Recent works – Steve Gray
These are recently done works on paper, I ran out of canvas so this is the next best thing! note the very light last image is mainly white on white, very hard to get a photo to do justice to the image a lot of texture there to be seen in the flesh.
Life drawing with a twist…
This seems like an interesting idea http://www.inkandlead.com.au/ I like a new twist on an old theme.
How is this not conceptual art…
Is it, or is it not Conceptual Art… Your thoughts???
It is posted as a “social experiment”. Nah I don’t see it that way, but I guess I’m prejudiced as I see Art in most places I go!
Artist interaction
Five artists will be responding to each others work and the interior of Brunswick street gallery on the 27th of March. The artists have had one month to integrate their practices – to shape conduits between subject and form.
The results should be a unique and thought provoking experience, combining the perceptual, spatial, visual and tactile.Conduit brings together the photographic sculptures of, Devika Bilimoria, the Paintings of, Ben Howe, and the sculpture and installations of, Horse, Carmen Reid, and ,Beau Emmett.
BRUNSWICK STREET GALLERY 322, Brunswick St. Fitzroy, 3065
GALLERY HOURS: Wed-Sun 11-6pm.
OPENING Friday 27 Mar at 6pm. Runs to 9 Apr 2009
Exhibition
Friday March 13th 6-10pm
38 Hutchinson St, East BrunswickFollowing the success of its premiere exhibition, The Pigeon Hole is again opening its doors to the public.
YOU, 1 gigantic warehouse and 14 artists will all meet on Friday the 13th of March in East Brunswick. Floating exhibition walls, flying performers, walk around sculptures – experience the visual, audio, artistic fun-park in between 6pm and 10pm.Pigeon Hole is a huge, formerly commercial warehouse which has been transformed into a dynamic, self organized artist collective. Responding to a need in the community for dynamic, non commercial establishments, it is a fertile ground for contemporary artists to collaborate, perform, exhibit and exchange new ideas.
Pigeon Hole currently houses the bizarre and inspiring studios of over 14 artists ranging in practice from visual arts, experimental electronic composition and design, to acrobatic physical theatre.The artists are… Ben Howe, Corin Adams, Devika Bilimoria, Nicholas Cairns, Robert Jordan, Bonnie Lane, James Langer, Jody Lloyd, Carmen Reid, Wren Steiner, David Rellim, Robbie Rowlands, Ruth Schaldach, Luke O’conner, Christy Flaws,
Ideas and inspiration plus…
This has got to be useful for anyone who thinks…. Is that you?
March 28th 2009 in Melbourne should be useful, register now…
Artist creates fire image.
Victorian Contemporary Artist Steve Gray has created a painting as a mark of respect to all who have lost loved ones in the recent Black Saturday Bushfires. “I was seeing images of black tree shapes against the light ash background on the news and the idea quickly developed.” Steve said.
The large painting acrylic takes up a big wall in his lounge room, the subtle colours are whites with a hint of yellow in places. Mr Gray pointed out, “The stark images of the fires were so contrasty, It would have been so easy to create a dark foreboding picture, I wanted to provide a sense of the spirit of the people, ghost like, figments or mere memories, so faint against the landscape, yet not create a realistic piece. It is clearly an abstract image but the shapes of the brushstrokes are almost hieroglyphic, I hope people get a sense of the ‘spirits’ talking to them.”
Similar in style to some of his earlier (more colourful) works on paper, this image is eerie in the way the colours are subtle on the canvas and seem convey so much in light of the recent fire tragedies..
Kerries video – make art!
Kerrie Warren was interviewed here way back in the early days, she just sent me a video to show people what her process is all about. Makes for an interesting view! Check it out….
Andrew Ensor – “Illustrations for the Ill”
Andrew is about to put on an Exhibition “Illustration for the Ill” Feb 12 – 24 at Gaffa Gallery 1/7 Randle Street Surry Hills NSW and is willingly writing about his journey… Brave Lad! Let’s check out what’s happening, as he adds information I will add it below…
21/01/09 – the story so far…
It is 3 weeks until the opening night of my 12th solo exhibition, entitled “Illustrations for the Ill”. It will be my third with Gaffa Gallery, an artist run space in Surry Hills. I had applied at the end of last year for a show in late 09, but another artist’s cancellation left a slot free for 2 weeks in February, which I was happy to take. I’m writing this in an attempt to share the trials, tribulation and tantrums involved in putting on an exhibition.
