Franck Gohier

David Garnham & The Reasons to Live......

2011-11-21T18:35:00.001+09:30

The latest Poster, this time for David Garnham & Toby Robinson.
If you are in Melbourne for these dates then check out this great Darwin Act !
Appearing at: "The Labour in Vain"
197a , Brunswick St. Fitzroy
Tuesday 6th December
Tuesday 13th December
Tuesday 20th December

Activate-Cultivate—a red letter day for the art of the nomads

2011-10-10T16:59:00.001+09:30

Activate-Cultivate—a red letter day for the art of the nomads

Exhibition opening, Chips Mackinolty, MAGNT, 7 October 2011

Acknowledgements, including Larrakia, but also all artists here this evening, and all artists whose work is held within the walls of the Museum. Some of those artists are unknown, many have passed away—but their work lives on within these walls.

I’m in an odd position: a bit over two years ago, I was writing speeches for Minister McCarthy—and now I have to write them for myself. As usual, though, tonight the minister will get the last word—Gerry is notorious for changing his notes! At least when I did it, it was on areas such as building highways and road train regulation—and not on more important issues such as the arts.

Speaking of the arts, it’s not widely known, but Gerry is a musician in a Tennant Creek band … so he’s used to winging it and improvising … sometimes—not always—to the terror of his departmental and ministerial advisers.

Tonight, though, is different.

Gerry: I’ve seen your departmental speech notes—and I’m sure you will stick to them.

That’s because Activate-Cultivate is a groundbreaking exhibition. For the first time this century, we have a major show of non-Aboriginal local contemporary art at the Museum. The fact we are eleven years into the century to get here says a few things …

What it mostly says is that the treatment of non-Aboriginal contemporary art by institutions such as the Museum, in the last decade or so, has largely reflected a hidden history.

For a variety of reasons, the challenge of non-Aboriginal contemporary art in the Northern Territory has not been met by the Museum. And it is a challenge.

We are the only jurisdiction in the nation in which Aboriginal art is deeply enmeshed in local cultural life: for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike. We are far more aware of the diversity of Aboriginal art here, and its fundamental importance to an understanding of kin and country.

That the Northern Territory is home to Australia’s richest and most varied Aboriginal cultural heritage is a cliché.

There is a strong temptation, when promoting the Territory to each other—or to the rest of the world—to use Aboriginal art, music and imagery indiscriminately. If not as a direct use, there is also an apparently open invitation to slip into an “Aboriginal style” for our promotions: a few dots and a bit of cross hatching here and there, the odd boomerang, lavish use of ochre colours, and some didjeridu music, is often seen as sufficient to “represent” the Territory.

In reality, there has long been criticism of government and its agencies for their indiscriminate use of Aboriginal culture—particularly imagery. Artwork has often been used without particular regard to its meaning or relevance to the promotion; work has been reproduced without permission or acknowledgement—let alone payment, and forged work has been used. Graphic artists—both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal[1]—have used iconography that is inappropriate, and/or “borrowed” or “adapted” with little thought.

Yet we are also the only jurisdiction in which—on the surface at least—non-Aboriginal artists are largely invisible—and that invisibility extends to the acquisition and exhibition polices of the Museum over the last decade and a half.

Perhaps the main reason for this is the massive turnover of non-Aboriginal people within the Territory’s population.

Consider this: over the last 20 odd years, the Territory’s population has risen by about 100,000 people. Most of you here—I imagine—would assume that a good proportion of that growth of 100,000 people is down to migration of people from interstate. Most people I’ve asked this question reckon that between 40 and 80 per cent of that population growth is from people who have arrived from the southern and eastern states.

But it is a completely and utterly false idea.

In fact—since such figures were collected in 1982—there has been a net loss of population towards interstate migration of around 14 or 15 per cent. On average, the Northern Territory loses about 500 people a year to people permanently leaving the place to live interstate.

The only accounting for that growth in population is through international migration and the growth in the Aboriginal population.

As I have written elsewhere, the rest of us are—by and large—the real nomads.

In reality, the recent re-run of the debate about who is a real Territorian is, in a sense, a false one. The argument seems mostly to be around the circumstances which allow some nomads to call themselves “Territorians”, and which nomads are to be regarded as mere Southerners who should go home and stop destroying our Territory Way of Life.

Of the 12 artists represented here in Agitate-Cultivate, only two still live here—with one studying temporarily interstate.

And this represents the artistic output of work of a four or five year period ending just a decade ago. In other words, three quarters of the artists have been unable to resist the nomadic urge, and moved on. It’s much the same rate as former chief ministers who still live here.

So perhaps that is what is problematic in talking about non-Aboriginal art here and in many other galleries across the Territory.

Rather than talking about non-Aboriginal work, perhaps we should be talking about the art of the nomads, and that’s how maybe the Museum should conceptualise such work.

