PICA Salon 2015

I managed to pop in to PICA to check out the PICA Salon 2015 exhibition and was greeted by two hairy gargoyle type creatures with glowing eyes! These guardian sphinxes were by Tarryn Gill and influenced by The Never-Ending Story. They were made of stockings stretched around foam and stitched up and were a pretty good welcome to the exhibition.

'Guardian (Light Sphinx)' (detail) by Tarryn Gill

Another highlight was the Pip & Pop wall. Pip & Pop is Perth artist, Tanya Schultz, whose installation works I have enjoyed for a while. They are always bright and fantastical and often made of sugar and glitter! This is the first time I have seen 2-D work by her and I love it! There is a lot of cute in the kaleidoscopic wallpapers - if you look closely you might find kittens, plastic flowers, owls, cupcakes and of course, lots of glitter!

'Inside this dream', 2015, Adhesive wallpaper (detail)

Dino invasion!

Eeek! Has Perth been invaded by dinosaurs?!!
Don't worry, it's just the museum ... and there is a fence to keep us safe. Phew!

Sculptures by the Sea

Every year, Sculpture by the Sea is on at Cottesloe Beach with more sculptures than you can poke a stick at (please do not poke the artworks). The exhibiting artists are from all around the world and the sculptures range from small to enormous and conservative to controversial. This year the sculptures attracting the most publicity were the giant goon bag and the Barbie wave.

Cottesloe Beach with 'Bulk Carrier' (aka Giant Goon Bag) by Norton Flavel (WA) on the right

The giant goon bag had seen better days by the time we got to it. It lay semi-deflated on the sand, pulsating and undulating like a beached alien whale with its underbelly peeling silver and its seams threatening to pop a leak at any moment. That didn't stop the cameras snapping and the people posing in front of it and it seemed to be one of the most popular sculptures there! Also the one most likely to be alive.

'Permanent Sunset' by Alejandro Propato (Argentina)

'Wave 1' by Annette Thas (WA)  

Thousands of Barbie dolls made up "Wave 1" which was also very popular and surrounded by crowds. With more second-hand Barbie dolls than you'd find at a Barbie bargain barbeque, it was a sight to behold! Masses of blonde hair and naked bodies (some headless) crashing down upon you would be much worse than getting dumped by an actual wave, especially with all the arms poking out at all angles and the many staring eyes and fixed smiles...

'Rescheduling Permanence' (aka Doily Hut) by Helen Seiver (WA)

 'Fetch (2012)' (aka Almost Invisible Dogs) by The Winged Collective (VIC)

'Once Removed' (aka Glass Feet) by Robert Barnstone

'Der Traum' (the dream) by Wolfgang Friz (Germany)

Once again, it was an interesting evening at the beach, racing around to see all the sculptures before the sun went down and nicely finished off with an ice cream. Yum!

Two arts, please!

It's festival season again! And, as usual, there is a great visual arts program to go with the Perth International Arts Festival, starting with Paramodelic-Graffiti by Paramodel and The Tenth Sentiment by Ryota Kuwakubo, both at John Curtin Gallery.

Paramodel is two Japanese artists, Yasuhiko Hayashi and Yusuke Nakano, who create large-scale art installations and travel around the world to install them. Their latest work is their largest yet and uses blue toy train tracks, foam mountains, paper, sand, toy animals and model construction equipment. Despite these simple components, the patterns and worlds they create are quite complex. Each installation is designed specifically for its location. The artists use computer programs to help map out the intricate paths of the train tracks, with areas of symmetry. Yasuhiko Hayashi, 2 assistants and a team of helpers worked for a month from 8am to 8pm every day to get the installation ready for opening night. They bring the "Plarail" train tracks from Japan and then try to get all other materials locally. They like to add a few local fauna, which is why you will find kangaroos, echidnas, wombats and cockatoos in the landscape.

From outside the gallery, you will see the blue train tracks 'escaping' the building. Stepping inside, you will see more tracks, travelling around the walls and ceiling with little cranes interspersed but when you enter the gallery, you will become immersed into a world of blue and white, with the walls, floor and ceiling engulfed in paramodelic graffiti!