So far the gallery has been paid for, the first half is paid upon the initial booking, the second half is paid 4 weeks prior to the opening night. The invites have been decided on, and are being sent to the printers today. The artwork itself is mostly finished, I’m trying to limit the show to 24 pieces this time, of which about 20 have been chosen so far. Framing remains one of the bigger issues, having picked up about 10 frames so far I was informed that certain colours I liked were ‘discontinued lines’ which means a bit of a re-think.
This is probably the most prepared I’ve ever been at this stage before a show, usually my approach has been to work on paintings and drawings in these weeks leading up to the opening in an effort to explore every aspect of the theme and ideas in the show. This time I’ve taken a different approach, as I’m not sure how beneficial my previous method was. It’s certainly helps the nerves to have things prepared in advance.
I’ll try and expand and detail what’s been mentioned above in future posts.
Regards
Andrew
27/01/09 – gallery matters…
The long weekend was unproductive in terms of preparations for the show. More thinking than doing was involved. I had some more ideas about how the art work should be arranged in the space as well as how things should be framed but instead of documenting some of these mundane choices (that will probably change half a dozen times in the next two weeks anyway) I thought I’d write a bit about one of the more important elements of an exhibition, the gallery.
Of the three galleries I have exhibited with Gaffa is the largest in terms of floor space, it is also the only gallery still operating. (An unfortunate nature of artist run spaces is their short lifespan). Although it is an artist run space, Gaffa Gallery does receive government funding which means unlike the other galleries I’ve shown at, someone is paid for to sit the space during opening hours and the invites are paid for too. This is a big help to me, as it means I don’t have to take 2 weeks off work in order to put on an exhibition all the time. They also handle the bar on opening night, invites, press and just make life easier in general.
I’ve been fortunate that each gallery I’ve shown with has been run by wonderful, inspiring, not to mention helpful and forgiving people. And in the case of both Side-on Gallery and Gallery Fourtyfour I’d still be having shows there today if they hadn’t closed down.
Of course it’s always a little bit easier the second time having a show with a gallery, at least you know where everything is, and how things work, hopefully more so by the third time. Anything that minimises the work load and lets me focus on the actual artwork and set up is a bonus, as there are always plenty of things to stress about if the inclination is there.
Cheers
A.
01/02/09 – framed…
As an illustrator that works on paper framing is an important and costly part of any exhibition, In the past I have tried most things, for a few years I used a professional framer, and this really is the best thing you can do for your work, but in order to have more than one show a year I had to find other ways to get work framed, including cheap store bought stuff from $2 stores, reusing frames, pinning work directly to the wall etc…
For this show I really wanted to put some money into frames to give the show a fresh feel. The ones I had been using in the past were getting a bit worn having been recycled for a number of exhibitions.
My local mini mall has a camera store that stock a shadow box frame in various pastel colours and after buying a couple to hang work at home I thought they would be an effective way to tie the show together.
In some ways I would have preferred to go back to a framer, but with very little time to prepare it just became easier to go with the photo frame option, they are of a high quality and re-usable plus I think they suit the drawings.
2/3rds of the drawings are good to go and I’ll finish putting them behind glass tonight which should give me a better idea of how to finish the last eight I think.
Thanks for reading
A.
03/02/09 – invite delays …
The gallery emailed on the weekend to let me know the fliers had been delayed as the printers they use are Chinese and were closed a few days due to the Chinese new year (a great example of how regardless of your preparation, things can always come up you hadn’t counted on). I received another email today saying they’d be ready for pick up tomorrow which is good. This is an exciting part of an exhibition, watching it all come together. The fliers are usually the first thing which makes it actually feel real for me.
There’s still a bit to do once the invites are picked up. I still have to distribute them, finish off framing, decide on the titles and prices of work, organise a way to transport the art to the gallery (I don’t have a licence or a car), install the work, and probably a few other things I always forget too.
In order to do all this I’ve taken a couple of days off work next week (I work full time in a university library and so generally I try to exhibit in the school holidays when it isn’t as busy). As mentioned in a previous post the gallery cover someone to sit the space, so at least I only have to take a few days instead of a couple of weeks.
