Postcard Pollution 1999
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'Postcard Pollution' was painted in 1999 along with about 15 others paintings of the same dimensions 100cm x 150 cm. They were all painted on board with a wooden frame. The paintings were all done with Howard Arkley in mind. Howard had died the same year on his return after showing 'The Home Show' at the Australian Pavilion at the 48th Venice Biennale and a sellout show in Los Angeles. I was devastated by his death. He was a friend and an inspiration. His love of art and artist's was infectious. I was his studio assistant from 1989 to 1991 and the experience was incomparable. One of my most cherished possessions is a chair that Howard gave me on my birthday when we were tidying up his studio. I exhibited 'Postcard Pollution' with 'Tattooed Head' and most of the other paintings from the series in my show called Tribute To Howard at the Horsham' Art Gallery in 2000 |
Howard at The Espy
'Tattooed Head' 1989 Howard Arkley
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My painting Tattooed Maniac 1999
Chair that Howard gave to me
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Gwendolyn's Kitchen 2017
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'Gwendolyn's Kitchen' was painted in 2017 and is dedicated to my dear friend Gwendolyn Thorne who died in 2017. Gwendolyn was my beautiful art loving friend that I met about 10 years earlier through Dr Arthur's gallery. Not only was she a great supporter of my work but she and her husband Charles were true friends. I would visit them for a cup of tea and we would talk about our families, our life experiences and of course art. She had a dedicated painting studio attached to her kitchen and she would show me things she was working on and artwork that she owned and loved. She also kept a magnificent collection of books that she would encourage me to peruse for inspiration.
After looking through books and discussing the paintings and drawings by some great Australian artists that hung on the walls of their home, we would sit at the table in the kitchen with Charles and enjoy a cup or two of tea. I would enjoy stories of their travels through Europe and Charles always had a fascinating memory from the events during his service in the Australian Navy during WW2. There was always a vase with beautiful flowers in the centre of the table sitting on a pretty tablecloth. Gwendolyn would always sit in her chair with her back to the studio door and Charles would sit opposite her. I would sit between them facing the window as can be seen in this painting. We would sip tea and enjoy the biscuits or cakes from Darriwill Farm that Gwendolyn always had at hand. Gwendolyn Thorne was a genuine art lover and like many women of her generation she sacrificed her art practice for her family's needs. She maintained a deep involvement in art and was personal assistant to Australian art critic and historian Alan McCulloch from 1974-1982, when McCulloch was director of the Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre until she and Charles moved to Hamilton in 1982. Gwendolyn passionately loved strong blacks as used by the German Expressionists and her favourite artists included Picasso, Max Beckmann, John Percival and perhaps most of all George Baldessin Some years ago Gwendolyn and I exchanged paintings and I am the proud owner of a work that she had painted of herself with her daughter Michelle. Gwendolyn had another of her self portraits hanging in her kitchen and I included it in my painting. 'Gwendolyn's Kitchen' was exhibited in December 2017 at the Elizabeth Arthur Fine Art 30th Anniversary Exhibition and it is my great honour that it is now in the possession of her daughter Michelle. Michelle asked me to do a painting for Gwendolyn's funeral and she very generously permitted me to select some of Gwendolyn's art books to have. They are among my most precious possessions. Some people touch our lives and never leave, Gwendolyn Thorne enriched my life and I will always be grateful. |
Gwendolyn's self portrait with her daughter Michelle
My version of Gwendolyn's self portrait that was cremated with her
Gwendolyn's painting in her studio
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What am I? Where Have I Come From? Where Am I Going? 2010
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What am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? 2010
I worked for two weeks exclusively on this painting. Finished and delivered it to the Hamilton Art Gallery to be included in The Hamilton Connection 2010 exhibition. I started it and put down the basic composition and then took a break from it for several weeks while I finished off some other paintings that had been at a point of no progress for a long time.
What am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? is a painting that had been in my head since about 2007 in the midst of researching Mayan Art and around the time that I obtained some excellent books on Gauguin
Both theme and title are taken from Gauguins large painting - Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? The other main visual influence on the painting is the Mayan mural at Bonampak Mexico (2). This mural has faded badly over the centuries but mainly due to damage caused by human intervention since it was discovered in 1946. There has been a virtual restoration done recently that supposedly gives an accurate indication of the original colours used. It was upon these colours that I based the colour scheme of my painting.
