Art for art’s sake is a beautiful idea – but artists have to eat. Few of us have generous benefactors to lavish funds upon us, so a sale means we can keep going. Selling work means we can buy new art supplies, sales mean we can secure a space in a studio or artist-run-initiative (ARI) and sales mean we can keep doing what we love. … Continue reading SOLD, SOLD. Why sales validate artists.
This is a new beginning. Sometimes the best thing to do is just start. Put marks on paper, scratch around and create something. My next series is a series of mixed media portraits created in association with Vine videos, little six second snippets of video. I love the brevity of it and turning that brevity into a work on canvas. Tragically, I lost my earlier … Continue reading Six seconds of fame, post pop portraits
Saatchi Online is an enormous gallery that anyone in the world can step into and wander among hundreds of thousands of artworks by artists all around the world. I love the idea but it can be overwhelming, knowing where to start and how to find good artwork. That’s why it’s great when pieces are curated it’s a great way to see solid works in a … Continue reading Inspired by Picasso, an online exhibition curated by Rebecca Wilson
Part of the reason I create collage is because it’s cheap. I tear up old magazines to create images and use boxboard as my canvas. It’s rudimentary, but effective. I’m lucky that paper is in love with glue and glue is head-over-heels about paper. As I move more towards assemblage and mixed media, I need to pick up a brush and paint, so of course, … Continue reading When scrimping and penny-pinching are the artist’s enemies
Adelaide is a tricky place to get to, it’s surrounded by desert and is parked in the groin of Australia. I had to head down there for work and was lucky enough to discover some of the most extraordinary gallery curation I have ever seen in my life. Even at revered institutions like the Royal Academy in London and MOMA in New York, I have … Continue reading Extraordinary curation at the Art Gallery of South Australia
I’ve decided to go back to school and learn to draw all over again. After spending 20 years in the mad world of advertising, my drawing skills became institutionalised. They became kind of pictionary-esque quick-draws to get an idea across as quickly and simply as possible. It’s a joy to step back into school, at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and pick … Continue reading Back to basics, re-learning to draw
When you think about religious art, the first thing that comes to mind for many is little baby Jesus with a golden halo. Not so, when it comes to the Blake Prize which explores the religious and spiritual in art. One year a textured abstract took the $25,000 prize. Another year, a Buddhist entry scooped the prize. I’ve always wanted to enter the Blake but … Continue reading What my teddy bear taught me about idolatry
It’s nothing much to look at. A few words in a column relegated to things to do to fill in lazy Friday afternoon. But for me it was a big deal, huge. Being invited to showcase my work in Goulburn Regional Art Gallery (GRAG) as part of ‘A Snapshot’ series meant so much to me. Not only did I get to share gallery space with the … Continue reading What is smaller than matchbox but can move mountains?
If anyone knows anything about Sidney Nolan, they know his Ned Kelly series: an Australian bushranger immortalised in enamel on hardboard, many painted on the kitchen table of Heidi on the outskirts of Melbourne while Sunday Reed made steaming cups of tea and writhed in the bedsheets. I thought I knew the works of Nolan. I was wrong. One wing in MONA is dedicated to … Continue reading A mammoth work of staggering brilliance: Nolan’s Snake
Jack Featherstone is an amazing man. He spent a great deal of his life travelling the Australian outback, giving dental care to remote communities and investigating the bacteria of the mouths of Indigenous Australians. His paintings are wonderfully naive, but what I love the most are the stories that go with them. It made me realise while it’s fine to make pretty pictures, the works … Continue reading Art with a story is better than art for art’s sake
Ray Monde 