Deb Mostert
Deb Mostert is a Queensland artist whose home and studio is on 3/4 of an acre of bush in Bellbird Park, Ipswich.
An oil painter, Deb uses commonplace objects such as toys and ornaments to set up scenes for her still life paintings. Deb is currently preparing for two solo exhibitions – ‘Bugs on Toy Cars’ at Iain Dawson Gallery from 1st to 12th December and ‘Untold Stories’ in February with her Queensland dealer, Lorraine Pilgrim. (Deb is also represented by Peter Walker Fine Art in Adelaide).
Deb chats with Amanda van Gils about her upcoming exhibitions and about some of her experiences as an artist.
Bug on Toy Car 9, oil on canvas 42×72 cm
Your work is currently still life; is there any particular reason you are working in this genre? What is the importance of the objects that you are using - toy cars, insects, dolls, cups and so on - or are the objects themselves quite arbitrary?
I am intrigued by something I once read that the genre of still life was considered by the 15-17th century art establishment as the lowest form of painting. Biblical and history paintings, portraits and landscapes all rated higher than the everyday objects.
I was drawn to the humility of the genre and concepts of the sacred and banal. I am becoming increasingly aware that there is no division in my life between some things being ‘sacred’ and others ‘ordinary’. So even vintage toys and household objects can be metaphors for my spiritual journey.
I love the retro stuff purely because it reminds me of my youth. I search for genuine 50-80’s objects to use because I think they are sufficiently removed from our modern objects to startle us with recognition. I am also very interested in paradox.
The objects I choose to work with are strangely worthless and priceless at the same time. They are often keenly sought after by collectors and this drives the prices beyond my feeble budget. I scrounge second hand stores and buy on e-bay if they are cheap enough but otherwise I borrow from collectors and friends.
Earlier this year I spent a couple of days deep in the bowels of the Sydney Powerhouse Museum Collection Store with beautiful and valuable vintage and antique tin toys that will never get out on display. I was struck by the latent potential these toys had for narrative and so I am making a series of works based on these objects for my next solo show in Feb 2010 which will be entitled ‘Untold Stories’.
Having access to the collection must have been a terrific opportunity for your research.
It was rather wonderful to have a glimpse into the wealth of objects that are kept on the nation’s behalf. I was not allowed to touch anything, and I could only direct the white-gloved curator to move the toys this way and that, so it was quite different to the way I would normally work.
And what can you tell us about the work in the exhibition about to open in Sydney.
The ‘Bugs on Toy Cars’ show is on at Iain Dawson Gallery from the 1st-12th December, it’s my first solo exhibition in Sydney. The work for this show is a light-hearted nod to the Dutch Still Life painters who painted bugs into the grand vanitas of wealth, power and prestige. A memento mori, reminder of mortality.
These works are painted using real bug specimens I purchased from a collector perched on top of vintage and modern matchbox cars. The works are painted in scale. The scale of the objects is designed to confuse and delight, and often incompatible pieces sit in comfortable tension.
The works can be read in many ways, as the objects become reflectors of the experience of the viewer. My work aims to reveal the narratives that lurk beneath the humble surfaces of plastic, tin and bugs”
You were a practising artist for many years prior to going to art school; what prompted you to undertake formal study? And what difference, if any, has the art school experience made to your career and/or sense of self as an artist?
I had been an artist for over 20 years but when my marriage of 16 years ended and as part of the healing process I had to discover who I was and this led me to take up study again. To be single (and a single mum), to grow and learn in an environment of such creative support was part of what I needed to realise who I really was. I enjoyed every second of it (well, maybe not all the art theory lectures…but most of them).
Allowing myself the room to experiment, learn and mix with a wide variety of other creative’s, was hugely transforming to my art practise. I moved from being an artist who just made pictures, to being an artist who makes pictures with purpose. I think, read and research a lot more, I am more aware of my responsibilities as artist, and my practise is more focused and centred. Uni didn’t give me answers but it made me aware of all the questions!
I also had the opportunity to exhibit in the grad show and the Thiess Awards and it was here that my work was spotted by Lorraine Pilgrim. I have been represented by her ever since.
Aluminium Cups and Robot, oil on canvas, 100×120cm
Congratulations on recently being awarded the Sponsor Prize at the Eutick Memorial Still Life Awards at Coffs Harbour. You have been a finalist in quite a few prizes during the past few years - what benefits do you see in participating in art prizes?
Thanks!
It has been a very encouraging journey over the last few years. I started entering art prizes on the advice of my agent (Lorraine) and although it can be very demanding to be continually feeding this hungry machine, I have been very blessed to have had the opportunity to hang in some exciting shows with artists whose work I really admire.
I also have my fair share of ‘dear john’ letters! It is a strange concept, the art prize thing. Why make a competition out of such an unquantifiable thing as art?
Like every artist, I wonder why I keep entering but I guess deep down it satisfies a need to be seen, to hopefully be ‘selected’ and to have some feedback in what can be a fairly solitary work environment!
I also realise that my worth and indeed the worth of any artist can not and should not be measured by success in art competitions.
Does your work have social, political, cultural and or personal messages?
I guess my work must have a personal message as my work/life/faith is interwoven. I can’t separate one from the other so what’s happening in one area will be reflected across the others. I have become increasingly aware of the love of God for me and it has allowed me so much freedom to be who I am. So I feel the work I am making in these last few years is about that personal journey.
Tin Bird and Lead Man, oil on plywood, 23 x 47 cm
What or who inspires your art?