Whereas Gauguin's work is a collective consciousness take on the question of human existence and religion. My painting is intended to be more from the perspective of an individual's struggle with existential thoughts. I wanted the subject in my painting to be alone while acknowledging his/her relationship to humanity through the ages. So, although he/she is isolated in an imagined landscape, the majority of the pictorial space is taken up bu the vessels, masks and relics of human existence from the past.
I worked for two weeks exclusively on this painting. Finished and delivered it to the Hamilton Art Gallery to be included in The Hamilton Connection 2010 exhibition. I started it and put down the basic composition and then took a break from it for several weeks while I finished off some other paintings that had been at a point of no progress for a long time.
What am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? is a painting that had been in my head since about 2007 in the midst of researching Mayan Art and around the time that I obtained some excellent books on Gauguin
Both theme and title are taken from Gauguins large painting - Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? The other main visual influence on the painting is the Mayan mural at Bonampak Mexico (2). This mural has faded badly over the centuries but mainly due to damage caused by human intervention since it was discovered in 1946. There has been a virtual restoration done recently that supposedly gives an accurate indication of the original colours used. It was upon these colours that I based the colour scheme of my painting.
Whereas Gauguin's work is a collective consciousness take on the question of human existence and religion. My painting is intended to be more from the perspective of an individual's struggle with existential thoughts. I wanted the subject in my painting to be alone while acknowledging his/her relationship to humanity through the ages. So, although he/she is isolated in an imagined landscape, the majority of the pictorial space is taken up bu the vessels, masks and relics of human existence from the past.
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Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Paul Gauguin 1897-1898 Mayan Mural Room 1 Bonampak Chiapas, Mexico 790AD |
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Left Panel
Centre Panel
Right Panel
Detail Images
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Note Book References
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One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear 2020
This painting includes descriptions that The President of The USA has used to describe his adversaries, of which he seems to have many. The title 'One day, It's like a miracle. It will disappear' appears in the work and is one of his comments in response to coronavirus during the early days of the 2020 pandemic. I don't consider the painting to be political. I am interested in the choice of a person like this to lead his country. His persona and his choice of words obviously appeal to many and to me it is fascinating and frightening. I don't see the world through 'left verses right' glasses, I am just interested in people and what makes them tick, and this guy seems like the worst choice to lead anything because he only seems interested in himself.
Girl With Canary 2015
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Dr Elizabeth Arthur returned from England with a gift for me in the form of a print of Picasso's 'Head of Woman' 1924 that she acquired at the Tate Gallery where the original resides. The simple palette used and the emphasised linearity of the drawing
appealed to me very much. The resultant painting records one one of the few times that I restricted myself to colour limitations so strictly. The colours I have used are not a subtle as the source paining and either is the drawing, The composition draws heavily on the original without being too derivative. |
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Picasso Head of Woman 1924- Tate Gallery
Nature Boy 2009
Nature Boy was taken from a 'virtual collage' I made on the computer (seen at right). I wanted it to be a happy image and I intended the viewer to relate to the central figure. I took a suitably sized canvas and put down a line drawing in permanent marker that was pretty close to the original image. On the larger scale the viewer's response was altered somewhat. The bird on the figure's head was obviously now much larger. The effect of this was to cause the viewer's gaze to be constantly pulled back and forth netween the bird's eyes and the main figure's eyes. I subsequently changed the shape of the bird and the position of it's head many times.
The larger scale also caused me to make some big changes to the colour scheme. The bird and the main figure's eyes gave me the most trouble. In the end I picked up the colours of the surrounding landscape in the eyes of the nature boy in the hope that it would suggest he was in the landscape. I still attempted to retain the collaged effect that placed him on top of the landscape.
The larger scale also caused me to make some big changes to the colour scheme. The bird and the main figure's eyes gave me the most trouble. In the end I picked up the colours of the surrounding landscape in the eyes of the nature boy in the hope that it would suggest he was in the landscape. I still attempted to retain the collaged effect that placed him on top of the landscape.
Addiction Affliction
Horsham Rural Art Gallery Collection
This painting was done during a time when I was making very few paintings. It was one of the last paintings I did using spray paint and stencils. It was painted as both a homage to Howard Arkley and also as an attempt to encompass all the things he meant to me both personally and artistically. It was exhibited at the Balmoral Chameleon Arts Festival and was purchased by the Horsham Art Gallery on the opening night.
