For a while now I've been struggling trying to find a good way to record ideas. Notebooks make me claustrophic and things just get lost in the pages and pages of text that I fill up. Loose pages end up in giant stacks on my desk. I can't really find a good way to collect ideas without them getting lost of forgotten. I wish my memory was sharper, or that I had walls big enough to stick everything on.
I used to set my wallpaper as a screensaver that would cycle through images I've collected online to jog my memory but it kept crashing. Post its don't work either.
Friday, October 10, 2008
So the chemist down the road won't give me sleeping pills.
With all these deadlines recently I've been sleeping later and later, yesterday crawling into bed at 7am after a night of listening to electro and turning my inks into vectors for a crazy project coming up.
My little roleplay as a full-time freelancer(oxymoron?) has come to an end and I have learnt from it many things. I would mostly be sitting on my ass staring at a screen and eating junk food for 18 hours a day, veins pulsating with caffeine while photoshop blending layers haunt me in my dreams. I would be going to bed when the birds chirp outside and wake up to the blinding noon sun. I don't know, I used to find all that shit romantic when I was young but now it is a bit of a punish.
My list of things to do is dwindling down which is a good thing, which only leaves major things like a major website overhaul and my tax return left. After that I am pretty much free to spend the summer at work serendipitously scratching away at drypoints and looking after stressed out students. This is probably the fastest year ever, I can barely keep track of what has happened, I missed the days when things used to linger on forever. Time seems to be speeding up as I get older.
With all these deadlines recently I've been sleeping later and later, yesterday crawling into bed at 7am after a night of listening to electro and turning my inks into vectors for a crazy project coming up.
My little roleplay as a full-time freelancer(oxymoron?) has come to an end and I have learnt from it many things. I would mostly be sitting on my ass staring at a screen and eating junk food for 18 hours a day, veins pulsating with caffeine while photoshop blending layers haunt me in my dreams. I would be going to bed when the birds chirp outside and wake up to the blinding noon sun. I don't know, I used to find all that shit romantic when I was young but now it is a bit of a punish.
My list of things to do is dwindling down which is a good thing, which only leaves major things like a major website overhaul and my tax return left. After that I am pretty much free to spend the summer at work serendipitously scratching away at drypoints and looking after stressed out students. This is probably the fastest year ever, I can barely keep track of what has happened, I missed the days when things used to linger on forever. Time seems to be speeding up as I get older.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
My two weeks off work are going a lot faster than I expected. The weekend will be Extra Cheeese 2 and then Parklife so the next thing I know it will be Tuesday, just in time to complete a major project, and then I will have to return to work to the chaos of setting up the end of year exhibition.
I was planning on doing some Master copies at the AGNSW across the road but I don't really see that happening.
In 2007 I did an entire series based on a counterfeit Micky Mouse and Skeleton Men from Boston. The images were half drawings half text, they were meant to be studies for bigger projects. I might turn them into drypoint etchings and print them on some ancient yellowed copier paper I found in the store-room. They'll be really small compared to my screenprints - and a lot cheaper to get framed.
I was planning on doing some Master copies at the AGNSW across the road but I don't really see that happening.
In 2007 I did an entire series based on a counterfeit Micky Mouse and Skeleton Men from Boston. The images were half drawings half text, they were meant to be studies for bigger projects. I might turn them into drypoint etchings and print them on some ancient yellowed copier paper I found in the store-room. They'll be really small compared to my screenprints - and a lot cheaper to get framed.
My art education was in a large part influenced by Julian Schnabel's movie Basquiat. The movie-version Basquiat lived in a box and then later his girlfriend's place, didn't seem to have any kind of stable job yet could afford to be on drugs all the time, and just seemed to 'wing it' the whole way through in cool and serendipitous ways, eventually meeting Andy Warhol and becoming a general New York darling.
My Professional Practice class at uni taught us that the key to breaking into the art world was to hang out at galleries a lot and become a familiar face at openings and make friends in that scene, hoping that eventually after a couple of warm red wines the owner says to you "Hey...you paint?? You want a show??" I've always been kind of disappointed by that side of things. I still don't really know how it all works.
The class probably should have been teaching us about how to write invoices, design and commission agreements, licensing, copyright, and how to understand the GST - but alas - the business side of things didn't seem to be as important as breaking into the scene.
I wonder if future artist biopic films will be made up scenes of the artist just sitting at their desk furiously checking their emails and going on facebook and watching youtube. Where is the romance? The serendipity?
Maybe I should become a painter instead.
My Professional Practice class at uni taught us that the key to breaking into the art world was to hang out at galleries a lot and become a familiar face at openings and make friends in that scene, hoping that eventually after a couple of warm red wines the owner says to you "Hey...you paint?? You want a show??" I've always been kind of disappointed by that side of things. I still don't really know how it all works.
The class probably should have been teaching us about how to write invoices, design and commission agreements, licensing, copyright, and how to understand the GST - but alas - the business side of things didn't seem to be as important as breaking into the scene.
I wonder if future artist biopic films will be made up scenes of the artist just sitting at their desk furiously checking their emails and going on facebook and watching youtube. Where is the romance? The serendipity?
Maybe I should become a painter instead.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
COME TO THIS OPENING
I've been spending the past couple of weeks working on something for this show, I have been doing something completely different from what I usually do and it feels realy good. I may even stop screenprinting for a while. The show is only on for three days so make sure you either attend the opening or at least see it over the weekend. Nice in space in Redfern across from where Kal El's comet hit.