The heroes of art I’ve always admired have been Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velázquez to name a few. The painters of the Heidelberg School, and more recently I’ve discovered Andrew Wyeth again. I’m also influenced by Michael Luenig and Charles Shultz for their perceptive look at the human condition. And I’m sure there are many others but these come to mind immediately. But mostly I am in awe of a Creator God, for with out Him none of this wealth of creative energy would be possible.
Have you ever made an artistic pilgrimage? If so, where did you go and why?
Going to Holland was like an artistic pilgrimage although I would need to go back again and again to even begin to see and understand all the art I want to see!! I even found a Jan Mosteart (not sure if he’s a distant relation) in the Rijksmuseum. It was quite wonderful to stand in front of paintings and sculptures I’d only ever seen in publication and revel in the previously unrealised scale and technique.
It made me proud and humbled to be an artist; what a fantastic gift we’ve been given….what a privilege!
Bug on Toy Car 6, oil on canvas, 42 x 72 cm
Can you share with us some significant moments in your life - events or people who impacted your Art?
I was mentored as a youngster by my aunt Mieke den Otter, who is a fantastic visual artist. (painter, printmaker, textile artist also in Queensland) She encouraged me, gave me art materials, took me to shows, lent me books, took me out drawing and generally invested into me for many years. We have had several exhibitions together and I would say she has been a driving force certainly in the early years of my art practice.
Going to uni, as mentioned earlier was a watershed. Travelling to Holland, Belgium and France during my uni years also helped to consolidate my roots. Both my parents were born in Holland so to go back and see not only my family heritage but also my spiritual and artistic heritage was very important. During my time there, visiting museums and art galleries also reawakened my interest in the still life genre, which is what I’ve been working in for the last few years.
It’s interesting that you mention your Dutch background and the historical import of still life as a genre. When I think of Dutch still life paintings they are quite opulent, loaded with an abundance of objects and symbolism. Yet your works are sparse with the meaning being derived partly from memory and nostalgia, but in the main, from the interaction between the objects that often appear as if they are deep in conversation with each other.
The interaction almost always seems to hijack the work! It’s been fascinating to watch the narratives emerge from conversations between objects. In fact I spend a lot of time ‘playing’ with objects to find the scenarios that allow for more quirky conversation. I enjoy the quiet humour that overrides a lot of the work. I am fond of the idea that less is more so I tend towards more sparse arrangements and having experimented with more objects together, I’ve come to the conclusion that I just like the look of fewer objects….a purely aesthetic choice. I have also become more aware of the ability of objects to reflect the experiences of the viewer, often people read the same work very differently based on their own paradigms.
Bugs on Aluminium Teapot 80×80 cm oil on canvas
Winner of this year’s Sponsor Prize at the Eutick Memorial Still Life Awards
What about the role of titles with your work, some hate them others revel in them, what about you?
I have always struggled with some of the goofy painting titles I’ve come up with in the past, so I figure I will just stick to the blatantly obvious and call them exactly what they are. Which in strange way, also alludes to everything else they could be…for me and for the viewer.
Do you keep an Art Journal or Visual Diary of some kind?
I always carry a visual diary, which serves many purposes. It is a place to dream, design, think visually, experiment, note ideas, write quotes, doodle and generally relax. It enables me to think more easily and take in more of what’s around me. I would really miss it if I didn’t have my visual diary. It’s my spare brain.
As well as an exhibiting artist you have done commissions, residencies in schools and you also teach in your studio. How do you balance the competing demands?
I’m a reasonably organised person; don’t really fit the stereotypical, temperamental, distracted artist type. I see my art as my job as well as my calling so I tackle it in a fairly methodical way. I trained as a commercial artist many moons ago, and I often think that it has left me with some handy practical ways of working. To a deadline, to a budget, within a time line…etc I am also mum to three teenagers so that requires organisational skills purely as a matter of self-defence! My desk diary keeps me sane; things never look so daunting when you write them down. And I have borrowed other people’s aids to organisation too.
How do you continue to grow, or is this not important?
Growth is important; if we aren’t growing we are stagnating. I’d hope to always be learning and moving. One thing I’ve learnt is the older I get, the less I seem to know! So I look forward to exploring, praying, reading, looking and experiencing as much as I can. There is so much out there!
What advice would you give to artists who are just starting out?
I would say ‘to thine own self be true’, that is, find what it is you are meant to create and work hard to realise it.
Accept that ‘overnight success’ can take up to 20 years and that your art practice is a long-term journey.
Be prepared to learn, hone your skills, try new things and accept graciously the criticism of others.
Also brace yourself for being holed up by an enthusiastic non art-making member of society who - upon discovering you are an artist - will inform you that their cousin is an artist, and proceed to describe their paintings to you while being astonished that you don’t know them personally. Sigh.
Delft Blue Dog in Dish 2007 oil on canvas 80×80 cm
Deb Mostert’s Sydney exhibition opens 6-8 pm Wednesday 2nd Dec 2009 at Iain Dawson Gallery 72a Windsor Street Paddington NSW.
Her work can be seen online at any of her galleries websites and also on her website www.debmostertartist.com.au
Lorraine Pilgrim http://www.lorrainepilgrim.com/
Iain Dawson Gallery http://www.iaindawson.com/pages/exhibitions.php
Peter Walker Fine Art http://www.peterwalker.com.au/
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Compiled and edited by Amanda van Gils © 2009+
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Really enjoyed reading the interview with Deb and loved the paintings, particularly “Delft Blue Dog in Dish”. So good to hear an artist speak in “down to earth” language.