Moroccan 2008
In 2007 I bought some beautiful books on Ancient Egypt. Every time I open them I get something new out of them. Today I ordered a book on the Fayoum Mummy Portraits ( see the four examples above). These are funerary portraits painted on small wooden panels that were bound over the faces of the mummified dead in preparation for burial. If I remember correctly, the Fayoum (Fayum) area was populated by people of Greek/Roman decent, which explain why the images are quite different in style to the Egyptian paintings we are familiar with. Forensic examination of the skulls suggest that the depictions are probably more or less an accurate record of the appearance of the dead person they represent, albeit somewhat 'retouched' to show the subject at their best. The portraits are life size or only slightly smaller than life size . Because they were buried in total darkness within a hot and dry landscape, they escaped both light and moisture damage, the colours are unfaded and retain their original integrity.
I had chanced upon some 30cm x 40cm gold frames a few years ago in a discount bin and had no idea how to utilise them. In 2007 I had done some pencil drawings inspired by the Fayoum Portraits and at some stage used them as the basis for some paintings to fit those gold frames. I had about 6 gold frames and ended up with about 20 paintings including Moroccan 2008. I intend to exhibit them all together as a series one day, so now I have the problem of making more frames to match.
I had chanced upon some 30cm x 40cm gold frames a few years ago in a discount bin and had no idea how to utilise them. In 2007 I had done some pencil drawings inspired by the Fayoum Portraits and at some stage used them as the basis for some paintings to fit those gold frames. I had about 6 gold frames and ended up with about 20 paintings including Moroccan 2008. I intend to exhibit them all together as a series one day, so now I have the problem of making more frames to match.
Gareth Sansom 1992
I saw my first Gareth Sansom Solo show around 1990. I think it was at The Art Gallery in Greville St Prahran. I knew of the works in the NGV 'He sees himself' and the extensive 'Welcome to my mind Suite" and took much from them in a formal sense. I saw another show made up of paintings made of the artist's stay in India. The works on canvas were great and the works on paper even better. For me the most valuable thing was the sense of freedom and his embracing of the aspect of chance. Before I looked at Sansom's work and, via Sansom researched Bacon, I had to know what I was going to do before I started a picture which obviously, produces stiff, lifeless paintings mostly. This painting Gareth Sansom 1992 was one of the first paintings I made without having a clue what I was trying to do. I just started by spraying some blue on a raw canvas and it developed from there. I was thinking very much of Sansom's work while doing it and at some stage I decided to do his portrait from memory. It is one of the few paintings I have ever done using oil paint. Unfortunately, I no longer know where it is. In hindsight it was important for me to have done this one and I wish I still had it. At least I have a photo.
Two Dollar Shop Face 1991
Mixed Media
I used to (and still do) leave Christmas shopping till the last minute. I often go into a shop and tell myself I cant leave until I get something for a particular person or people. It can lead to some purchases that I would never have made otherwise, which is fun. Having very little money for art materials and being a little disillusioned about painting during 1991 I adopted a similar approach to making a series of works. In the late 80's lots of "two Dollar Shops" sprang up all over town. These and other similar discount shops were full of mostly Taiwanese or Chinese made plastic junk.
One afternoon I went into a Two Dollar Shop in Chapel St Windsor just down from Howard Arkley's studio. I went in with $50 and bought several bags full of mostly plastic 'stuff'. Toys and kitchen utensils, plastic flowers etc. They also had plastic grids about 40 x 30 cms, I have no idea what they were supposed to be but they looked like good supports for an arrangement of plastic items. After looking around the store for a suitable glue to use, I decided to tie the stuff on the grids with nylon fishing line. When I got them back to my studio, I poured the contents of the bags on the floor and started trying to arrange them. As per usual, making designs based on heads/faces seemed the best option to me.
I made about 10 or 12 of these heads of which I have about 6 still. No idea where the others ended up. They sat out in an open farm shed for years, luckily out of the sun. They were all dirty and specked with insect crap. I collected them up and took them to the local car wash and pressured washed them. Now they are as good as new almost 2 decades later.
Hog Down 2 2005
Digital image
I really like drawing on the computer. Last year I bought a digital drawing tablet at Aldi's for $70 and it is great.
Hog Down 2 was just done with a mouse using windows paint. My dad used to go shooting most weekends and until I started playing tennis, I went a few times with him. I only went rabbit, duck and quail shooting. I didn't enjoy it and I think I only went to be with my dad. I remember shooting ducks and try as hard as I could to embrace the experience and enjoy it, I never actually did.