Cheers
A
08/02/09 – Just three more sleeps…
until I will be setting up the show. Exhaustion, doubt, paranoia, fear, derision, delirium, terror, tears, trauma, disaster, horror, headaches, frustration, back pains, nausea, nightmares, tooth aches, humiliation, panic, rage, regret, noose bleeds and heart breaks will all feature at some point in my week if they have not already.
I’ve been handing out fliers since getting them on Wednesday, putting some in cafes and bars, art schools, galleries and book stores, anywhere that has a display area for such things, at this point the focus is on trying to promote the show as much as possible. I’ve had a lot more school friends as well as extended family join facebook in the past year since so it will interesting to see if this helps get a few more people through the door. It is always easier to promote work I’m confident in, and I really feel this is some of my best drawing. The better the job done with promotion the more pressure there is to put on a good show.
Regards
A.
12/02/09 – show time!
Yesterday was the ‘bump in’ and I’ll admit to being as nervous as I’ve ever been. Things were off to a bad start when I rang Dominos pizza instead of a taxi cab when trying to get 25 framed drawings to the gallery. But despite my failings as a human being that always rise to the surface when the pressure is on, I still managed to get it all done. It’s hard to tell yet if it works as an exhibition, at the moment I can only see the mistakes and what could have been – potential that was missed. That’s not to say I’m not happy with my artwork, because I am. It’s just that a good show can really be greater than the sum of its parts if done correctly.
The opening is tonight.
All there is to do now is turn up, get drunk and try to have a good time, hopefully sell something.
20/02/09 – back to reality…
It’s been over a week since the opening night, and I appologise for the lack of posting in that time. I would like to say that it’s due to all the illicit sex and drugs involved in being an exhibiting artist, but unfortunatley that isn’t the case. In fact I’ve been back at work since Monday getting ready for another semester of students. It gets harder to return to work after each show.
All went well, a good turn out of people and a few red dots by the end of the opening meant I slept a little better that night. Unfortunatley I forgot to take my camera, but I have taken some shots of the exhibition during the day and will hopefully get them up on the weekend. I was a little dissapointed in the way I hung the show, hopefully I’m just being my own worse critic but I like an exhibition to be greater than the sum of it’s parts. In this case the work was some of my best, but I’m not sure that the ideas came through or that it came together as well as it could have.
Although I’ve been doing this for a few years now, I am aware that these are still very early days, and it’s all a learning experience at this point. I had planned to book a couple more shows at a different gallery for later in the year, which I emailed after my opening. Saddley the intended gallery, another artist run space will be shutting it’s doors soon. This leaves me a bit up in the air for the rest of the year as I like to have something on the horizon to work towards. At least this will motivate me to start seeing more shows and checking out new gallerys.
The exhibition is still on for a few more days, I will take the work down next Tuesday evening. So for those Sydney people that would still like to see the show it will be on until the 24/02/09, it might be the last chance you have to see my work for another year or so.
Thanks again to Steve for the added online promotion, and for anyone that kept reading, or came along to the show. It is apprieciated.
Thanks again
Andrew
Bruno Does Tokyo!
Bruno Quinquet who I intervewed a while back has been given a great accolade check this out.
Hi Steve, my Salaryman Project received the Tokyo Visual Arts graduation Grand Prix.As a result I am given the opportunity to have a solo exhibition which starts on next Monday!Little time, lots of pressure, but a very motivating challenge.As an unexpected plus, I got the patronage of the French Embassy in Tokyo.
News Flash
I interviewed Ghostpatrol earlier on and now he is the subject of a TV interview… here are the details!
ABC DOCUMENTARY
GHOSTPATROL & MISO
24TH FEBRUARY 10PM ABC
As you may already know, Miso and I spent a portion of last year with the ABC on
our tail. The end result will be shown this month on ABC TV Australia. The Documentary is called ‘Paper Cuts’ and runs for about 30mins. It will be replayed on ABC2 on Sunday the 1st of March at 7pm.