With that in perspective, the current exhibition of Red Hand graphics is not just a ground breaking exhibition—it is also a red letter day for the art of the nomads here in the Northern Territory.

I said before this exhibition reflects part of a hidden history—it is the hidden history of the art of the nomads.

Each of the 12 artists represented worked at various stages with or along side Aboriginal people and artists—yet none can be accused of appropriating Aboriginal art … why should they? Their work draws on quite different traditions—drawn from elsewhere, but absolutely serving the interests of people living here—Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. Their political work was—as well—absolutely and explicitly opposed to the Territory’s ruling social, political and cultural interests.

It is the work of subversive nomads—vastly different from those who come here, make a pile of money, and leave. It is the work of artists who have deliberately left a mark on the Territory as an explicit part of their practice. Kit was a period of intense and constructive engagement—and commitment.

As I have quoted Eileen Lim elsewhere:

(Red Hand) gave a voice to those who may have had none. Red Hand has supported the Jabiluka protests, May Day marches promoted local bands and events. It also reached out to the local Darwin community and collaborated with the Government, school children and prison inmates to create posters that educated people regarding the consequences of committing crimes and how to look after health and environment.[2]

So in making their mark, the Red Hand crew also gave people a voice.

Activate-Cultivate is a tribute to this short part of the Territory’s history—and art history—and I congratulate the Museum for reviving that voice.

Let’s hope the Museum will continue to promote the art of the nomads.

Thank you.

[1] Being an Aboriginal graphic artist does not necessarily give any special privileges or rights when using iconography from other Aboriginal groups. Aboriginal artists have been found to have infringed the copyright of other artists; and don’t have rights by tradition to use traditional iconography of other groups without permission.

[2] Eileen Lim, “Franck Gohier and the Red Hand Print Studio”, CDU Art Collection and Art Gallery/SCAH Internship & Research Essay 2011, unpublished ms, p.15.

*Reproduced with kind permission from Chips Mackinolty

Franck Gohier, screenprint "Betty" 1999

Franck Gohier, screenprint "Solidarity" 1998

Art politics - ABC Darwin - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

2011-10-09T15:07:00.005+09:30

Click on the ABC link below to view the TV interview on the Red Hand Prints exhibition at the The Museum & Art Gallery of the NT, titled "Activate - Cultivate"

LINK: Art politics - ABC Darwin - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Looking at Art- CDU Art Collection

2011-10-04T14:47:00.001+09:30

Charles Darwin University Art Collection and Art Gallery

Looking at Art - October 2011

Looking at Art - news archive

Franck Gohier
Born 1968, St Nazaire, Brittany, France
Arrived Darwin, Northern Territory, 1975
Missing in Action 2003, edn 4/18
Linocut with hand-coloured ink wash
47 x 66cm [image]
Charles Darwin University Art Collection – CDU1238
Gifted by the artist, February 2005
Image © and courtesy the artist

Franck Gohier is a Darwin-based artist of acknowledged accomplishment, whose extensive repertoire as a painter, sculptor and printmaker reflects a genuine response to lived experiences and knowledge of Northern Australia – its people and natural environment, significant political and cultural events, and social history. His art shuns contrived sociological ‘field work’ or imported post-modernist theory in favour of a regionally-inspired visual aesthetic beyond national or provincial claims. Like many artists who have engaged with the north Australian tropics, he is an admirer of Ian Fairweather (1891-1974), whose professional training in the traditions of Western art were fundamentally and profoundly transformed by his experiences of other cultures and places during his extended travels and residencies in Southeast Asia and Northern Australia, including Darwin.

Gohier graduated with a BA (Fine Arts, Major in Printmaking) from the Northern Territory University in 1991, where he also worked as an Art School technician, lecturer and editioning printer between 1992 and 1996. During this time, Gohier collaborated with Leon Stainer and George Watts in a series of ground-breaking printmaking workshops with Indigenous artists from remote communities throughout the Top End and Desert regions of Northern Australia. The important links forged by this team of printers, between the University and several Indigenous art centres (Ernabella – SA, Tiwi Islands – NT, Gunbalanya – NT and the East Kimberley – WA), led to the founding of the NT University Print Workshop, restructured and renamed Northern Editions Printmaking Workshop (later Studio) in 1997.

In 1996, Gohier was appointed the inaugural art co-ordinator of the ‘Inside Art Out’ pilot project, under the auspices of Correctional Services NT at Berrimah Prison, Darwin – the first concerted and long-term arts program for Indigenous prisoners. Together with Steve Fox, then Director of 24HRArt (the NT Centre for Contemporary Art), Gohier arranged for senior Indigenous men from the Top End to provide tuition in traditional and contemporary painting skills to 47 inmates, culminating in several successful exhibitions ‘on the outside’. By 1998, the venture became an official prison program, later extended to Alice Springs. The program continues to the present day with an annual ‘Inside Art Out’ exhibition held at the heritage-listed Fannie Bay Gaol precinct, Darwin.

