Last Christmas, I painstakingly cut out little collage Xmas motifs and carefully stuck them down. Mini-collages like santa’s boots coming down the chimney, puddings with all the trimmings and dancing elves. This year I wanted to do something much simpler and naive, so I pulled out three potatoes, carved crude shapes, let them dry for a little while them dumped them in paint and stamped … Continue reading Christmas card potatoes
The National Gallery of Australia is gearing up for a massive Toulouse-Lautrec, it’s not open yet but I did see a great spread of Albert Tucker works where Sidney Nolan used to be (apparently, Nolan is off to Ireland). Albert spent some time living in a home made trailer on the banks of the Seine in Paris. His work is a little cray-cray, clearly disturbed … Continue reading Bye bye Nolan, hello Tucker
Years ago I lived in Bloomsbury in London and shared a mad 3 storey house with all kinds of inspiring folk. There was a guy who made light installations for raves, another bloke made a massive 6 storey high treehouse just to film it being burnt to the ground and then there was Anna Hymas who was studying at St Martin’s College. Her work has … Continue reading Anna Hymas’ style is lyrical and beautiful
There’s a great art festival in Sydney called Art & About which is always full of surprises. Today it was bright and sunny, a glorious Sydney day, 28C (82F) but people were donning raincoats outside this house. It’s a great piece of installation art by James Dive, part of the Glue Society creative team. Once you step inside it’s raining. A torrential downpour. It’s … Continue reading I wish you hadn’t asked: Art & About
I’ve been shortlisted as a finalist for the Gosford Art Prize which is held at the Gosford Regional Gallery . It’s the first art prize of any note that I have been shortlisted for and it really is exciting just to be shortlisted. As an emerging artist, any independent nod of approval is all it takes to be spurred to keep going. At this point … Continue reading Finalist in the Gosford Art Prize
A surprise trip to Adelaide took me to the Art Gallery of South Australia. For a relatively small gallery, it really punches above its weight with stunning, carefully curated exhibitions like Fred Williams and Lidia Groblicka. The real eye-popper for me was Anna Platten. Her work is stunning, precise and opens up a cornucopia of wonder. What especially struck me is that she creates full … Continue reading Anna Platten is devilishly crazy
In April, I received a commission for a horse. It’s totally outside the scope of what I normally do and because it was a commission for someone I know I was debilitated by the request. I was torn with all manner of stupid things like what size do they want it? What colours would they like? How realistic do they expect it to be? In … Continue reading I’m on a horse
A sudden icy downpour made me seek refuge in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. It was serendipitous as there was an amazing talk by artist Fang Lijun, the collector Uli Sigg and the curator Claire Roberts of the Go Figure Contemporary Chinese Portraiture exhibition. The exhibition is really compelling with such vibrant colours and racy content being birthed from suppression. Fang Lijun said that … Continue reading And then I met Fang Lijun at the National Portrait Gallery
A lot of people were asking me to see my Summer in Berlin series in person, so I have finally curated an exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel in Pitt Street, Sydney. It’s on till October 15, so if you’re passing by, please pop in to the Ground Floor gallery and take a peek. If you don’t live in Sydney, you can see the original series … Continue reading Come & experience Summer in Berlin
After a hiatus of far too long, I am back behind the wheel. It’s funny how a small commission can help you get your sticky fingers going again. This collage is for the cover of a local cookbook. Locals have a trailer set up near the park and when there is lots of holiday traffic they serve free tea & coffee to give drivers a … Continue reading Back behind the wheel
Ray Monde 