The Tenth Sentiment will also engulf you as you walk into a dark room lit only by the headlight of a model train moving slowly along the track, alongside which are various objects casting changing shadows on the walls. As the different shadows loom out of the darkness, you are taken on a journey through space and time...

These exhibitions have to be experienced to fully appreciate the work so I recommend you get there before they close in April. There are plenty more interesting and unusual arts events coming up, such as an inflatable Stonehenge, and I'm looking forward to seeing them soon. Yay for festival season!

Letterpress!

My work was recently chosen to be letterpress printed by Whiteman Park Print Shop and featured in a letterpress exhibition along with 19 other artworks! The theme was "My Perth" and it had to be in 2 colours - orange and blue. The exhibition was part of Whiteman Park Print Shop's letterpress printing 25th anniversary celebrations.

I always think of the Swan River as being the heart of Perth and of course it's namesake - the swan! So I came up with a sketch of a swan floating down the Swan River with a baby swan on its back (to increase the cuteness factor) and a view of the Perth city skyline in the background... then I set about turning it into something suitable for a 2 colour letterpress print. 



I've never had anything letterpress printed before and was very excited to see how it would turn out. But I had to wait til the opening day of the exhibition to see it in person. I was not disappointed as it looked even better than I had imagined! I really like the brightness of the colours and being able to see the slight indentation of the printing plates and the texture of the paper. As well as seeing the other artworks at the opening, I also got to see the old letterpress equipment in use and lots of samples of letterpress printing. It was very interesting!



Thank you to Ann and the team at Whiteman Park Print Shop for organising and printing. I hope I will get to participate in something like this again!

Note: In case you're wondering about the 'third colour' in my print, it was achieved by overprinting, so the orange and blue were printed on top of each other to create another colour. 

Tall Rabbit's Melbourne Adventures

I've just come back from a whirlwind trip to Melbourne and boy did I pack a lot in! I went to markets, met some lovely crafters, went to a conference, visited galleries, got some supplies, ate yummy food, caught trams, got some cool new magazines, saw gogo dancing nerds on vacation, partied in the National Gallery of Victoria, found some very cute goodies, visited the Etsy Showroom and even managed to fit in some sleep! I've got so much to report back on so check back soon!

The Madness!

There's a lot going on in Perth at the moment, in fact there's almost too much! It could quite possibly blow your little minds and give you a severe case of the Madness! 
To start with, the Fringe Festival has the number one spot to hang out with its awesome Fringe World  - a magical oasis of coolness in the middle of the city at the Old Treasury (and the place to spot Barry Morgan after his World of Organ shows). You will also find roving carny folk (beware!), lots of astro turf and palette seating and even a tank with mermaids! And I haven't even mentioned all the shows you can go to or the Spiegeltent!
The Perth International Arts Festival burst into town on Saturday night with Place des Anges. There were feathers raining down on the city of Perth, crazy French performers, Les Studios de Cirque, zooming down wires from the tops of buildings and a giant inflatable angel flying down St George's Terrace!
On the other side of town there is the more 'grown-up' Festival Gardens (also making use of plenty of astro turf) with pretty lanterns and bars made out of huge pipes from the C.Y. O'Connor pipeline! 
Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa has been getting around town too, leaving his mark in Stirling Gardens with Air/Air, his giant pink and green triangular constructions made out of plastic baskets and he's also filled up Gallery Central with wriggly balloons for his exhibition Life/Life and you can also see his giant inflatable lotus at UWA.
I'm pooped just thinking about it! I guess I will have a case of the Madness for another few weeks at least! Yippee!


Image (clockwise from top left): Fringe World, mermaids, Air/Air, Place des Anges, Life/Life and PIAF Festival Gardens

The Animal Band!

Introducing the newest coolest rock band in town… “Animal Band”! This four member group has burst out of nowhere to become the hottest local talent in the Perth music scene since 2001. Featuring a rockin’ rabbit on guitar, a crazy critter on bass, a frenzied fox on vocals and a boisterous bear on drums, you can see them immortalised in print in the Victoria Park Art Awards, displayed at The Park Centre. And it’s for sale!


Update: "Animal Band" has been sold! It has now been sent off with its new mystery owner!