I believe the ABC will have it available for streaming/download on their website
after it airs. I’ll put the link on my website when it becomes available.The footage shows both Miso and Ghostpatrol working in their studio in preparation
for their Metro 5 gallery show “nesting and dying”.thanks and take care
david ghostpatrol
Bud, Pete and Archie, an insight
Television and film star, not to mention Australian icon Bud Tingwell is my subject for this years upcoming Archibald Prize, he proved to be my most challenging portrait subject to date.
It is the most difficult portrait I have done because, I respect him so much as an individual – I wanted to do him justice, I wanted the portrait to be right.
Peter Biram’s Portrait of Bud Tingwell for the 2009 Archibald Prize
Bud is the fifth subject I have painted for the Archibald Prize. My previous entries included race walker Nathan Deakes, Mathematician Robyn Arianrhod, newsreader Mal Walden and showbiz identity Roland Rocchiccioli.
My first meeting with Bud took place at the 2007 Salon Des Refuses in Melbourne, I knew very little about him before I put paintbrush to canvas, other than his on screen persona, he invited me to his place and we talked about love, war and the film industry.
It usually takes me anywhere between a few of days to a couple of weeks to complete a portrait, but Bud’s portrait took me, off and on six months. I got to the point where it was ridiculous, it’s not going to be perfect. Sometimes on-air personalities don’t match with the real-life person. Sometimes you could pickup cues from one’s personality on the big screen. I thought Bud seemed to be a nice person but you can never really tell. It was lucky he turned out to be as nice as he appears to be in television and film. If I don’t like the person I can’t paint them. Portrait painting is a very private process; you get up close and personal. I would describe Bud’s portrait as honest. I asked him how he would describe himself, Bud replied, “A Slob” I think what he meant was, he was sick of being portrayed as a sophisticated gent. He wanted the portrait to say something different; he wanted it to have substance.
The day of the sitting I met at Bud’s home, I wanted to create an environmental portrait, almost like a family snap shot. This I felt, would give the painting humanistic content, Bud would be surround by his personal objects, books tapes and even the several remotes placed on the lamp table. At the time he was preparing for the role of Winston Churchill in a TV film role, so the room was filled with references. So I used this as a narrative backdrop to the painting, because of the eclectic nature of the background this again adds to the family snap shot feel. I felt this side of Bud’s persona was not to my knowledge, previously portrayed. In all of my portraits I try to make it a team effort, that of the sitter and the artist, some times sitters have strong input in the content of the paintings while other times they don’t. I always start from the point of – “How do you see yourself” and extend from there.
Bud and myself at our house in Gembrook
For the first time I was nervous about showing Bud the final product, Nine times out of ten the sitter may find the portrait confronting, I felt I captured a likeness, but I think first and foremost it must be a good painting and Bud really loved it as a ‘painting’. There is a degree of sadness and also a degree of happiness (in the painting). The previous paintings and images of Bud are only showing one persona, the polished gent. I thought, yes, he is that, but also he’s more… one side a polished gent, and the other a vulnerable human being.
When I finished the painting I invited Bud up for a bar-b-que and to view the painting, there’s that awkward moment, what if he didn’t like it, what do you say? Bud’s reply… he had not looked at it for an accurate representation, but its own intrinsic value as a work of art…. And as a work of art.. He loved it. To me he couldn’t have made a better statement.
Here’s a link to an article on it. as well
Alison…
An amazing “chronicle” of Alisons life thus far… by Jack Radcliffe, for me this is a photographic delight, great moments captured in real life and handed to us to see… perplexing…
If you are into photographing people, check this out, if not, take a look from the development of life side of things… So much said without words.
An Archibald Journey
The following article is By Victorian Artist Peter Biram chronicling some of his “Archibald Journey” thanks Pete for your fascinating look at the Archibald Portrait Prize (An Australian Artistic Institution), this is a fantastic chance to see behind the scenes from an artists perspective… Take it away Pete…
Steve Gray
There is something special about the magic and frustration of the big prize known as the ‘Archibald Prize – My journey concerning entering the Prize over the past couple of years, has been a ‘double edged sword’. A story of joy and reward, and of disappointment. I feel with this statement I have just summed up the art world. But first let me take you back to the beginning, why enter the Archibald? Some say it’s “Nothing more than a chook raffle”, while other say “It’s the dunny of Australian art… attracting entries like odor attracts flies”.