In 1997 Gohier co-founded Red Hand Print Studio in Darwin with Shaun Poustie (ex-Red Planet, Melbourne): an ideologically radical and independently spirited venture, continuing his involvement in the tuition of printmaking skills to Indigenous communities in the NT and WA, and the editioning of prints by Indigenous artists. Until 2002, Red Hand also operated as an open-access space for local artists and community organisations, publishing many of the iconic political and social poster prints of the era. Red Hand pioneered the creation and use of non-toxic, water-based and mould-resistant inks, known as the ‘Hemi-Opaques system’, invented by Gohier and Poustie for tropical conditions.

Missing in Action (2003) features a recurring subject in Gohier’s oeuvre and reflects his interest in historic and archival imagery, including graphic images recording events leading up to and during the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942. Although a considerable body of work was produced in the 1940s by artists and photographers (including Tony Tuckson and Max Dupain) whilst stationed in the Far North, it is not widely known. Gohier’s fighter pilot, perspiring in the tropical heat in his heavy flying gear, ill-equipped and unprepared for the conditions of northern warfare, is a romanticised cartoon-like figure of heroic despair, bewildered by the environment. Framed by tropical beach palms, he could well be mistaken for an American aviator in the Pacific – but for the Tiwi pukumani poles, which indisputably signal his location in the Top End of the NT.

An earlier ‘comic book caricature’ interpretation of Missing in Action was produced by Gohier at the NTU Print Workshop as a multi-plate etching in 1996 – the first of its kind created there. It was also the first work by Gohier acquired for the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT’s Visual Art Collection. A stencilled and hand-painted version of the same subject, in acrylic on hand-rivetted aluminium, won the Brian Lambert Memorial Award in the Katherine Art Prize (acquisitive) in 2003. It was last seen displayed in the mess hall at the Katherine RAAF Base.

Gohier’s work is held in numerous public and institutional collections in Australia and abroad, including the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank NSW, University of Wollongong Art Collection, Casula Powerhouse Museum (Sydney), Labor Council of NSW Print Collection, Griffith Art Works QCA Collection (Brisbane), Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Charles Darwin University Art Collection, Supreme Court of the NT Art Collection, NT Parliament House Collection, Katherine Town Council Art Collection and The Centre for the Study of Political Posters, Los Angeles, as well as private collections in Australia and abroad. Since 2004, Gohier has gifted more than 100 art works to the CDU Art Collection. Along with the Territory’s other pioneering political print and poster artists Chips Mackinolty and Therese Ritchie, he is the most significant individual donor of art work to the University to date.

This month in Darwin, the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT will hold a major retrospective exhibition of Red Hand Print Studio’s poster works – more than 70 of which are also held in the CDU Art Collection and were gifted by Gohier in 2004. Entitled Activate-Cultivate, the exhibition opens 7 October 2011 and runs until 19 February 2012.

Anita Angel, Curator CDU Art Collection & Art Gallery
29 September 2011

Familiar - Unfamiliar

2011-09-24T18:33:00.000+09:30

GALLERY 2 + 3

FAMILIAR UNFAMILIAR

ROSALIND ATKINS, REBECCA ATKINSON, G. W. BOT, ROB BROWN, DARREN BRYANT, SUSANNA CASTLEDEN, JAZMINA CININAS, CHRIS DE ROSA, DIANNE FOGWELL, DAVID FRAZER, LIAM GARSTANG, FRANCK GOHIER, REW HANKS, HARRY HUMMERSTON, LOCUST JONES, KAYLENE KELLY, MICHAEL KEMPSON, BARBIE KJAR, DEBORAH KLEIN, JULIAN LAFFAN, BRUCE LATIMER, REBECCA MAYO, RON MCBURNIE, LORELEI MEDCALF, ARONE MEEKS, JANET PARKER-SMITH, TRAVIS PATERSON, GRAEME PEEBLES, JASON PHU, BEN RAK, THERESE RITCHIE, DAVID ROSENGRAVE, JULIE RYDER, OLGA SANKEY, MICHAEL SCHLITZ, JAKOB SCHMITT, ANNELISE SCOTT, HEATHER SHIMMEN, GLEN SKIEN. STEPHEN SPURRIER, NEALE STRATFORD, SCOTT TREVELYAN, PAUL UHLMANN, KATIE WEST AND DEBORAH WILLIAMS.

