ENDURANCE

The image of Endurance, made up of several layers of cross hatched five counts, implies a counting. 

In the studio notes there is the sentence 'How many times we forgave each other.'

As a maker, theres also the implied notion of waiting, imprisonment, patience, and endurance.

210mm H x 500mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

In progress 2016-18

$1200 AUD

Horizon

Oil Collage & Mixed Media on Board

130 mm H x 422 mm W.

$1200 AUD

CHANGE

This collection of loosely related images are Field Notes beginning to become as written text and correspondence. They seem to originate from earlier treatments of the landscape and marks seen much more closely, such as the dried and overlaid Summer grasses or stooks of hay. 

The language upon the work acts not only as a 'riff' for the drawing, but as a step off point for consideration, ideally with just enough direction to get started on a journey.

In this case the image texts, in two separated parts, read;

'relating to the upheavals that occur'

'Some people like change, almost to the point of restlessness; others prefer long term stability.'

The central portion of the image is created from a field of overlayered coloured and directional strokes. There is also the inclusion of a collaged Australian postage stamp, which gives an indication of orientation.

These particular texts were discovered in a Business English textbook that I was lecturing from and referred to a completely different version of change than the one inferred by this image, with its overarching theme of travel and movement in life landscapes. Recent works have often begun as riffs on such randomly discovered language pathways associated with major research themes

367mm H x 516mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

In progress 2016-18

$1300 AUD

ADAMANCE

The two texts surrounding this image read as follows,

'When he was done, he looked around. Stretched his legs along the dirt, blinking out across the level day, this high noon light, the small hard shadows hiding from the heat.'

and,

'A place so adamant as to deny the liklihood of any other.'

I used the motif of cartoon or cinema storyboarding to couple the text with an image of abstracted hessian-like cross hatching, overlaying several colours to finalise with white. I was trying to elicit the idea of adamance and subtlety in the one sitting, and also to try to quietly disclose some of the inner feelings I had begun to strongly experience at this stage of my career.

These gatherings of descriptive language are excerpts from one of the novels of the so called 'minimalist' writer Cormac McCarthy. His textural descriptions of landscape really resonated with an person of artistic  temperament born and raised in the wide, dry, and remote landscapes of Australia, surrounded by stoic and taciturn people. Furthermore, the artfulness of the text agreed wholly with an ever increasing notion that words may also be the brushes with which to draw images worth seeing and recording.

236mm H x 340mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

In progress 2016-18

$900 AUD

INTIMACY

There are three written elements that contribute to this image which champions the concept of Intimacy. In the form of a letter or postcard including an Australian Postage Stamp, the two separated edge notations read;

...and the danger that might wait along the way.

...hoping and despairing over it.

In the centre collage the Encyclopaedic definitions of intimacy in its various forms and etymologically connected words is collaged, then worked over to become included as part of the visual presentation. The total image is manuscript-like and combines written text with textural treatments including count strokes and crazing marks suggesting a brittle or aged quality.

330mm H x 232mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

In progress 2016-18

$1200 AUD

TRAVEL (DIPTYCH)

This small Diptych is as letters written back from a place of  'away-ness' and are determined to be as open to interpretation as possible.

In this case the text, which is sectioned travel writing sampled like music, reads 

Thousand of miles from anyone who... 

you have the illusion your past is lighter... 

Unlike most he doesn't seem to get lonely or miss creature comforts... 

Dangerously you may come to feel invulnerable.

Perhaps of some further interest are the notes from the reverse side, usually added during the making and aesthetic consideration phases of the studio process. In this case one finds the three following texts written independently of each other;

[the dust that fell off this came from Seoul]

...as ever, it occurs to me that all I am doing is telling these stories.

It's like hoping to be understood.

305mm H x 160mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

In progress 2016-18

$980 AUD (set)

Increasingly Optimistic Syncopation

SOLD

HONGDAE UNIVERSITY GATE

‘Inspiration comes not while you wait but while you work’

This is one of a smaller series of abstract works in a loosely referred to as ‘post’.

There is a play on words in that they reference letters but also images that are born from or inspired whilst in the process of creating other images, so post as in ‘afterwards’.

Other works in this set to be seen here might be the smaller Postcard or even the much largest of the three versions of Bois De Bologne

Usually the images are inspired by grids in the form of windows, doorways, or interesting architectural elements of buildings. Sometimes there is also an element of time lapse and always some experimental combinations of quite disparate mark making.

In this specific case I was looking at the one of my favourite buildings in Seoul, Korea, at Hongdae University Gate. It is a wonderful square span that seems to have its’ very own atmosphere and there is a wonderful spray of a strange orange on the periphery of vision.

250 mm H x 200 mm W

Oil & Mixed Media on Canvas

$2000 AUD

PUZZLE

My lifes' work is about communication.

During my passage, within and without, I have encountered things that absolutely astonish my mind and others that profoundly disturb me.