I don’t share this view point, however a can see some strength in their argument. At the end of the day I feel the true strength of the argument lies in the fact we are opening up a wider avenue of dialogue, this in turn has to be good for Art.
Before I share my story with you it may be valuable to underpin this essay with a little background on the history of the Archibald…
The Archibald Prize originated with a charitable bequest endowed by Jules Francois Archibald in 1916. His will stipulates a portrait painted by any artist resident in Australasia, preferably of some one distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics.
Jules François Archibald (1856 – 1919),
The Archibald Prize has a litigious history with many of its defining moments in the Courtroom. The most significant of these was the 1943 Dobell case in which artists challenged the winner on the grounds the work by Dobell was a caricature rather than a portrait. Less famous but possibly more importantly, the Bloomfield case, in which the Art Gallery Trustees took an artist to court when they found he had not painted the portrait from life.
Their position appeared to be in the interests of fairness and their legal obligations under the terms of the bequest the matter required Court action. No award in history has caused so much controversy as the Dobell case in 1943 over the Joshua Smith portrait, since then a lot of brave attempts have been made to be controversial, the Brett Whiteley Portrait, Self – Portrait in Studio, I felt hits the mark.
Each year the entry form is headed by an invitation by the Art Gallery of New South Wales trust to artists to ‘submit paintings in competition for the Archibald Prize’. They then quote the words of Archibald in which he mentions ‘painted’ and then they quote from the Bloomfield case judgement and state that ‘For the purposes of this Prize, the Trustees apply the definition of a portrait as determined in the judgement of 1983: “a picture of a person painted from life”.’ So each year the hunt is on sitters of note wanted to be painted and artists searching for the sitter “of note” hoping that the choice of sitter will give the artist an edge and will catch the judges eye.
Many Archibald contenders go to a great deal of trouble to seek out their sitters; some subjects being closely guarded secrets. There is no doubt a famous and well-liked public figure may increase an artist’s chances of being hung. As a challenge to myself some years I selected a worthy yet generally unknown subject, In 2007 I painted a good friend I have known more than 20 years. We moved into our house about 20 years ago and that’s when I met Robyn who lived next door.
Portrait of Dr Robyn Arianrhod 2007 Oil on Canvas
The background of the portrait was born out of our long-term friendship and the professional respect I have for Robyn – this is my fourth year of entering the Archibald portrait competition, and being both a writer and a scientist, Robyn is a perfect subject under the Archibald rules.
Both Robyn and I have a love and concern for the environment and I’ve tried to convey this in the painting. Robyn is sitting in a ‘personal space’ (being in a private garden). The garden represents a ‘micro’ response to ‘land use’ and this is contrasted with the ‘macro’ response in the right hand panel.
The composition is broken into two halves, in order to symbolize “mathematical balance”. There is also contrast between strength and femininity and an interesting juxtaposition of sensuality and the stereotypically male-dominated environment of mathematics.
The right side of the portrait contains a landscape, on one level it is juxtaposed against the portrait offering an extension as a narrative to the portrait; on the other hand it operates as a ‘stand alone’ landscape in its own right, the landscape reads as on the following layers -
- Mark making – On this level the viewer processes the work on a surface level, that is to say the paint texture and colour of the work. The work at this level can be read in decorative terms.
- Subject – At this level the viewer reads the work as a landscape, within this framework the observer can interpret the geometric forms as pure decoration.
- Conceptual Narrative – The current body of work exploring the theme of ‘land ownership’ and ‘usage’ within an environmental framework. This relationship includes traditional and non-traditional interaction with the land. For example, within this theme of land ownership I am exploring the pressure placed on the land in an environmental sense both in a western/ European standpoint (the ‘Triangle’) and the koorie perspective, (the dots).
Within this theme I am exploring the fine balance that exists in the natural environment. This is to say “Order & Chaos” found within nature and the balance of power shifting between the two states.
The composition is deliberately broken into two sections symbolizing the two states of chaos & order, the fine balance of nature is placed under pressure re land “caretakership”.
Within this framework I have explored both contemporary ownership symbolized by the triangle in the bottom half of the composition.(from a European standpoint)
The ‘hard edged’ nature of the triangle also represents past civilizations (the pyramids of Egypt) this presents a symbol of ‘land ownership’ in the sense of ‘branding’ the land.