Dad used to sell guns and other sporting goods and he used to reload his own cartridges in a room dedicated to his guns. School friends who came over were never not impressed that my dad had guns. He also had massive book shelves with gun books and magazines ( he still does). I always found the pig shooting photos in the magazines facinating. More often than not, the shooter holding up the head of his porcine trophy, looked somehow terrified or shocked to me. Often the look on their face would be proud but also edgy. There is definitley a hunting instict in many human males and I cant help but think there is actually something healthy about excercising that instinct in some way. Perhaps it feeds a need that when nourished, negates the need for men to be aggressive to each other. I have no idea really, but pig shooter photos will always be interesting to me.
Hog Down 2 was just done with a mouse using windows paint. My dad used to go shooting most weekends and until I started playing tennis, I went a few times with him. I only went rabbit, duck and quail shooting. I didn't enjoy it and I think I only went to be with my dad. I remember shooting ducks and try as hard as I could to embrace the experience and enjoy it, I never actually did.
Dad used to sell guns and other sporting goods and he used to reload his own cartridges in a room dedicated to his guns. School friends who came over were never not impressed that my dad had guns. He also had massive book shelves with gun books and magazines ( he still does). I always found the pig shooting photos in the magazines facinating. More often than not, the shooter holding up the head of his porcine trophy, looked somehow terrified or shocked to me. Often the look on their face would be proud but also edgy. There is definitley a hunting instict in many human males and I cant help but think there is actually something healthy about excercising that instinct in some way. Perhaps it feeds a need that when nourished, negates the need for men to be aggressive to each other. I have no idea really, but pig shooter photos will always be interesting to me.
Red Fish 2010
Private Collection
Red Fish was painted from an image I had drawn in pencil while watching a tv show one night. It was about rivers and water usage.
At the time I was thinking about the relationship between humans and animals. For a long time now I have been conscious of how similar human and animal fetus' are. Fish are from eggs and they are somehow a step further removed. Our relationship to fish is something else.
Fish are so vulnerable in their world because of human intervention. Fish can look so helpless out of water yet at the same time so dignified in their silence.
Living in a world that is foreign to us humans. Perpetually suspended in liquid space, breathing water, silent to our ears . Eyes that see things we can't see, knowing things that we can't know. Different worlds on the same planet.
I tried to make a painting that suggests a fish consciousness.
At the time I was thinking about the relationship between humans and animals. For a long time now I have been conscious of how similar human and animal fetus' are. Fish are from eggs and they are somehow a step further removed. Our relationship to fish is something else.
Fish are so vulnerable in their world because of human intervention. Fish can look so helpless out of water yet at the same time so dignified in their silence.
Living in a world that is foreign to us humans. Perpetually suspended in liquid space, breathing water, silent to our ears . Eyes that see things we can't see, knowing things that we can't know. Different worlds on the same planet.
I tried to make a painting that suggests a fish consciousness.
Family Portrait 1997
Private Collection Horsham
Exhibited Horsham Art Gallery 'Voices of the Region' exhibition 1998 (curated by Merle Hathaway).
This was one of several paintings I did in the mid to late nineties that were painted on smooth composite boards with towel/wash cloths collaged onto the surface as a way of creating a contrast in the surface, rather than it being for any conceptial reasons. Though the domestic nature of towels was a pleasant addition.
One of the few paintings I have sold, Family Portrait was bought by a lovely woman who wanted it as a gift for her husband, she said it resembled her family. However, she was concerned because the friend that was with her when she saw it told her, "It is obviously about domestic violence, the females have black eyes and have been beaten by the man". She arranged with Merle to meet with me and ask about it's meaning. I assured her it was not about violence, it was just a painting of an imagined family. I suggested to her that her friend's interpretation of the painting may have said more about the friend than the painting, to which she smiled and told me she was happily going to buy it for her husband.
For me, the episode confirmed that the meaning of a painting is determined by the viewer and not necessarily by the artist..
This was one of several paintings I did in the mid to late nineties that were painted on smooth composite boards with towel/wash cloths collaged onto the surface as a way of creating a contrast in the surface, rather than it being for any conceptial reasons. Though the domestic nature of towels was a pleasant addition.
One of the few paintings I have sold, Family Portrait was bought by a lovely woman who wanted it as a gift for her husband, she said it resembled her family. However, she was concerned because the friend that was with her when she saw it told her, "It is obviously about domestic violence, the females have black eyes and have been beaten by the man". She arranged with Merle to meet with me and ask about it's meaning. I assured her it was not about violence, it was just a painting of an imagined family. I suggested to her that her friend's interpretation of the painting may have said more about the friend than the painting, to which she smiled and told me she was happily going to buy it for her husband.
For me, the episode confirmed that the meaning of a painting is determined by the viewer and not necessarily by the artist..