A touring exhibition of prints by 45 Australian artists celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Print Council of Australia

The Print Council of Australia is proud to present this exhibition of prints showcasing a range of individual approaches to printmaking practice by selected artists from around the country. The prints are all new works especially created for Familiar Unfamiliar and offer an insight into the extraordinarily varied nature of print media, utilised in remarkably inventive ways by contemporary artists.

Red Hand Prints: Poster Retrospective

2011-09-17T07:18:00.002+09:30

Upcoming Exhibitions:

Activate - Cultivate (Red Hand Prints)

7 October - 19 February 2012

Franck Gohier

Untitled

February 1999

Hemi ink on archival system card

PR 00443

Gift of Red Hand Prints, 2002

Image courtesy of Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

The exhibition Activate–Cultivate presents artworks made in Darwin about Darwin. The works, all drawn from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) permanent collection, consist of posters created between 1997 and 2002 by the local open-access printmaking studio Red Hand Prints.

The imagery and style used by the artists are bold, accessible and immediately recognisable elsewhere, making these graphic works engaging wherever they are shown. The posters in this exhibition offer a brief but perceptive take on local issues and local concerns, exploring not only art created in direct relation to its environment but also what it is to be an artist in that environment. In a small capital like Darwin, they provide an historical record of political ideas, social events and artistic concerns in a community known for its transience, while also contributing significantly to the substantial body of prints produced by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists in the NT.

A Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory exhibition

Where Hamburgers come from.....

2011-09-10T13:46:00.003+09:30

Some works from the Archive that I made back in 2004-5.
They are glazed-fired plates that were made as a fun reference to the cattle industry from my experiences of working at Turkey Creek, Kununurra and Timber Creek (on and off) for about 12 years at the time.....

Anish Kapoor - Grand Palias, Paris June 2011

2011-07-24T17:33:00.000+09:30

Leviathan is 35 metres high and comprised of tautly-stretched PVC over a giant metal frame. People can walk around it or go inside the huge structure as well. It was created by Artist, Anish Kapoor. Going inside the sculpture was a very strange experience....peoples voices melted together and time seem to slow down as well. Photographs are courtesy of Claude Petit.

Invader-Exhibition Paris, June 2011

2011-07-17T08:42:00.027+09:30

We were lucky enough to be in Paris to see "Invaders"
latest exhibition celebrating his 1000th invasion.

Cool Stickers available from a vending machine.

On the streets of Paris.....

At Gallery le Feuvre, Paris with
Stephanie & Serge

The invasion begins.......

Tikki with an invader sticker from the dispenser.

Rubik's Cube Artwork by Invader

Self portrait....

Invader waffles made in a limited edition of 5

Space Invader waffle Irons.

Leah Flanagan Poster

2011-05-15T08:05:00.003+09:30

My new poster for our good friend Leah Flanagan. If you are in Darwin on the night then come along to the gig and help support her touring to the USA, Canada and Europe.

Leah has recently played alongside such greats as Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffet, Paul Kelly, Deborah Conway etc.
Leah has also just written her first Cabaret for Adelaide Cabaret Festival titled "Midnight Muses:It begins to tell" performing on the 15th-16th June.

"Australia", 2011, Ray Hughes Gallery

2011-05-02T20:48:00.016+09:30

The "15 Square", sliding number puzzle. We would get these in Cereal Packets or Show Bags when we were kids in the 70's.

My 7th solo exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery titled "Australia". A look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Australian culture. This new body of work is inspired by the humble "15 square" number puzzle, the principles of the "Camera Obscura" and the grid; a device I have used for many years to enlarge my images by hand.

Four of the paintings from this series have been chosen to be exhibited in the "Jinzhou World Landscape Art Exposition" China, to be opened in May 2013.

"The Republic of Australia"

"Bundy & Coke"

"Chicken & Cheese"

"Endless Summer"

"Greensleeves"

"Lemon, Lime & Orange"

"Luna Park"

"Rego at the Servo"

"Shandy"

"Vegemite & Cheese"

"Southern Cross (Artifice)"

"Start Me Up"

"Taxi"

"Minties"

"Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

"Little Audrey"

"The Birth of Dystopia"

Snap shots of the exhibition "Australia" at Ray Hughes Gallery 2011

2011-05-02T20:07:00.007+09:30

Some Snapshot pictures of the opening of "Australia"at Ray hughes Gallery 2011. Pictures taken on the "Harinezumi 2++" toy camera.

Some of my cover Art for friends CD Albums

2010-12-16T19:09:00.011+09:30

The Duanes - 2003

The Groovesmiths - "Demonstrations of Intent" 2005-2006

The Groovesmiths 2007 Back Cover

The Groovesmiths 2007 Front Cover

Leah Flanagan's first Album 2007

RoyMackonkey - "Cassandra Never Sleeps" 2008

I was at the local supermarket today trying to buy an external hard drive for my computer before it implodes . It was total madness and mayhem..... crazy, crazy Christmas shoppers everywhere celebrating Coca -Cola Santa, Bing Crosby, Visa and all that entails. Happy Birthday Jesus !

