Art
Piece Gallery

Sept 23 -
Oct 3 2008 (solo show)
The Art Piece Gallery
105 Stuart Street
Mullumbimby, NSW
Australia, 2482
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Artist
Statement
My parents Kevin and
Janet taught art at Mullumbimby High School and opened the first commercial
art gallery on the far north coast in the 1960s. In some ways I have followed
in my parent's footsteps teaching at various universities in Australia.
In 2000 I resigned as a full time academic to concentrate on my art career.
Recently returned from a New York solo exhibition, I decided to show paintings
focusing on my early years growing up at New Brighton beside the beach.
It was also a good excuse to introduce my two teenage sons to the north
coast.
The exhibition titled
Erosion of Memory is made up of large and small abstract and figurative
works.
The title of this
show is my homage to the memory of my mother Janet who won the National
Craft Award in 1975 with a fibre artwork by the same title. Working on
this show loosed a flood of vivid memories of a childhood fostered in
the mangroves and on the beach.
Growing up in a creative
family also meant that a constant stream of influences fed my creative
and intellectual education. Famous artists, poets, musicians and even
politicians were frequent visitors to our home and gallery throughout
my childhood.These people inspired me to travel and explore a career that
was based in Sydney and other large cities. After 25 years art was the
catalyst that drrew me back to my roots.
These oils draw on the beauty of the local coastal environment in a non-traditional
way. Rich colours pull you into the fine detailed layers composed of half
remembered people and half forgotten events. These paintings are iconic
and yet intimate. Close forensic inspection is rewarded with small fragments
of images being revealed.
What is historically
forgotten with the passage of time is also a driving force throughout
this show. I hope the paintings also remind us of what is being lost with
the rapid impact of global warming on sea level rise, beach erosion and
climate change. Growing up amongst Pandanus palm groves, mangroves and
littoral rainforest on the Brunswick River, I am keenly aware of what
has already disappeared or is under threat.
Yet I hope this is
not a gloomy exhibition. There were many funny and bizarre events in my
childhood. I remember one episode where my father once dressed me up as
Jesus Christ complete with Crown of Thorns and a life size wooden cross
which I had to drag around the front yard while he sketched me for The
14 Stations of the Cross. The neighbours must have thought we were completely
bonkers!
Looking back now I feel very privileged to have grown up in a place and
a time that saw the emergence of a vibrant culture that now attracts thousands
of people to the region every year. My parents were young Beat Generation
visionaries from Melbourne who saw the potential of the region as an art
and music hub in the early sixties. The later 70's Hippy invasion followed
in their footsteps and I remember the first prime movers of the Aquarius
movement visiting my parents for survival tips.
In a small way this
show is a touching base exercise for me and a tribute to a fantastic little
slice of paradise.
NOTE:
10% discount to all Mullumbimby High Class of '73 classmates
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Erosion of Memory No1,
oil & linocut on canvas, 122cm x 176cm $3500
SOLD
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Erosion of Memory No2,
oil & linocuts on canvas, 122cm x 176cm $3500
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Erosion of Memory No3,
oil & linocuts on canvas, 122cm x 176cm
$3500 SOLD
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Local Shop, oil &
linocuts on canvas, 76cm x 102cm $1900
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Fishing on a high tide,
oil & linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD
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Last Sighting, oil
& linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD
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Backyard Jesus, oil &
linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD |

Last Whale Killing,
oil & linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD
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First Girlfriend, oil
& linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD
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First Surfboard, oil
& linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD |

Class of '73, oil &
linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD
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Works
on Paper (all $450 framed or $350 unframed - limited
edition of 5 hand-coloured prints per issue)

Last Whale Killing,
acrylic & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350
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Last Sighting, acrylic,
graphite & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350
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My First Surfboard,
acrylic, & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350
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My First Girlfriend,
acrylic, & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350 |

Backyard Jesus, acrylic,
& linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350
Mangrove Series |

Class of '73, acrylic,
graphite & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350 |

Mangroves No1, oil on
canvas, 40cm x 50cm $590 SOLD |

Mangroves No2, oil
on canvas, 30cm x 30cm $490 SOLD
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Mangroves No3, oil on
canvas, 40cm x 50cm $590 SOLD |

Mangroves No4, oil
on canvas, 30cm x 30cm $490 SOLD
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Mangroves No5, oil
on canvas, 25cm x 25cm $390 SOLD
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Mangroves No6, oil on
canvas, 15cm x 25cm $290 SOLD |

Orpheus & Eurydice,
oil on canvas, 40cm x 50cm $590 SOLD |

Orpheus in Mangroves,
oil on canvas, 27cm x 35cm $390 SOLD |
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