I choose the triangle/pyramid shape because of its direct contrast to the soft organic nature of the bush motif. This also symbolizes human kind’s influence on the natural landscape.
The two triangles “together” also read as a symbol for a ‘black hole’ within the context of a universe the top triangle is a symbol for Steve Hawking’s theory on the ‘Dual Universe’. I use this as a metaphor for “Order & Chaos” and how one juxtaposes one against another, that is to say, as human beings our nature is to explore, from a ‘micro’ level, our backyard, to a ‘macro’ level our universe.
Myself & Robyn in front of the Portrait in the studio Above: the 2007 Archibald entry
Part of entering the Archibald, I believe, is the opportunity to raise ones profile, this seems to be a sticking point for many artists, and the question of how many hours in the week do I devote to the quest of building ones profile. Some say 50/50, others put aside one day a week others two, at this point I am not going to explore this question as this topic would produce another essay to do it justice. However I have found on the question of raising ones profile, the Archibald gives quite an advantage, to date I have not been successful as being selected as a finalist for the Archibald, but I have been selected as a finalist (five times) for the Salon Des Refuses. (Melbourne)
The Artists who submit for the Archibald and are not hung, are invited to submit the rejected work for the Salon des Refuses, which is in the tradition of the French impressionists of the 1860’s who held a breakaway exhibition from the French Academy.
In 2007 I was very fortunate, as not only was my portrait of Robyn selected for the Salon Des Refuses but also a portrait of myself painted by one of my students and now dear friend and artist Ursula Theinert
Myself & Ursula at the opening of “The Hidden Faces of the Archibald” Exhibition 2007
This was indeed special as I was able to share good fortune with my friends and family returning to the question of increasing ones profile, such is the power of the Archibald as one can tap into publicity even by absence of success in being a finalist in the big prize. I suppose at the end of the day the Archibald enables the emerging Artist to “make it” within certain circles of the art world.
Opening night of ‘The hidden Faces of the Archibald’
In 2009 I wanted to draw an analogy between sport and art, so I picked a sports star who had reached the top of his profession but I also wanted to pick someone who experiences the same frustration as I do.
Nathan’s broken records but hardly anyone knows about him. Despite holding the world record for the 50km walk, Nathan has been starved of the lucrative sponsorship and advertising opportunities that so many Australian sports people are afforded. If he was a swimmer of a footballer he’d have no problem. But he’s gone into debt and had to sell his car to keep himself going. I just think it’s tragic.
Nathan has seemingly been blocked out of the Australian sporting mainstream, emerging artists face a similar battle to have their work taken seriously among a host of perennial Archibald finalists.
I think a lot of people have been locked out of the Archibald, because by the time you get all the leading portrait painters together, there might only be room for one or two wildcards (in the final exhibition).
2008 Archibald entry “Nathan Deakes, Race Walker”
Myself standing in front of my painting of Nathan at the Salon Des Refuses, (the hidden of the Archibald)
and in the studio.
In 2006 the entry contained a little political bite, I painted Channel Ten newsreader Mal Walden, kicking back after a bit of gardening, still resplendent in gumboots and shorts, holding a shovel with his fluffy little dog Gypsy to the side. Down next to the dog, is a seemingly innocuous rabbit, painted by Jessica, my daughter. Well, that rabbit has extra political bite, it was a comment on – level playing field, it’s not.
I entered the Archibald Prize before, but my portrait of media personality Roland Rocchiccioli was rejected.
The rabbit was my comment on the Archibald Prize entry process, where seemingly artists outside a certain circle of regular entrants are often “locked out”. A few years ago an artist entered a painting of a rabbit into the Archibald Prize, which is for portraits of a man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics.
The Archibald is for paintings of distinguished people so how could a rabbit be in the Archibald? If the rabbit was used as a direct metaphor connected to the sitter I could understand, however at the time I thought the conceptual content regarding the choice of motif was a little ambiguous.
I think it’s the same every year, the same old names; Kerrie Lester, Jenny Sage, Robert Hannaford, Gary Shead. Their work is good but it’s the same artist’s every year. What is this saying? That there’s no new talent in portrait painting in this country? However I don’t want to be seen as having sour grapes about being rejected last year. It is simply saying “Try to open up a critical discourse and dialogue”. I like to describe the criticism as a “double edged sword”.