I finally got home, installed the drive and started sorting everything into files.......found Artwork of some of the CD covers I have designed for friends over the years. Funny how I complain of always being broke. Maybe if I charged more than a carton of beer for each of these designs I might be somewhere today ! Ha !

Film presentation for the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2004 Print Symposium.

2010-10-01T21:22:00.002+09:30

St Karama - Patron saint of the suburban male.

2010-09-08T10:06:00.004+09:30

A Lino-cut print (hand coloured) that I made in 1998. "St Karama -Patron saint of the suburban male. Just found this image on an old back up disk I was throwing out ! Often wonder where my work ends up living.

Confused, Lost and Betrayed

2010-09-01T12:54:00.001+09:30

Fresh from the easel this morning !

Benson & Hedges

2010-08-05T16:03:00.007+09:30

My first wood-carving in 4/5 years. It was great fun to revisit scuplture after such a long break. This piece is called "Benson & Hedges". The irony of cigarette advertising and sport eh!?

Gig poster for Leah Flanagan & The Remains

2010-08-05T15:58:00.004+09:30

A poster design job for a some friends. If you are in Darwin on the night then come along. It will be a great fun.

Linocut print "Saturday Night" from 1998

2010-07-18T13:22:00.005+09:30

A hand coloured Linocut print from 1998 titled "Saturday Night".

Found this photo while digging through the archive.

A reminder that I should probably get back into some printmaking soon !

Birthday Present

2010-06-08T10:22:00.001+09:30

A Birthday present for a friend's son who has just graduated from medical school.

"Produkt", 2010, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-05-24T10:29:00.019+09:30

"Animale"

"Artemia Salinas"

"As seen on TV"

"Beef"

"Bubble gum"

"Captain Kidd"

"Chrome dome"

"Chum with duck"

"Conceptual Artist"

"Dali"

"Double happiness meal deal"

Acrylic on board and assemblage with perspex & plastic figures. 244cm X 124cm.

"A Durabestos home"

"Esperanto Art"

A larger, acrylic on board painting, version of a poster I had made at Red Hand prints.

A framed Artist' Proof of the poster hung next to this painting.

"Make money"

"Milk and Honey"

"Mother's milk"

"Night rider"

"Not the marrying kind"

"Number one"

"Oedipus"

"Pal"

"Redheads"

"Sir Joh"

"Viagra"

"Vote"

"Who wants some ?"

2010-05-14T11:34:00.003+09:30

FRANCK GOHIER

21st May - 23rd June 2010

PRESS RELEASE: by Jack MacDonald

In Franck Gohier’s latest exhibition, his sixth solo at Ray Hughes Gallery, titled “Produkt” he explores the world of advertising as gleaned from the comic books and popular magazines of his youth. Some of the images in “Produkt” are direct appropriations, with Gohier’s usual acerbic sense of humor, whilst others are purely fictitious constructs.

It is this constructed wit that allows Franck to comment on religious and political upheaval and disintegration without frightening off the viewers attention. The work provides a message that ‘mitigates against being too moralizing. And a spoonful of humour makes the modern art go down.’

Politics and its obligatory spin naturally generates an environment of national delusion and Gohier digests this delusion by creating a synthesis of historical and contemporary references using a pop sensibility and a freshness that create an immediacy characteristic of Gohier’s work.

Born in St Nazaire, France Gohier was inducted into an active politically conscious family. His father was a union leader in Paris during the late 1960s and during and after the demonstrations of May 1968, Frank was exposed to the communally produced posters that played a major role in demands for social change. This exposure to print work was a catalyst in his own journey towards both his recognition of social response and becoming a master printmaker.

The range of Gohier’s creative accomplishments include intaglio and relief printing, painting, collage, sculpture and filmmaking. To this should be added his impressive history of poster production. He began printing at the Northern Territory University in 1992 and helped establish the independent print workshop Red Hand Print Studio. This open-access studio was founded on the principle of community-based printmaking, and underpinned by Gohier’s ideological vision that prioritized the hand of the artist above the commercial viability of the image. Within this exhibition he has revisited this background to add a new gravity to his work.

“In this new body of work I wanted to re-evaluate the skills I had learnt over 20+ years of Art making. I wanted to revisit them. From drawing methods, color theory, formal aesthetics, watercolor technique, poster/graphic design and so on. I tend to get frustrated and extremely bored when images and technique come too easily. The journey has always been the most important in my practice.

In Produck he uses his barbed humour to comment on themes such as the contemporary art world, the pharmaceutical industry, the democratic process, our constructed home life, the credit crisis, and global warming. This sharp attention, combined with the pop-art aesthetic, sends a powerful message about where our country is headed, who’s driving and why sometimes laughter is the best remedy.

