Making It

2009-09-11T18:27:00.001-07:00

2009-09-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

rex-livingston art dealer cordially invites you

to the opening of Peter Cameron

Paintings from Hill End (studio residency)

and Millamolong Station

Peter Cameron, Hill End 13, 2009, oil on linen, 152 x 148cm

Opening Night drinks with the artist:

Thursday 10 September 6 to 8pm

Exhibition on View:

9 to 27 September

“Peter’s paintings capture the interface between physical form and the energetic dimension of reality.

His landscapes appear to pulse in and out of existence from the underlying quantum world of energy”.

Richard Barrett

Founder and Chairman

Barrett Values Centre

Wines by Mount Eyre Vineyards, Hunter Valley NSW

David Rex-Livingston, Director

rex-livingston art dealer

ph + 61 2 9357 5988

mobile 0414 240 664

email: art@rex-livingston.com

web: www.rex-livingston.com

Specialising in dealing quality investment art

and the exhibition of professional emerging

to mid career artists.

Gallery: 59 Flinders Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010.

Hours: Tues to Sat 11am to 6pm & Sun Noon to 4pm

2009-09-02T05:34:00.000-07:00

2009-08-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

JONATHON VALENZUELA: TILTED SAGE

2009-08-15T01:27:00.000-07:00

He started with zines, Time Out Sydney gave him a section in their funnies, Watch This Space gave him a show and now he's approaching the status of comic book mogul. If you have a chance come to The Wall this coming Wednesday and check out 14 brand new comics by Jonathon Valenzuela!

If you've never come across The Tilted Page before you can click on links to #1 and #2 of the zine below.

Tilted Page 1

Tilted Page 2

How Do THEY Do It?

2009-08-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 9th August (tomorrow) the ACP is hosting the event "Tea With The Artistic Directors". Andrew Frost from Artlife will be hosting a discussion with Andrew Upton from the Sydney Theatre Co, Lisa Havilah from the Campbelltown Arts Centre and Kristy Edmunds - former Director at the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Come along at 3pm for tea and concepts. Cupcakes are rumored to appear.

Tony Curran

PLAY IN PLUSHTOWN

2009-08-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hogi Tsai's latest work is in the window of Sydney's Gallery 4A. Across the road from Capitol Square where computer markets and Japanese skill-testers lurk is the perfect place for Hogi's work. Hogi is a UTS student PhD student from Taiwan. He's been involved in a few shows around Sydney and this work at Gallery 4A is a fun rainbow wind-chime of human motion. We should warn you though, we received a few funny looks while exploring this work.

Tony Curran and Sonya Gee

MAKING RADIO

2009-07-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday last Tony Curran (myself) and Jonathon Valenzuela (16 Tacos) were a radio twitter partnership where my iDrawings of "Action-Jon" were retweeted to FBi's twittership of almost 3,000. Collaborations don't always work well but thanks to Jon's not-so-diva-like attitude to my portraits he was happy that only one of them made him look like a "guido". His special request was a unicorn.

Twitter Art Skills and a Radio Star

2009-07-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

Since smart phones every Tom Dick and Harry has become a twit. Richard Glover tells SMH readers that twitter is a fad that will vanish in no time just like facebook and the gramophone. However Glover never got his facts straight because he can't predict the future. But I can.

This Saturday (25rd July, 2009) between 8 and 10pm I'll be in the FBi Studios drawing action portraits of Jon Valenzuela - AKA 16 Tacos and author of THE TILTED PAGE - while he plays a "leftfield" hip-hop show. I'll be sending paintings out every 20 minutes or so on the FBi twitter account. So if you aren't following them yet, get to it! If you're not in Sydney for the occasion then jump on to fbiradio.com and listen online for free.

Predicted scenes will be Jon on the computer, Jon taking a smoke break and Jon severely playing music.

Tony Curran

Bravo

2009-07-21T23:41:00.001-07:00

Bravo

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IN WITH THE MATCHBOX PROJECT

2009-07-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

16th JULY 2009

While we were at the opening of Acts of Disobedience featuring The Matchbox Project at the Australian Centre for Photography, Sonya Gee expected that soon the thousands of matchboxes she had provided for her show would disappear and that she would soon have to replace them.

PRESENT DAY

Sonya Gee of the Matchbox Project takes me to check out just how many matchboxes she needs to replace. Along the way Sonya drops off a matchbox and uncharacteristically allows me to document the process.

The idea is that you take a Matchbox from the vase (see the top photograph), place it somewhere for someone else to find (see bottom photograph), then email or SMS the location of the matchbox from the details provided at the ACP.

Matches Made In Heaven

2009-07-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

Acts of Disobedience is a best-of Sydney's 'curious benevolence' movements. Will Coles' public cement fixtures of digital hand held devices is joining Bababa International and Sonya Gee's The Matchbox Project. Expect statues reminiscent of the immediate present, treasure hunts, and landscape archaeology.

Acts of Disobedience opens at the Australian Centre for Photography 17th of July at 6-8 and runs till the 22nd of August. RSVP the facebook event here.

PULSE: A behind the scenes with WATCH THIS SPACE and INFORMAL DIALOGUE

2009-07-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

COLLABORATION!!!!!!

PULSE is a new curatorial project under development between Watch This Space and Informal Dialogue.

Q & A with WATCH THIS SPACE

2009-06-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

We received some questions about our selection criteria on a our facebook fan page which we thought might be useful to any readers endeavouring to have an exhibition with us.

