F%#k pretty pictures: how one artist brings a tender approach to loss

Art is emotional. Art is worthless unless it gets a reaction. Fuck pretty pictures and lovely things to hang on your walls. Art needs to pour energy into your bones like a thumping early-dawn ecstacy high or the rush from spiked street iced coffee in Hanoi. Art is about the blood coursing around your heart, steaming through your mind and banging a reaction from you. … Continue reading F%#k pretty pictures: how one artist brings a tender approach to loss

Ray MondeAugust 11, 2015August 11, 2015Leave a comment

Art

There’s a lot of shit at @la_Biennale but Grisha #Bruskin is crazy wild #art #videoart

I’m going to say it straight out. There’s a lot of shit at the Venice Biennale. Two planks nailed to a wall? Shit. Self-indulgent video of artist? Shit. So much of it reminds me of the Emporer’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson. The wonderful thing about there being so much shit is that the brilliant work stands out like a beacon in a storm. By … Continue reading There’s a lot of shit at @la_Biennale but Grisha #Bruskin is crazy wild #art #videoart

Ray MondeJuly 22, 2015July 22, 2015Leave a comment

Art

Why is Saint Sebastian the sexiest of all saints?

Sebastian was an early Christian martyr killed in 288 in Rome on orders from the Roman emperor Diocletian. He was at first tied to a tree and shot with arrows, but after surviving that attack, he was clubbed to death by Diocletian’s soldiers. If you haven’t seen Hunger of the Pines by Alt J, take a look at their video, there’s a strange surging melancholy … Continue reading Why is Saint Sebastian the sexiest of all saints?

Ray MondeJune 10, 2015February 14, 20233 Comments

Art

You will never succeed as an #artist without someone to tell you you’re shit.

You see it on Instagram all the time, artist’s posting their latest work, getting thumbs up and endless praise. None of those followers say ‘You’re shit’ – or very few of them. I’ve seen an endless amount of rubbish being gushed over like it’s the new The women of Algiers. As artists, our insecurities mean we love praise, we need it, hunger for it, but … Continue reading You will never succeed as an #artist without someone to tell you you’re shit.

Ray MondeMay 18, 2015May 18, 2015Leave a comment

Art

Why your day job is killing your #art

Many artists are poor. The idea of the starving, struggling artist is as true today as it was for generations of artists before us, except for a lucky few like Pollock and Picasso. It’s a painful irony that iconic artists such as Modigliani, who was born poor and died broke, now has artworks like Nude Sitting on a Divan selling for nearly US $70 million. … Continue reading Why your day job is killing your #art

Ray MondeMay 10, 2015Leave a comment

Art

Art and death by firing squad: Myuran Sukumaran

This morning, Myuran Sukumaran was shot to death by firing squad on the island of Nusakambangan in Indonesia. Myuran was a convicted drug smuggler who spent 10 years on death row in Bali. He was also a rehabilited criminal, who studied fine arts to become an established artist in his own right; someone who could call Australian artist Ben Quilty, one of Australia’s most-popular contemporary artists, … Continue reading Art and death by firing squad: Myuran Sukumaran

Ray MondeApril 29, 2015June 14, 20244 Comments

Art

Watching your mum die is no way to start as an artist @ArtGalleryofSA @mitzevich #art #photography

Every year we try and head down to Adelaide to get amongst the crazy hubbub of festivals. We were lucky enough to snag an invitation to the opening of Trent Parke: The Black Rose. As a boy, Trent watched his mother die from an asthma attack, he was the only one at home and was helpless to save her. As you can imagine it had a … Continue reading Watching your mum die is no way to start as an artist @ArtGalleryofSA @mitzevich #art #photography

Ray MondeMarch 31, 2015Leave a comment

Art

Reworking old work is a great lesson in self-destruction #nohomo #art #collage

Often when I’m creating work it’s in an absolute frenzy. I’m slapping on glue and paper, getting bits stuck to my face, the hairs on my hands become stuck together like childish dreadlocks. Then, once I’m done, I’m done. I don’t touch the thing again. Last weekend though, I went back inside the studio after not being in there a couple of weeks – and … Continue reading Reworking old work is a great lesson in self-destruction #nohomo #art #collage

Ray MondeMarch 23, 2015March 23, 2015Leave a comment

Art

Why each stroke doesn’t have to be a masterstroke #art #artforsale @sturgallery

Artist’s need to relax more. Artist’s need to forget more. And they need to try less hard. It’s easy to say those things, far far harder to do it. It’s a crazy notion, to learn only to forget. To practice only to let it go. But every artist I encounter is trying to do the same thing, relax, let it go and tap into the unconsciousness … Continue reading Why each stroke doesn’t have to be a masterstroke #art #artforsale @sturgallery

Ray MondeMarch 3, 20151 Comment

Art

Reuniting old faces. Ben Quilty is always fresh; the man we love to love @AWMemorial

When I lived in New York, I worked in an ad agency on Madison Avenue, just around the corner from MOMA and St Patrick’s Cathedral. Just like all things New York, the advertising agency I worked in was competitive, the best idea always won. The trick was coming up with the best idea. Sometimes in desperation I would escape onto the streets looking for inspiration. Sometimes I’d … Continue reading Reuniting old faces. Ben Quilty is always fresh; the man we love to love @AWMemorial

Ray MondeFebruary 26, 20151 Comment