“When I was a child I leafed through the pages of comic books marveling at all the incredible products advertised for ONLY $1.99 ! X-ray specs, atomic hand buzzers, itching powder, real 100% Transylvanian soil in a coffin shaped locket, Sea Monkeys etc. One day a friend who had been on holidays to the USA brought back some Sea Monkeys as a gift. I was gracious and genuinely thankful but ultimately disappointed when I found out that Sea Monkeys were not the magical creatures illustrated in the comic books. They were, in fact, tiny brine shrimp which looked suspiciously like the “wrigglers” found in drinking water from rain tanks out bush!”
Franck Gohier 2010

Images can be found at www.rayhughesgallery.com

For any Media enquiries please contact Jack MacDonald on (02) 9698 3200 or info@rayhughesgallery.com

Precursor to 2010 exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-04-16T12:28:00.000+09:30

"Baked Beans"

"Valium"

These are a couple of experimental paintings I made in mid 2009 for this years exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery. The show entitled "PRODUKT" will be opening on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010.
In full swing painting at the moment........and will probably be working up to the very last day as usual.....Ha! Great fun, I love it !

The Phillip....strikes again.....

2010-03-02T16:32:00.000+09:30

My woodcarving from "The Phillip...." exhibition, Ray Hughes Gallery, 2006, was acquired by Artbank. Since that time he keeps "popping" up all over the place. Here he is in the latest issue of "Artist Profile"

"Country & Western", 2005, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-27T12:38:00.000+09:30

"Kumbuyah"

"Top End Tales"

"In Cake We Trust"

"Romance Territory Style"

"The Cost of Beef"

"In The End"

"One, Two......"

"Beef Flavour"

"Art Investor"

"Eat Meat"

"Vincent Lingiari's Old Boss"

"White Boss"

"8 Slices"

"Joyous Meal"

"Country & Western", 2005,Large Paintings" Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-27T12:36:00.000+09:30

"Hell West"

"From Little Things, Big Things Grow....."

"Country & Western", 2005, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-27T12:14:00.000+09:30

"Oxo"

"Work"

"Vini, vidi"

"Steam"

"Fencing"

"Hello"

"Golden Cow"

"Drive Through"

"Cactus"

"Basics"

"Myths"

A series of small paintings for the "Country & Western" show at Ray Hughes Gallery. This series was also exhibited along the work of Artist Chayni Henry at The Fremantle Art Centre, Western Australia in 2007.

"Country & Western", 2005, Sculptures, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-27T12:10:00.000+09:30

"Cowgirl"

Cowgirl is currently promoting Artbank in 2009/2010 on the back of buses in the Sydney CBD

"Ringer"

A couple of woodcarvings for the "Country & Western" exhibition. These two pieces were acquired by Artbank at the opening in 2005.

"Country & Western", 2005, Found Object/Collage Series, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-27T11:58:00.000+09:30

"Pop"

"Ace of Spades"

"Malebore"

"Atomic"

"Food & Friends"

"Target"

"OK Corral"

"Bandana"

"Mustang"

"Go West"

This small series of work for the "Country & Western" exhibition was an exploration of my love for collage and found objects.

"Country & Western", 2005, Small Series, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-27T11:52:00.000+09:30

"Payback"

"Cake"

"Camping"

"Kimberley Rain"

"Contempt"

The work from this exhibition represents my first solo exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery in 2005

"The Phillip.......More True Tales from the Far North",2006, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-25T13:09:00.001+09:30

"The King"

"Queen of Hearts"

"Provincialism"

"Le Prix"

"Closet"

"Superannuation"

"The Initiation"

"Chayni"

"The Ice Queen"

"Wolf"

"Phillip's Boots"

"Far North"

"Faith, Hope & Charity"

"Lucky"

"Femme Fatale"

"Hangover # 1 Method Painting"

"Hangover # 2 Method Painting"

"Little Black Cloud"

"The Smugglers"

"Beatrice"

"45"

"A Town Like Alice"

"Dingo"

"All is Fair......."

"Weet 1969"

"The Phillip.......More True Tales from the Far North",2006, Sculptures,Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-25T12:25:00.000+09:30

"Spooky Skull Mug" ceramic, slipcast edition of 20

"The King"

"The Phillip"

"Mrs Phillip"

"Bush Patrol"

"Death & Taxes"

A series of woodcarvings for "The Phillip" exhibition. Woodcarving is one of my favourite mediums . I really enjoy it but don't do enough unfortunately.......like printmaking !

I alse exhibited an edition of ceramic "Spooky Skull Mugs" with the word "Milk" on the head.........the Phillip does not drink alchohol !