The Archibald is about controversy and I love the Archibald because we can criticise it. That’s what I love about being Australian, we like having a go at the establishment and while I worship the Archibald – and would worship it even more if I won it – it should be able to stand up to criticism. An artist’s job is to act as a commentator on what’s happening.
I think most artists probably feel the same way as I do (about the Archibald Prize) but if they feel they’re being gagged then they’re not doing their job. However my entry is not simply a criticism of the Archibald Prize, It’s multi-layered, it’s basically about Mal’s passion which is gardening. Secondly, it’s about personal space and changing. The painting is about how nothing stays the same on a personal level, in a changing garden.
Then on a macro-level things are changing. In Australia there’s environmental change, pressure on land created by how we use it, as well as issues such as salinity and clear felling. And as for that little rabbit, the innocent little bunny that represents criticism of the Archibald Prize, there is another story behind it. When I knocked on Mal’s door, this cute little dog came bounding down the hallway. I straight away thought I wanted to paint the dog. The dog had a toy rabbit in its mouth.
An article from the Melbourne Age 2006 with the portrait of Mal Walden
At the end of the day I believe it’s about giving it a go, its like theatre, the stage, performing to an audience, putting all on the line and waiting for feedback, if any.
As you can see in the above article, Peter encourages his students to be involved in the Archibald prize, to see more evidence of this take a look at this link. Scroll down on that page to see the articles and learn more about artists and students at work. Particularly of interest is this from a Gippsland Victoria Regional TV station.
Sculptural intent
The guys over at Post Industrial Design have launched their website. It’s great to have a sculptural focus in amongst all our 2D works. If you like quirky steel and other constructions that really are Post Industrial you will find great value in checking out Jos Van Hulsen’s works.
Going Solo… Ursula Theinert
It’s not every day you get a chance to explore the behind the scenes efforts of artists, as they do their “bit” to add to the cultural landscape and provide us with their unique insights into the world from their creative standpoint. So here is a “diary” of setting up a show by Ursula Theinert, who’s first solo show is at a public gallery in large country town, blessed with a great regional gallery. So lets follow part of her journey as events unfold, I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. Oh and see her own website by following her link in the artists links to the right below for more images of the show.
Steve Gray
‘FOREST MANAGEMENT’ THE FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION OF URSULA THEINERT
AT THE LATROBE REGIONAL GALLERY MORWELL Vic Oct 2008
This is an insight into the last few days of my first solo exhibition. I am going to include a short introduction and then a series of photographs and diary entries that show the sequence of events that lead to the attainment of one of the important goals, which artists set for themselves.
At the time of submitting my proposal to the gallery, on 25/4/07, I only had the concept, which was, to address the hidden problems of forest management. My focus was going to be on pine plantations to highlight the plantations of an alien species of trees which covers thousands of hectares of land, insidiously effecting the environment. I wanted to reveal that under the canopy of perceived green there is a veritable desert of pine needles affecting the habitat of our native flora and fauna.
I intended to express the landscape in human terms, as a living entity, in order to heighten passion and empathy.
The gallery took me on good faith and I worked very hard to complete the series of paintings. This personal journey culminated with the exhibition opening night on the 24th of October, 2008. It has been a very rewarding experience and one that I will to share with you through my diary.
Having created the works I was now in the final planning stages, on the weekend before the set up day 21/10/08, I made a list of the final jobs that needed to be done.
18/10/08
I typed up and printed my labels and then pasted them to the back of all my works on paper and canvas.
I then needed to find enough “D” rings to attach to the back of all the canvases. I also checked that all the edges of the canvases were clean, and painted them white. I also decided to measure and mark the distances for hanging just above the “D” rings so that the set up day would go smoothly. I used the formula :-
A divided by 2 +B – C = D
A = The height of the work.
B = The height from the floor to the centre line of the work, which is 1500mm.
C = The distance from the top of the work down to the top of the “D” ring.
D = The height from the floor to where you should place the hanging system.