I think there is a deep correlation between cooperation and language, and I have become increasingly fascinated by words and etymology. There seem to be growth pathways within language that track and trace and map our increased awarenesses. 
Language and the ability to communicate seem to hold the key to which polar aspect of our human selves will gain ascendency, and therefore if we will remain civilized or not. 

Work in Progress, Begun 2013

290mm H x 240mm W

Oil, Collage, & Mixed Media on Canvas

$700 AUD

LOCKS

Theres a home-coming aspect to this work quite directly referred to by the text 'Homeland' and a collaged portion of the Australian map found on the insides of older style envelopes, but also the large black letters LKS stencilled onto the surface. LKS is one of the labels used in sheep shearing sheds to divide up the wool clip. It is not necessary to know these things to appreciate the image, only that from a makers' point of view the layering is a direct consequence of the things that are actually happening...

Flights are being taken, letters are being sent, a living is being made, and new visual records are being created. This is the time, you are of your time, your time is now.

I've never been able to divide off and create a space for my Arts Practice separate from the other disciplines that pre-occupy me. In fact, these days I'm not sure that I’d even want to, because these are our 'Locks'...the things that hold us and stabilize our transient lives.

Work in progress, begun 2013, Seoul.

330mm H X 193mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

$800 AUD

PARAMETERS

Life happens pretty quickly and as we get more urbanised as a race our thought patterns and capabilities are influenced and modified. Modern life seems at once confusing and exciting and artistically it is interesting to attempt to observe and document those changes.

To me there seems to be a kind of Ambivalence or Polarization at the heart of this new world and environment we are creating. People seem both optimistic and fearful, often at the same time.

Over recent years I've been living and exhibiting in Cities holding a greater population than the entire country of my birth. Quite naturally, one of the recent streams of work has been based directly on these experiences. Most of these images don't have a particular up or down. They are maps, suitcases, postcards, windows, grids, airports, architecture...and are an example of maintaining a practice whilst being on the move.

Work in Progress, Begun 2013

330mm H x 195mm W

Oil, Collage, & Mixed Media on Canvas

$800 AUD

TRANSITION

I was so busy moving along the edge of my personal maps that I happily didn't absolutely know what I was engaged in making, only that I wanted to again abandon direct image and key off a sense of overlaying, and to continue to include elements of language like a diarist. 

In this particular piece there are obviously textures that suggest landscapes and overhead views too. Perhaps interestingly in terms of technique and studio practice, several of this series where made on canvas pasted onto the tops of small packing boxes that held the materials that were used to make them during their period of direct transit. Also the set include re-interrogation of images cut into sections and pasted back together in alternate views.

Work in Progress, Begun 2014

410mm H x 190mm W

Oil, Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

SOLD

COLLAPSING STRUCTURES

These images are about structures that get old and eventually collapse.

At face value the subject is the ancient weather beaten wooden framework from a shady beach shelter.

Its’ simple lines struck me as stark and sculptural against the clean lines of the sky, the dunes, and the open sea.

It seemed like an enormous character in some mysterious alphabet.

At a deeper level this work is a solemn meditation upon the structures in our lives, loves, and friendships that deteriorate and eventually collapse.

Everything has a beginning and an end.

320mm H x 420mm W

Oil and mixed media 2004

$800 AUD

Sketch For Incoming Blues

Oil on Canvas

380 mm H x 270 mm W

$800 AUD

Quelquefois

Oil Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

410 mm H x 215 mm W

$800 AUD

LUMP

A series of meanings or visual clues are placed together. These present as marks, techniques, approaches or ways of doing things.
In this case, for example the crackling behind the sky is a signifier for the feeling of aged-ness, as you might see on crazed antique chinaware or an old peeling door hanging off rusted hinges.

When I visited this place it seemed so adamant and enduring. As I made the original colour studies and sketches on site of course I was personally subjected to the elements, especially the winds and I began to reflect on the corrosive forces at work too.

There is a play and exchange of energy here, a giving and taking away, tidal, in eternal balance.

590mm H x 750mm W

Oil and Mixed Media

$5000 AUD

SEA PEOPLE-TIMOR

During a very lucky turn I was able to Sail from Cape York Pennisula in Queensland, Australia, upwards through the Great Barrier reef and then Westwards to Thursday Island, Java, and Indonesia. Later I sailed still onwards to Timor before going up through the Malacca Straits as far as Thailand. In all I spent more than three months on the open ocean aboard the Research Vessel Heraclitus.

Of course I continued with my practice and made as much work as possible to record the many amazing things that I was able to see, and also developed works that I had carried aboard in my portfolio too.

Coming in by sea to Kupang in Timor I was struck by the ageing concrete suspended above the water on stilts, sometimes painted, but in muted colours, and by the various Sea people who made their living on the water. Up behind the townships there were the summery hues of dry ground and low trees and scrub in muted greens, greys, and browns. I was itching to make a visual record.

