • Untitled 240 Volts
      • On the way to the beach party
      • Toy Me No.2
      • It's for you
    • Sweet Jars, glass cases on books >
      • Thatcher
      • The council estate is coming
      • Attack drone and books
      • Muck Spreader
      • Trojan Horse
      • Security Camera
      • Move
      • Epsom Printer, Tank, God
      • Contemporary art- its the law!
      • Tank Caravans Paint Brush
      • Buy to Let
      • Section 21
  • On The Stage
    • All Roads Lead To Rome >
      • Project outline
      • reviews
    • Antarctica >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
    • Poland 3 Iran 2 >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
    • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape , Escape >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
      • tours and extra stuff
    • How NOT to make a living as an Artist
    • Toy Stories
  • Outside the art gallery
    • Auspicious Phoenix Recycling Palace
    • Covid lockdown with Boris >
      • Boris zip wire
      • Covidtrix
      • what is the truth but a lie agreed upon
    • Goat Train
    • washed up Car - go >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
      • 'EK52 UDP'
      • 'VK02 GFK'
      • 'Y194 LPP'
      • Washed Up Car-go (Hastings)
      • Washed Up Car- go (Brighton)
    • Vanishing Point >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
      • Red Sports Car, East To West
      • Studebaker Camera Car, Going To The Beach
      • Kite And Candy, Buick
      • Kennedy Lincoln Continental
      • Ambulance Emergency
      • Pink Mustang, at the Golden Gate Bridge
      • Matchbox
      • Instant Gratification
    • Badgast Residency >
      • Short Essay
      • De Wrede Zee
      • Fish
      • Chips
      • Windmill
      • Panorama Mesdag
    • Selfie Slot Car Racing >
      • Project Outline
      • Film by Andy Wiltshire
      • Librarian Pit Crew
      • Experiments with sound
      • Selfie Slot Car Racing at Firstsite Gallery
      • Flitwick Library
    • Coventry Transport Museum Residency >
      • Coventry Concept
      • Poetry Vending Machine
    • Cheap Cheap >
      • Review
    • A Portrait of Casper DeBoer
    • Cranes
    • Hessle Road Residency >
      • Hessle Road (continued)
    • Reisbureau Mareado >
      • Mareado (Continued)
      • City magazine review
    • Windmills >
      • Aerial, wind, sun and radio
      • Guitar Played by the Wind >
        • Winners and Losers
      • Self Portrait
      • Jesus punches banker
    • Performance Sculptures >
      • The groundsman
      • All seeing bicycle lamp
      • Pasta 4 one
      • Revolutionary Reminder
  • publications
    • Solo projects >
      • Escape >
        • Read an Extract
      • Antarctica
      • Offer Must End Soon
      • Tangents
      • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape , Escape
      • Aerial, wind, sun and radio
    • Group Projects >
      • oceans
      • Talk to me
      • & Model
      • Middlesbrough Art Weekender
      • Translating the Street
      • 1st Sino/british Cont. Art, Yentai
      • Performance, Transport And Mobility
      • Inbetween PS1, New York and Shanghai
      • Odd Coupling
      • Landscapes of Exploration
      • Flip Shift Show Switch
      • Baudrillard Now
      • The Juddykes
      • Dr Roberts Magic Bus
      • Continental Breakfast
      • Lat (living Apart Together)
      • North. Amsterdam 2004
      • Westwijk, Vlaardingen, De Strip
      • Da Da Da Strategies Against Marketecture
      • Reisburo Mareado (The Travel Brochure)
      • Catalogus Mareado
      • Kunst Over De Grens
      • This Flat Earth
      • The Uses of an Artist
      • Kettles Yard Open 97
      • Royal College Of Art Centenary Year
      • Millennium Encyclopedia
    • Press
  • About / contact
    • Biog
    • CV >
      • Solo Exhibitions
      • Live Art
      • Residencies / Commissions
      • Group Exhibitions
      • Education
      • Career History
      • Media Coverage
    • Contact
    • are you on the right website?