The power of Alcohol.!

Wow.

Babies are cute. <3

Babies are cute, aren't they?

This is a poorly painted "Tribar". It's an Escher thing, I do believe.

Do I have style yet?

Rhodium - fresher than woolworths.

Yeah, I love this stuff. When the problems with the valves on cans goes away it'll be the freshest paint on the market. In my opinion anyway.

Sunday in the winter sun.

IronlaK + Funkoars

Back.

Well, where have you been?

Answer is nowhere special, I've just been engaged in some all-consuming endeavours.

The Synergy Project was a fascinating fortnight of self-reassurance, for photos and stuff follow the link in my profile.

Quite seperately I took an aerosol art workshop at DaKlinic. Link right there in my list. Definitely worth the time, as I came away with a much better grasp on the aesthetics of graffiti. I might never be a master of this artform, but I wasn't about to walk away from it understanding nothing.

I'm waiting you know, for the special episode of my life, where we step over to the alternate universe, and I'm actually a really good artist, who's work sells more than once a year.

A word on musical ability.

In the recent past I've had a number of conversations regarding coloured hearing and making music. People tell me it should be easier for me than other people because I can see the sound. I think that would be true, if I had note->colour. Those lucky ppl have perfect pitch. You play em a D flat they know it's a D flat because it's green. or whatever. They know the next notes are an E and F, because they're teal and blue, or whatever.

I don't. They're all blue, because you played the notes on a piano. The thing about timbre->colour is that while the non-synesthete next to me hears the three notes and appreciates that they're different, I do the same, but my brain also tells me that they're all blue. Two notes from the same instrument will always be nearly the same colour to me, which really doesnt help me to tell what's an A sharp and what's a F.

This is the sort of thing I'd love to discuss with synesthete musicians, and perhaps one day I will be able to.

Move.!

If there's one aspect of multimedia art I find appealing above all others it's the inclusion of time. Change. Truely dynamic slabs of colour, instead of suggesting movement. Audio is more of a wishlist item for me. I like the idea I can use it, but the skills just aint there yet. If they ever do develop, the possibilities are practically endless.

Instead...

Indeed.. instead of the actual image of "all pianos.." this image appeared instead. Which is all well and good, but it appeared with the details of the painting underneath it. And then it appeared with the painting's details under it again in the graduation ceremony book. (Thank you whoever selected that)

Thing is, this image is digitally manipulated and was originally a photo of a wall with acrylic and spray enamel on it.

There, now my conscience is clear.

Composition 1

Composition 1

Roughly 90x160cm. I cant remember at the moment, and currently on display in Port Adelaide.

A lazy Monday

I learned a couple of things doing this piece. First that painting acrylic onto a hot wall can result in visible evaporation. Never seen that before.

Secondly. Get better at estimating how much coverage you can get out of a near-empty can.

I think graffitti is like chocolate, it doesnt have to have a point.

Old school.

Circa 1999. It's scary to think this canvas will be a decade old next year, making it a decade since my first Solo exhibition. This is what I made of "Sour Times" by Portishead, a band I continue to adore to this day. I found myself musing on the fact this milestone number is approaching, and that portishead also took nearly a decade to release their third album. It's also funny to see how things change, this doesnt look that much like what I make these days, and yet the basic format is still there.

New Technology

I'm probably never going to be the kind of artist that invents a new way to make art. I'm comfortable far from the "cutting edge" of visual arts practise. Why shouldnt I be..I dont like getting cut.

I loved doing this, my animated lightshow spread across 5 or so metres, taller than myself..it felt like a tremendous representation of experience. It's not the sort of thing there are many opportunities to do either.

I'm not 100% happy with the entire wall, but I certainly am happy with the suprised looking man on the right. This was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Little moments are sometimes the best.

Goin large

Well, as canvases go anyway. This one is as tall as I am, and a good 120cm wide. It's been sitting on the living room wall for a while now, because something hs happened to it that spells doom for most paintings.

I like it too much to exhibit it.

The thing is, it's not the exhibiting I'd mind, it's the danger of the painting getting damaged on the way, in the process, or some unforseeable event ocurring. (like say, it being purchased)

I say that's unforseeable because really, who has a wall big and blank enough to accomodate this thing?

Not many people I wager, so there's really not a lot of point in sending it out into the world for people to look at, stroke their collective chin appropriately, and then wal away from. As the end result is my having it back on the wall here at home, I figure it's easier to skip the middle step and just leave it there.

I just have to say...

I was recently fortunate enough to have a few words published in an arts magazine. It was a great chance to publically whine about things I don't like, so naturally I grabbed it.


I just have to say..

You know, I think I’m getting old. I say that because things that didn’t bother me before bother me now. I didn’t rant about them before either. For example, one of the things I love about art is the way you can communicate serious issues discreetly, under the guise of an aesthetically pleasing object.

Yes I know, all sorts of disclaimers should be inserted here about how I define “aesthetically pleasing”.

Or “Object”.

But I digress. I’m all for art that has a message. No one ever said (convincingly) that art always had to be easy. But it seems to me lately more artists are getting to the message bit and then forgetting to make it look good. If you want to explore the boundaries of your chosen art form, talk till you’re blue in the face about “slippage” (and then say the shade of blue is in reference to Ives Klein), and so forth, be my guest. But if the vehicle for these sentiments does not please my senses, I’d prefer to read your essay.
Because lets face it, the last time I punched someone in the face, he did not thank me for reaffirming the visceral nature of human existence and the impermanence of dental positioning. He just held his jaw and scurried off.
So for the sake of this old man, if you could just as easily write it down, do that instead. Heck, exhibit your beautifully crafted, Harvard-referenced two thousand-word artist statement. Because if I’m not going to appreciate your work without reading it (and the three obscure academic tracts you referenced in it) then it’s your statement that’s the real artwork, not the random assemblage of objects you found in your neighbour’s hard rubbish pile, smothered in an unidentifiable foodstuff and called an installation.

There. I feel so much better now.

I heart Ironlak

It's different, that's for sure. If anything I think of it as more like drawing and colouring in the way we used to when crayons were the available medium.

Plus, it's unbelievably fun to be doing something new and find my skills gradually improving.

AND. The boys at Ironlak were so nice to give me immediate feedback on my feedback. Reassuring me of the fixing of colours and the imminent release of sorely needed ones.

Gold.

http://www.ironlak.com/html/main_new.html

Hit em up. It's worth a look.

Soothing.

Here's a blue lamp. Yes I know, I've got an obsession with blue. Not really, but I do like it a lot, and I use it for chromatherapy value. From what I've read blue light can help physically slow the heart and metabolism. Just the thing people should need in this high-speed high-stress culture.

All Pianos are Blue

This is "All Pianos are Blue". Acrylic on canvas, 80x100cm or so.

I'll probably always have a soft spot for this painting. And an amusing anecdote to go with it. You see, I sent this very image to the grad show catalogue, and they instead used a different image, taking this one's title and medium information. This mistake was the repeated in the book they give you at the graduation ceremony. Not that I didnt point this mistake out the first time, but why should they listen, after all, I'm only the artist.

It's also quite a lovely panel, and I hope it looks good when it goes out to exhibition in July. Until then it's safe on the living room wall, reminding me that honours wasnt such a bad year, and that no matter what the results I was able to grow a lot.

A bit of fun..

Even though it's still painting, it's nice to do something silly every now and then. He doesnt look as good in real life as he does here, up close you can see the background through his yellow skin, but I thought I'd rather have that than a completely empty can of Pineapple Park.