The moods of water itself too, fascinated my enquiry, and seeing it every day in the changing lights of both dawn and dusk altered my perception forever. In this smaller work, of which there came to be three versions, I've muted out the features somewhat to draw attention to the patterns of the flowing water and the body and vessel shapes.

350mm H x 370mm W

Mixed Media on Arches Reeves Paper

$1100 AUD

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

This is one of a series of works depicting islands.

The title is an idiom,which refers to the idea that a solitary person never succeeds without the support of others.

The subject is the deserted Indonesian island of ‘Pulau Dana’ – a perfect place where the ‘author’ rested on his journey across the seas to Korea

350mm H x 630mm W

Graphite on Paper

$2800 AUD

ROWENA WITH WALLPAPER

These portraits were made from sketches made during the conversations they portray, later worked intensely to retract unnecessary information and add a visual depth of layering. There is a deal of interest that has been paid to the table surface, the shadows, the bottle, and the glass, that treats those elements as having at least equal importance as the sitter herself.

In this case the facial features have been simplified to attempt a kind of movie star of yesteryear mood, as opposed to trying for a direct likeness, and to indicate the flavour of that moment. The strange wallpaper is designed to amplify that 'gothic dive' vibe, and so add a playful 'wobbliness' to the intent... “Frankly my dear...” style, and casting Rowena into a kind of Greta Garbo role.

There are a range of explorations within the elements too, for example the very undersurface of the painting serving as the shadow for the glass, just as it does conceptually for the painting itself

300mm H x 310mm W

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

$980 AUD

ROWENA IN GERMANY

This image is an intense smaller study that uses layering and reduction techniques to arrive at a simplification of the subject matter.

It is painted quite thickly to counteract the rather scribbly and immediate initial drawing technique, which I have previously described as conversational. As a set of images it relates to others that can be seen here, including “These questions need answers,” “Champion Ruby,” “The visitor,” “Rowena with wallpaper,” and “Table study.”

There are a range of explorations within the elements, for example the visual curve created through the image by the relationships between the green items.

210mm H x 300mm W

Oil and Mixed Media 1997

$800 AUD

Korean Woman In Sunshine

Oil Collage & Mixed Media on Canvas

330 mm H x 375 mm W

$1200 AUD

ELDER

[Portrait of Dennis F]

Dennis was a tradesman who came to help build an Arts Studio in the backyard in Bridgetown, Western Australia. Over the few weeks we layed the concrete slab and then put up the Recycled Jarrah structure I made several studies of his remarkable face and his scribble of wiry hair. Some people seem just made to be drawn.

260mm H x 160mm W

Mixed Media on Mounted Paper

SOLD

WEDDING PORTRAIT

This is a time lapse drawing of a woman bathing in preparation for a wedding.

332mm H x 212mm W

Oil & Mixed Media 2010

SOLD

Passenger

Oil & Mixed Media on Board

390 mm H x 290 mm W

$800 AUD

THE ROAD OUT

Some friendships are harder to keep than others.

295mm H x 210mm W

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

$1100 AUD

PROVIDENCE [JEOLLANAM BUK-DO, KOREA]

Jeollanam Buk-Do is a region in the Mid South West of South Korea renowned for delicious foods and produce. 

This drawing came from a series of studies I made there during a self funded journey I took making artworks to celebrate the end of a period of teaching communication in the capital, Seoul.

My studio was an old model car with my materials and a traditional folding leg table on the backseat, and my goal was immersion in regional activities to gain a better understanding of that culture, landscape, farming practices, and populace.

In this case I was thinking about how the land provides sustenance and simply enjoying the evidence of human interaction with the Earth. I enjoy entirely organic marks but I also find stimulation in the regulation and order that humans bring to wild places too, in the form of orchards, and buildings, and systems for living more easily. I also enjoy observing the different solutions people of various cultures find for the same agricultural challenges.

Driving the backroads of anywhere is something I cannot recommend enough. How incredible to come suddenly across half of the road taken up with blue tarps covered with neatly arranged drying chillies, or to pluck ripe Persimmons from the trees on those verges. Lucky, long, uninterrupted moments of discovery and Providence.

410mm H x 295mm W

Graphite, Ink & Water Based Materials on Acid Free Paper

$1200 AUD

RETURNING

South Western Australian Summer and Winter fires combine on a road returning to and revisiting friendship. The image harked back to some of the original formatting in “Ross’ Field” created, (just like the friendship), years earlier.

This is a kind of remix with new elements including the muddy dam and copse of trees and the twisted Eucalypt of the foreground.

910mm H x 560mm W

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

$4000 AUD

Inevitability

Oil & Mixed Media on Canvas

700 mm H x 405 mm W

$2400 AUD

Sketch For Malcolm’s Request

Oil & Mixed Media on Canvas

410 mm H x 215 mm W

$2000 AUD