And They Will Tell You It's Not Natural

I forgot what I was going to post about before. Probably something about openings etc.

I got all my DVDs back from my sister's place and watched Superman Returns again tonight, surprisingly I actually enjoyed it the second time around. The way all the colours were co-ordinated with Superman's costume throughout the film looked amazing, and the art deco-ness of the Daily Planet. I feel bad for giving it shit when it came out. And KUMAR is in it!

It is school holidays at TAFE which makes the place awfully quiet. I was anticipating making some screenprints but instead I've been getting jaded over printmaking in general. It is a bit of a ball and chain, to be tied to an institution all the time in order to make your work. When I was at art school it felt cool to go against all the new media stuff that was happening and be completely absorbed in this conservative vortex of nitric acids and paper stocks and tusche washes, but its all a bit bullshit.

Life-drawing resumes this week! Excitement!

At Least Watch It Till The End

So much news, fill you in later, but for now:

In The Belly Of A Whale

I kind of want a Macbook Pro. I've realised that I don't actually get to use my new imac much at all. It is a beautiful beast and the huge screen is really nice but I have to be home to use it and I'm barely ever at home. According to this graph, half my working week is spent away from home.



If I could use the time on the train and at work to make art and do research then I could potentially increase my productivity from around 16% to 67%.

That is if I spend ALL the time making work, and not sneaking in facebook/sleep/ohnotheydidnt etc.

It is something worth considering. I'm getting frustrated with not having enough time or energy to do what I want.

Not to nag or anything, but:





Also worth checking out this week is the Curvy 5 launch at Mori Gallery (beautiful space), girl graphic designers and illustrators etc:
Mori Gallery 168 Day Street Sydney
Launch: Thursday April 3 (8-11pm)
Public: Friday April 4-Sun April 6 (10am-5pm)

A very busy week of openings, I will probably spend most of it terribly drunk. Maybe I should have included that in the pie chart too.

Can I Has Hulk-Buster Iron Man Suit Now?

'Robert Downey Jr is to appear in the forthcoming film The Incredible Hulk as Iron Man, Marvel comics has announced. A panel at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas has confirmed the news, which marks a break with superhero movie tradition. While characters often appear in each other's comics, this is the first time a lead actor from one film franchise has appeared in another. Iron Man hits cinemas here on May 2, with The Incredible Hulk, starring Ed Norton, following soon after on June 13. Marvel's new studio arm is producing both movies, allowing it to indulge in the previously unseen cross-pollination.'

Source

I always get so excited about superhero flicks before they come out. I remember around the time Spider-man 3 was coming out, I would be on the internet scouring for leaked images of Venom, and of course I watched it on the plane and was major disappointed by the whole thing.

Anyway, so apparently because Edward Norton is on board Hulk as a screenwriter as well, he is changing the script around so he has more screen time. People should know from the previous Hulk flick that Bruce Banner = FAIL. HULK = SMASH.

STRANGE AEONS

I started a full time job recently, which is why I haven't been posting much(I haven't been home much). I am now a Technical Assistant for the Fine Arts/Printmaking department at Hornsby TAFE. I spend eight hours a day at work and almost four hours a day on public transport (Hornsby is a long way away from the gothic sublime of Maroubra Beach), which leaves me twelve remaining hours to eat, sleep, and read Oh No They Didn't. If I stay back after work to do my own work then that leaves me around six hours at home until I am back at Hornsby.

Of course it is not all bad, the job comes with some benefits....




I've made it a little project of mine to get the screenprinting equipment up to speed. I tried pushing the current resources as far as they could go tonight and faced a FAIL of epic proportions. Everything that could go wrong in screenprinting did, which would be fine if I didn't have a load of work due for some shows coming up. I'll admit that I was a bit rusty from not printing for over a year but the amount of problems I encountered left me completely defeated.

In case anyone reading this didn't already know, screenprinting at large format can be MEGA HARD. I realise now that I took for granted the swish equipment that I had at my disposal during my COFA days. DIY style screenprinting without top-of-the-line equipment is so excruciating it makes me want to quit screenprinting entirely.

Anyway before this post becomes too dark, two shows coming up:


Charles Dennington is showing in the group show at Somedays, his work is amazing - I missed out on seeing his solo show before so I'm glad I'll get another chance to see his stuff.

I'll be updating my website over the long weekend too so it will look like I've been keeping busy doing something other than falling asleep on trains and checking Facebook.

Mike Rea's Artist Statement

"Standing on the shoulders of other people's dreams could perhaps be the most pathetic of all dreams. The intent of my work is to create something short of its outcome. My goal is to create the idea of an object that remains a dream. The objects I create are based on fictions, rather than realities. I have always been interested in the ephemeral worlds established in film, or even in popular culture. Fictions or established hearsay allow for a flawed interpretation, which leads to a flawed result. The sublime is unattainable, and not an option. I further amplify this experience by only using my memory to construct my images. Failure is imminent. I find humor allows me to enjoy this experience, and I in turn build humor into the worlds established by my work. I have chosen to depict these states with unfinished wood, and other materials which convey a sense of the temporal. I find the beauty in life lies in between moments. My work offers a sense of what could be and what could never be simultaneously."

“Lysistrata” 2005. wood, burlap, rope, pink-foam

Jack Kirby's Death Metal Fantasy

I started a new job the other week and although it provides much job satisfaction (which is priceless), it involves a grueling four hours a day on Sydney public transport, which is absolutely horrible. I've been getting home late, completely exhausted, wanting to do nothing but sleep, but forcing myself to do at least something constructive before the day is over (but not managing to do anything).

In other news I have recently converted to Mac! I am using a 24" iMac now and yes, I am finding it very difficult to get used to. I am adept on a PC but I'm just so over them breaking all the time and having to mess around with hardware all the time. I don't like customising anything, I like things really minimal and simple. I don't even like printed t-shirts. My ideal home would be a hotel room with barely any furniture, in it I would maybe have a jar of choc chip cookies, and a print of Malevich's Black Square pinned on the wall.

The show at Hogan Gallery has been pushed back to June but I am still in two shows coming up in April that I am making brand new work for. Love Ariel's group show at Somedays, and the Semi Permanent sideshow Kids Today presented by Stupid Krap, the lineup of which is a lot like a big livejournal reunion for me. It will be at MTV Headquarters in Kings Cross.

It is good to be busy. But it is also good to sleep.

Classy Killer Opening Credits

Daydreams and Deadlines

I never knew you could get blisters on your knuckles from drawing but apparently you can because I am looking at them now and they are strange indeed.

I've been inking an image since 2pm yesterday, which means I've been at this computer for 15 hours. The editorial is due Friday 9am New York time, which is Saturday 1am Sydney time. If I'm lucky I will finish early so I can go to the GRRRL Exhibition Opening on Friday night at Ambush Gallery but it doesn't look like it because things like my real job and my new job and my freelance job are taking up most of my time.

For such a long time there was just nothing but mall minutiae and eBay. Now everything is happening at once - which is a nice change from lamenting about a crap retail job.