"The Phillip.......More True Tales from the Far North",2006, Large Paintings, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-25T08:36:00.000+09:30

"Nemaluk"

"The Trap"

"White Charger"

"Sold"

"Head Gasket"

"Darwin Man"

"The Jungle"

"Vita Brevis"

Lee Falk's comic book creation "The Phantom" has always been my favourite comic. It is very popular on Australian indigenous communities as it is in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific in general.

A very basic version of the story is that it is about a "white fella" who is marooned on a tropical beach after his ship was attacked and destroyed by pirates. He is adopted by the local indigenous tribe, whereby he establishes his self as "the boss" and starts imposing his ethics and morals on a pre-existing culture that was doing quiet fine without him prior to his intrusion.

A familiar pattern that I have witnessed ever since I was a child, living in the Northern Territory and later as an adult working on numerous indigenous communities throughout Arnhem Land, the desert, the Kimberleys and the Tiwi Islands.

"Drawing Allowed",2007, Pen + Ink, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-24T20:56:00.000+09:30

"Dealing with the Pusher"

"Dropping Mescaline with Sartre - 1935"

"Metamorphosis"

"Crumpled piece of paper in the gutter - Bouville"

"Freudian Slip"

"On the way to my Mother's Funeral - Algeria"

"After Brett Whitley, after Bonnard, after work..."

"Pied Noir with a Dead Man on the Beach"

This series of pen and brush, ink wash drawings were made for the bi-annual drawing exhibition at Ray Hughes gallery 2007.

I only have 8 of the twelve images listed here. They were influenced mostly by Existential literature I had revisited, at the time, from when I was a teenager. Such books as Jean Paul Satre's "Nausea", Albert Camus' "The Outsider", Kafka's "Metamorphisis" and Dostoevsky's "Notes from the Underground".

"It's All Fun & Games", 2007, Pinball Machine Series, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-24T16:06:00.000+09:30

"The Sting"

"In the Red"

"The Good Book"

"Red Bear"

"Tax Time"

"The D's"

"Eleven"

"Superannuation"

"Creation Theory"

"What !!!"

"Kiss"

"Area 51"

"Cash"

"Atomic"

"Finish"

"Sshhhhhh!!!..."

As a kid I always loved Pinball machines.....and still do to this day. I find something really satisfying and comforting about the noises, the graphics, the lights.....and something familiar about the the way you try to keep that chrome ball at the top of the machine. It slides down, might hit a few targets on the way down, you flip it back up again, trying to stay on top, you slide down again.....into the void. Try again....try again......Free Ball.

Just like the myth of Sisyphus.

"It's All Fun & Games", 2007, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-23T21:20:00.001+09:30

"Rocket Scientist"

"Say Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

"Zap"

"Tiki"

"No Paddle"

"Lucky"

"Light Beer"

"Kronos"

"Eeeeeeeeee...."

"5 o'clock Collins Street"

"La Fin"

"Click"

"Interest"

"Idea"

"Owwww...."

"January, Feburary, March....."

The process of creating this small series was to flick through comic books until I came across an image that "struck" me, a picture that hit a chord....Then I would paint the first thing that came into my mind whilst listening to the 24 hour, world news, radio service playing constantly in the background in my studio......trying to tap into the "human condition" again.

"It's All Fun & Games", 2007, Ray Hughes Gallery.

2010-02-23T20:25:00.000+09:30

"Muddy Creek"

Sterling"

"Tweet Tweet"

"Zinc"

"The Bucket"

"The Third Degree"

"Six

"The Hive"

"The Office"

"Little Red House"

"The Dobber"

"Help"

"Pop & Grandson"

"20 mg"

"Monday"

"The Seed"

"Attack of the Atomic Featherweight"

"Sisyphus"

"More Bang for your Buck"

"Bad Mushrooms"

"Grrowlll"

"C.S.I."

"Gonna"

"Knock Knock"

"One Dollar"

"It's All Fun & Games", 2007, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-23T19:57:00.001+09:30

"Wolf"

"Tiki Typhoon"

"Public Interest"

"The initiation"

"Film Noir"

"Forever For Now"

"15 Minutes"

This series of paintings in 2007, for the exhibition "It's all fun and games...." were loosely based on the Pinball Machine and the Myth of Sysiphus (Albert Camus) as an existential metaphor for the, so called, "human condition".

"Thinking Aloud - The Big drawing Show",Pen + Ink/Collage,2009, Ray Hughes Gallery.

2010-02-23T16:14:00.000+09:30

"Nightbird"

"The Black Cat"

"Voodoo"

"Tracy"

"Vodka"

"Spot the Difference"

"Citizen Smith"

"The End"

"The Dutchman's Hand"

"South Pacific"

"Different and Same"

"History 2A"

"Reprobates"

"Redheads"

"Triangle"

"The Devil's Nose"

"Middle East"

"Ghost Who Walks"

"Biology II"

These are a series of Drawing/ Collages that I made for the biannual Drawing exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery.