19/10/08
I had an interesting wood sculpture that was a little unstable but I wanted to include it in the exhibition. So I went on a hunt around the back of our old workshop and found a beautiful rusty old piece of forged steel, which I think is part of an old railway line. It was used to go under the railway track which is then fixed onto the sleeper. It was perfect for the sculpture “Time Warp”, and after a great deal of wire brushing and hitting rust off with a hammer, and then oiling, it looked wonderful. Two holes were drilled through the steel and attached to the sculpture. All I needed to do then was to re-sand the sculpture and oil it. This was followed by a buff and polish and it was ready!
20/10/08
I had 16 paintings to pack into the van. Eight of them were framed and all were about 750 x 1000mm, so they were quite heavy. They went down first and then the four 1500 x 1200mm canvases, followed by the three 1000 x 2.200mm canvases. My handy commuter van has plenty of storage space. I could even put the small canvas at the end of the bay.
I almost forgot my sculpture. I wrapped it up and strapped it into the seat with the seat belt. Finally, all the packing was done along with a bag full of trifolds, business cards, and a visitor book. I also had an additional list of measurements, cleaning cloths and glass cleaner. I was a little nervous about the set up day and I wanted to be organized and look as professional as possible!
21/10/08 – SET UP DAY!
I didn’t sleep well that night. My husband, Werner, and I arrived at the Latrobe Regional Gallery at about 9.30 a.m. and had a coffee at the gallery coffee shop “So Swish”. We then got to work and were pleasantly surprised that some of the gallery staff helped us unload the van and get the work into the gallery space. They told us that there was a shared “set up day” with Monash University Gippsland Campus – Magistery Exhibition. I was also going to have a joint opening with this exhibition! This exhibition would have works from past and present art lecturers, and so they would not be able to help me set up that morning and would install my works either later that day or the next morning. All I had to do was to unwrap the works and decide on the placement along the walls. That job was easy especially when my friends and fellow artists were there to help me.
After the placement was decided all I had to do was to revise me list of works to help the gallery staff amend the copy that I had emailed them earlier. I also wrote down some additional instructions e.g. I needed two plinths – one for the sculpture and one for the trifolds, business cards and visitor’s book.
It was lovely to have Kerrie, Leonie (artists and dear friends) and Werner, my photographer, share this day with me. It was a great support and made the day a lot of fun. We all enjoyed a cup of coffee and a chat afterwards. I decided to come back the following day just to check that all was well. And of course the gallery staff did a super job!
24/10/08 – THE OPENING NIGHT
It was very exciting to have the opening of the exhibition finally arrive. It was a joint opening and there was a large crowd and a wonderful atmosphere. Paul Holton welcomed everyone and then gave the opening speech for my exhibition – I had butterflies and a smile from ear to ear! Tony Hanning then gave his speech which was followed by the guest speaker for the Magistery exhibition Professor Helen Bartlett, who is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Monash University Gippsland Campus. It was a grand affair!! How fortunate for me to be part of this special opening night.
After the speeches people went up to Gallery 6 and my exhibition. I was very happy to see the many friends, family and fellow students coming along to support me. It was also pleasing to see so many unknown faces in the crowd too.
I felt so fortunate to have my teachers, Peter Biram and Chris Myers, who have always been so encouraging and inspiring, to be at the exhibition. And my son James, who flew down from Cairns to share that special night with me.
Just to show you the beautiful space at Latrobe Regional Gallery.
The whole experience of exhibiting at LRG was enriching, and one that I wouldn’t have missed for anything! The exhibition space is beautiful, and the staff were professional and helpful.
LAST THOUGHTS
It is a challenging journey to strive to be an artist and it extremely important to be surrounded by talented, stimulating and encouraging people. I recognize that I have been extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful and kind people supporting me and they have all played a part in making one of my dreams come true.
Do you have questions for the Artist? Go to the comments section at the bottom of this post and ask away.
Compiled and edited by Steve Gray Contemporary Australian Artist
Art Toys – Toyism
This just in from Alex Pardee I was wondering where this genre had come from, seeing it more and more in Australian art but perhaps the groundswell happened elsewhere.
Artist sells for millions – Damien Hirst
The news media is all over this guy (English Artist Damien Hirst) and the ongoing success with his work.
If he is making this sort of money I think I’ll become an artist! (Oh I already am…? darn what went wrong?)
It raises the BIG question, what makes an artist successful?