THE strength of any good show is in the editing.

Just ask performer, artist, and Colchester's answer to Heath Robinson, Chris Dobrowolski.

For his latest show, Chris had to re-perform it in front of a theatre producer and a very tired member of the Colchester Arts Centre staff.

"I won't say who it was," Chris smiles, "but Anthony (Roberts, the arts centre director) had allowed us to use the space to go through the show I put together in 2010 after I came back from Antarctica.

"We started off and the staff member came up and asked whether they could watch, which I said was fine. Anyway within minutes the producer and I noticed the staff member had fallen asleep and I was a little bit annoyed by this so I woke them up. They apologised saying they had been on duty the night before and was really tired but they would try and keep awake.

"The producer then said this was actually a very good way of editing down what was a very long show so basically we spent the entire day trying to keep the member of staff awake and anything that made him fall asleep we cut from the show."

The original Antarctica show was the culmination of his commission by the British Antarctic Survey when he and two other UK artists were chosen to take part in the British Antarctic Survey’s annual expedition to the icy continent in 2008, working alongside scientists and support staff to create a number of pieces reflecting the Antarctic environment and its importance.

Chris says: “The survey said I was the first artist to actually do what I said I was going to do in my application. Apparently, most artists have these ideas but then change them when they get there.”

Among those included a 12ft long sledge Chris created from ornate, golden picture frames which he took with him on his journey and British Antarctic Survey sledge storage boxes, used to carry essential supplies, which Chris brought back to create dioramas based upon his experiences in Antarctica.

Chris spent four months in the Antarctic, flying out of RAF Brize Norton on a chartered flight to the Falkland Islands, before driving to Port Stanley, where he boarded the Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross.

“When we got to Rothera," he says, "my time had been severely shortened, so I had to work pretty hard to get it finished. That meant I had very little time to get out and see the place itself and was basically stuck in this carpenter’s shop for two months.

“The plan was always to take the sledge further south when it was finished," he continues, "so we flew it down to a place called Sky Blu, which is basically an ice airfield with two huts and a collection of tents.

“The idea was to document it in the classic, featureless blank canvas landscape that is synonymous with the Antarctic. It’s called a Nanson sledge and it had to be able to carry half a ton of equipment, because that’s what you need when you go out on an expedition.

“The weather can close in quite quickly and you’re stranded, so you need things like 30 days of food and other supplies to survive.”

Chris is well known for his mechanical creations, which include modes of transport like hand-made boats and cars, so it was appropriate that he chose to build a sledge out of picture frames.

With a good dollop of whimsy and nostalgia about his work, Chris also likes to use old miniature toy vehicles and figures in his work.

Prior to his Antarctic trip, he collected a number of such items with particular reference to the continent at the bottom of the world.

Then, Chris put together humorous scenes referring to his real surroundings, particular favourites being an action figure of Batman’s adversary, the Penguin, in front of a colony of penguins and a Ladybird book on Captain Scott by a mock-up of the front cover.

Chris adds: “I took several boxes of toys over, the idea being that these toys were pretending to be from the Antarctic and I thought it would be good fun to actually take them there.

“I also wanted to contrast these small, vulnerable, artificial representations of polar research with the reality of life in the Antarctic.”

Currently on a tour of the country, Antarctica is Chris' latest charismatic storytelling 'slide' show.

It follows his debut, Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Escape, which featured film of him building home-made vehicles to escape the City of Hull and Poland 3 Iran 2 in which Chris and fellow performer Mehrdad Seyf discussed football, revolution, chess, love and Subbuteo aided by footage from the World Cup football match and stills of their family histories from the present day to the Second World War.

A subject that also featured in his most recent production, All Roads Lead To Rome which saw Chris drive his old family car to the factory where it was designed in Italy, a country where his father fought during the war.

"I learnt quite a few lessons from the All Roads show," Chris tells me, "one of which was that all those bits you might think were funny but don't help the story along are probably best left out. That's what we've done with Antarctica and it has to be said it's a lot better for it."

Despite his works having a sculptural mechanical nature, it has been said Chris is one of the best landscape painters working in the country today.

“I do see myself as a landscape painter, which may sound a little weird to other people, but not to me.

“When I was at art college, I remember seeing this picture of a boat on a stormy sea, but rather than paint the picture, I wanted to be in it having an adventure and that’s what my work has always been about, having an adventure. The landscape is very important to me, it’s romantic and ethereal."

And no where more so than the Antarctic.

Antarctica

Colchester Arts Centre,

Church Street, Colchester.

November 2. Doors open 7.30pm, show starts 8pm.

Pay what you can afford. 01206 500900.

www.colchesterartscentre.com