As a teenager most of my Artwork consisted of doodling in my school books instead of paying attention in class. I came across a whole bunch of old books from a local op-shop that were about to be sent to the recyclers for pulping . I salvaged them and used their covers as boards to draw on.

"Darwin 1942" Collage-Paintings, 2008, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-22T20:16:00.000+09:30

"Stars and Stripes"

"Darwin Airport 1942"

"Kym Bonythons' Mosquito"

"Up"

"P-40e"

"Clive Robertson Caldwell "

"Darwin Post-Office 1942"

"No Beer After 4 Bombs Dropped"

"Toyoshima"

"Red Dots in the Sky"

"Spitfires over Darwin"

"Darwin Nurses 1942"

"Darwin Wharf 1942"

"Big Beautiful Doll"

"Darwin 1942"

This series of collage-paintings were made for the "Darwin 1942" exhibition, 2008 at Ray Hughes Gallery. They combine elements of acrylic on board, photograhy, fabric and remenants of actual WWII airplanes that can still be found scattered around the beaches of Darwin at low tide.

"Darwin 1942" _ "To fall the way that flowers do - to die an honourable death" 2008, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-22T19:34:00.000+09:30

This painting was a large centre piece produced for the "Darwin 1942" exhibition in 2008 at Ray Hughes Gallery. It is titled "To fall the way that flowers do - to die an honourable death". It is the largest painting I have made to date measuring 1200mm X 3600mm. The painting is on etch primed alluminium squares that have been hand riveted together. Behind round, perspex windows are exact, metal, die cast models of airplanes that fought over Darwin 1942-1945 during the numerous raids by the Japanese.

" Darwin 1942 ", 2008, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-21T21:48:00.000+09:30

"Sunset Over Darwin"

"Yet Another Raid Over Darwin"

"Zeros"

"The Adventures of Camilla"

"Territory Battle"

"Varoom !!!"

"Sharks"

"Kym Bonython"

"Lost"

"Icarus"

"Life 1942"

"Emergency Repairs"

"Ambush"

"The Destruction of Darwin I"

"The Destruction of Darwin II"

"Tempura"

"Dive and Kill"

"Direct Hit"

"Darwin Harbour 1942"

"Z-Force"

This exhibition was inspired by the events of the bombing of Darwin on Feb. 19th 1942 by the Japanese Imperial Navy. The first and most devestating attack was led by Mitsuo Fachida the same Japanese commander responsible for the attack at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii just six weeks earlier. This series are all acrylic on board. Some of them have cases/boxes cut into them that contain actuall WWII bullets and war junk that can still be found strewn on the beaches of Darwin to this day.

2010-02-20T13:29:00.000+09:30

" Target" 2009, Small Shooting Series, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-20T12:55:00.001+09:30

"Peter Blake"

"The Sting"

"Pauline Boty"

"Snoopy"

"Jasper Johns"

"The Jam"

"Fourex"

"The Time Tunnel"

"Oi Oi Oi"

"Kenneth Noland"

"1968"

"Vegemite"

"20% Off All Underwear"

"Spitfire"

Captain America

A small series of paintings included in the "Target" exhibition, Ray Hughes Gallery 2009. These were painted on signwriters tin (sign white) and shot with a "side by side" double barrel shotgun. Assisted (with shooting) by Steve Butler.

" Target" 2009, Large Shooting Series, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-20T09:11:00.000+09:30

"Three Minute Warning"

"Chinatown"

"The Domino Theory"

"Zap"

"Charles Atlas"

"Outlaw"

"Moose"

"Deer"

"Somali Siren"

"Marching Powder"

"Andromeda"

"Great White Hunter"

" The Black Cat"

"Bath Time"

"Stella Maris"

This series of paintings were also for the "Target" exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery 2009. They were painted on signwriters tin (sign-white) and shot with a .22 calibre rifle using a variety of standard bullets and bird shot. Assisted (with shooting) by Josh Wyat.

" Target" 2009, Ray Hughes Gallery

2010-02-19T18:37:00.000+09:30

"Sitting Ducks"

A painting inspired by Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa" and

Winslow Homer's "Slipstream"

"This Way Up"

"No Reserve"

"Revenge of the Mods"

"Who Killed Bambi ?"

"Sirena"

"Highway Robbery"

"For your own good"

"Enjoy"

"Gold"

"Paper Tigers"

"Bungalow Bill"

"Swiss Cheese"

"Ground Zero"

"Mosquito"

"Sold Out"

"Kabooomm !!!"

"Republique"

"The Tropics"

"Cardiac Arrest"