Art Piece Gallery

Sept 23 - Oct 3 2008 (solo show)

The Art Piece Gallery 
105 Stuart Street
Mullumbimby, NSW
Australia, 2482

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

Erosion of Memory No1, oil & linocut on canvas, 122cm x 176cm    $3500 SOLD

Erosion of Memory No2, oil & linocuts on canvas, 122cm x 176cm   $3500

Erosion of Memory No3, oil & linocuts on canvas, 122cm x 176cm      $3500 SOLD

Local Shop, oil & linocuts on canvas, 76cm x 102cm $1900

Fishing on a high tide, oil & linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD

Last Sighting, oil & linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD

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

First Girlfriend, oil & linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD

Class of '73, oil & linocuts on canvas, 39cm x 49cm $590 SOLD

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

Last Sighting, acrylic, graphite & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350

My First Surfboard, acrylic, & linocuts on paper, 49cm x 76cm $350

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

Mangrove Series

Mangroves No2, oil on canvas, 30cm x 30cm $490 SOLD

Mangroves No4, oil on canvas, 30cm x 30cm $490 SOLD

Mangroves No5, oil on canvas, 25cm x 25cm $390 SOLD