I shaved my head, joined a gym, and decided to take two weeks of work. I'm going through some kind of personal renaissance.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Metaverses vs Mirrorverses
I went to the Australian Centre of Photography in Paddington tonight to see a panel discussion about the future of Web 2.0 and the relationships between social networking sites and identities based on mixed realities. It was epic. There were only about a handful of people there to watch(we were all wearing black which was nice) but there was still a satanstorm of ideas going around, mostly between the panel judges - the audience were just happy to listen in.
I love listening to people who know their shit talk about things they are passionate about. Extra points for being articulate and not overly opinionated. I managed to fill up my entire notebook with a shitload of notes - I had maybe eight epiphanies over the course of the discussion about metaverses, mirrorverses, the direction my work is taking, and the future.
The panel discussion was running in tandem with the current exhibition on there called Avatar: The New You, featuring a whole bunch of international artists. I was really keen to see the work of fellow COFA kid Justin Shoulder but by the time the talk had finished the gallery was closed.
Another great way to procrastinate joining the gym.
I've been wearing a flowing oversized hoodie I bought for twenty dollars and walking around town looking like a Sith Lord. Feels great - now that everyone is wearing leather jackets and I can't dress like Danny Zuko anymore - so cosplay is the obvious next step. I ordered a whole bunch of suits from Topman - soon I will start dressing like my grandad who wore suits all the time - he was an epic Sith Lord.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Plot
The Knuckle Bay Butchers are the gang that the Domino Bros are from. There are other members - I just haven't invented them yet. They fight Dr Caseface for dominance of the Dock. Machetes and crowbars and switchblades are involved. People are getting shivved all the time and the cops don't do shit because they are on Thor's payroll. Thor likes the chaos because he wants to drive everyone out of the area so he can rebuild Valhalla in Miami. This is all set in a parallel universe 1993.
On Hellboy 2...
I watched Hellboy 2 the other night. I was going in with pretty high expectations. It got pretty high marks on Rotten Tomatoes and a newspaper review called it 'dark'. The movie was shitouse.
Amazing effects and costume design, some interesting parts like how Prince Nuada lives in the sewer and the ancient tooth fairy monsters and how the trolls still live under bridges, but a major fail in terms of storytelling and character development. Really really bad acting. Really really horrible to watch. I would go so far as to say it was as cheesy and bad as the Batman and Robin movie.
Everyone's timing seemed to be way off in this, which can possibly be blamed on maybe not having more than one take? Luke Goss from Bros is alright but pretty much plays Nomak Damaskinos again which can almost be considered a cross-over between Marvel and Dark Horse. I don't know how this movie got such good reviews - it is like everyone is kissing Guillermo Del Toro's ass since Pan's Labyrinth and since they couldn't give it more than five stars, some stars overflowed onto Hellboy 2.
If Hellboy 1 was like bad pilot episode of a failed TV-Series then Hellboy 2 is like a two-hour long montage of fan-favourite scenes from that series hosted by Bob Saget.
I dont' want to be all like 'the comic-book was better' but they made the movie-version Hellboy the dumbest most unlikable character ever, and he is meant to be the main character, he is a total dick! They also made Abe Sapien a moron. Not to mention the BPRD were the most unprofessional secret government agency ever - where bad guys could just 'rock up' to the secret compound and staff could just steal jets and destroy shit - wtf? I've been to freakin public libraries with more security than that.
There is so much potential to the Hellboy material - which is what makes this movie franchise so disappointing - Guillermo Del Toro pulled a total Joel "I Want A Car, Chicks Dig The Car" Schumacher.
I can't believe I managed to rant so much about this. I haven't been this disappointed since Ang Lee's Hulk fuck-up.
Amazing effects and costume design, some interesting parts like how Prince Nuada lives in the sewer and the ancient tooth fairy monsters and how the trolls still live under bridges, but a major fail in terms of storytelling and character development. Really really bad acting. Really really horrible to watch. I would go so far as to say it was as cheesy and bad as the Batman and Robin movie.
Everyone's timing seemed to be way off in this, which can possibly be blamed on maybe not having more than one take? Luke Goss from Bros is alright but pretty much plays Nomak Damaskinos again which can almost be considered a cross-over between Marvel and Dark Horse. I don't know how this movie got such good reviews - it is like everyone is kissing Guillermo Del Toro's ass since Pan's Labyrinth and since they couldn't give it more than five stars, some stars overflowed onto Hellboy 2.
If Hellboy 1 was like bad pilot episode of a failed TV-Series then Hellboy 2 is like a two-hour long montage of fan-favourite scenes from that series hosted by Bob Saget.
I dont' want to be all like 'the comic-book was better' but they made the movie-version Hellboy the dumbest most unlikable character ever, and he is meant to be the main character, he is a total dick! They also made Abe Sapien a moron. Not to mention the BPRD were the most unprofessional secret government agency ever - where bad guys could just 'rock up' to the secret compound and staff could just steal jets and destroy shit - wtf? I've been to freakin public libraries with more security than that.
There is so much potential to the Hellboy material - which is what makes this movie franchise so disappointing - Guillermo Del Toro pulled a total Joel "I Want A Car, Chicks Dig The Car" Schumacher.
I can't believe I managed to rant so much about this. I haven't been this disappointed since Ang Lee's Hulk fuck-up.
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