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.
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
I’m looking at the months ahead and they look like a gaping yawn, a wide open mouth ready to devour me. After a relaxed Easter, I’m in danger of dropping into that post-exhibition dark hole. I know what I have to do next, I just have to do it. But at the moment, there’s an unfinished work on the easel and I’m doing what … Continue reading Is video art real art?
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
Normally I create my work on the kitchen table, it’s comforting and easy and close to hot cups of tea. With the rain falling constantly & roads cut due to flood waters, I’ve needed to leave the house and have set up a workshop & studio in the old sheep shearing shed. It’s drafty and dusty but the natural light from the sky lights is … Continue reading When it floods, head to the shearing shed
Like many artists, I need to do other things to support myself. Before committing myself to collage, I used to work in advertising, most recently at Belgiovane Williams and Mackay. Now I have a little outfit where I run The Wood Agency; where I create campaigns, write and bake baked goods. My commute is normally about 10 paces but, today, a meeting in Sydney means … Continue reading The sacrifices artists need to make
Today, the latest edition of GQ Australia arrived in the post. That’s not the strange thing. I don’t remember subscribing but that’s not the strange thing either. The weird thing is that as I was flipping through the pages I realised that I wasn’t looking at the articles or the ads. I was looking at the colours and textures of the pages. I was thinking; … Continue reading A strange thing happened to me today
This collage is very different in style to my other collages so far, I’m trying to use the way I tear and cut the paper to create texture. In this way, this baby’s jacket is reminiscent of the knitted original. The keys and the angel wings are all about freedom, as ultimately the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain’s matinee jacket in a dingo lair was all … Continue reading Collage: Matinee release
Saatchi Online is a incredible forum to showcase the work of emerging artists. I’ve been fortunate enough to sell work through the site and it’s given me a profile that I would never have had, I’m even selling prints of my work through affiliated retailers such as One Kings Lane. Again, an opportunity I’d never get in Braidwood. Now, Saatchi Online is having an Artist … Continue reading Saatchi Online Collage Showdown begins today
Ray Monde 