We just received the following questions and thought we'd share them and their answers in case anyone else is wondering the same things:

Q
1. if we are accepted are we just allocated to a space?
2. what's the selection process?
3. when will works chosen be exhibited?

A
1. If you are accepted it will be because we like your project. We won't always have the ideal place for your project as soon as the artist is ready to exhibit it. So what we will first try to do is place you in one of our spaces we already have. Our spaces vary in what they can offer the artist. For example we have one space which is only open at nights and on certain nights requires a cover charge to be in. Because of our unique spaces some are suited to different disciplines and media from others. Some spaces might be too big or too small for particular works so once we decide we would like to work with the artist then we will contact them and talk about what we have to offer them.

2. The selection process is simple. We work out how successful the artwork will be for the spaces we have. If we select a work that won't work in our spaces then we will endeavor to find a space that does. This means that the selection criteria comes down to a succinct and articulate proposal: what, how, why and when, who the artist is and what their experience is (CV). Many applicants will not have had a show before so their proposal and sample images will need to be particularly strong to outweigh an uninspiring CV. The panel made up of two directors will choose make painstaking decisions only accepting works which we believe to be any attractive combination of: beautiful, relevant, talented, contemporary, theoretically grounded, controversial and legal. Once we have chosen works that we are happy with we will contact the artist and notify them of out interest in their work. After that we will contact any unsuccessful applicants and notify them.

3. Works chosen will be exhibited at a time decided on together by the gallery and the artist. If you ave a preferred time to exhibit then you should include that in your proposal. We are currently hoping to decide on an exhibition program until July next year.

2009-06-04T15:46:00.001-07:00

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New Kids On Every Block

2009-06-04T15:45:00.001-07:00

MAKING IT is proud to announce the new poly-venue gallery initiative which has just exploded in Sydney.

Young entrepreneurial curator duo Tony Curran and Luke Tipene have set up an artist run space where artists get exhibition space for free! An experimental artworld model, this project has been liaising with small business in Sydney for simple sponsorship arrangements and is currently hosting their debut appearence at World Bar's club room in King's Cross and future events are rumoured to be held in the elegant design studios of NMI in Chippendale. Emerging artists are strongly represented in the vision for the gallery, Mitchel Spider boasting the first so far.

However, more established practitioners in a huge range of visual and sonic media are to be involved as well. While it doesn't behave like a normal gallery with the white cube aesthetic WATCH THIS SPACE hopes to make the artworks more accessible to those who normally wouldn't have the luxury to visit galleries and project spaces.

While there are no fees to be paid for space rental WATCH THIS SPACE take a 20% commission on works sold which goes toward running costs of the organisation.

For more information about how to get involved or join the mailing list email realperspectives@gmail.com.

Posted with LifeCast

LEADING UP TO THE MCA ZINE FAIR!

2009-05-20T06:33:00.001-07:00

It used to be that everyone lubed up ready to slide into the Sydney Writers' Festival Annual Zine Fair to grab a limited edition issue of Sammiches. Times they are a changin'. With the Sammiches crew having moved away to other more "solo" careers one former member still holds the flame - The Tilted Page.

Jonathon Valenzuela AKA 16 Tacos AKA The Tilted Page will be releasing the long awaited second issue of his copyright heisted comics. He may be shit at drawing but his clip art gags are guarenteed to make you buy one and give a copy to your parent for his/her birthday, only to have their faces glaze over because they can't understand the humour of the chosen generation. The Tilted Page will be sold next door to Making It Magazine's Issue 1 'Woah'.

Making It

Woah

2009-05-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

This week the Making It team are buckling down in preparation for our first offline production - a zine for the upcoming MCA Zine fair this Sunday, 24th.

We're in the process of trawling through our cameras, computers, notebooks and minds to come up with some of the sweetest things we've seen in the last year or so. Books and articles we've read, websites we frequent, shows that made us stop in our tracks.

Can't wait to get it made. This glorious photo comes from FFFFOUND!, one super source of images, updated frequently. This particular pic comes from Anna Spiro's blog.

I'm still relatively new to collaboration and am learning to think aloud, which is scary but rewarding. We get more done that way and there's less self consciousness. I'm wondering whether the final product will have a very girl/boy divide in content...

Come visit us at the Zine Fair! If you can't make it, we'll be making our zine available online as soon as it's done.

News and Where To Get It In the Artworld

2009-05-10T05:11:00.000-07:00

It used to be art magazines, then blogger: The Artlife. Mags cost too much and are full of crappy ads and The Artlife started making a tv show and now only blog once a fortnight and only blog something worth reading every third fortnight.

Now the place to go for good info from artists and art institutions is artbabble.com and The Art Newspaper. Art Babble is a database of video podcasts from artists, museums and academies which is free to watch. The Art Newspaper is exactly how it sounds - a newspaper particular to the artworld and art economy. Both will do more for the aspiring Fine Arts industry profesh and if you want the latest news on what's happening when and where get twitter and start following some galleries.

Tony Curran

Rest & Repeat

2009-05-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

They say a lot of things about silence. Of awkward silences, pregnant pauses that silence is golden.. but I had never anticipated silence could be quite this elegant.

Object Gallery is currently hosting the 2009 Design Now! exhibition, showcasing the works of the best 18 design graduates across the nation in six categories, including design for home, communications and industry.

Sydney design partnership Derrick & Christina, recent graduates from Visual Communications at the University of Technology Sydney are among the 18 to be featured, with their work Rest & Repeat. A visual and tactile exploration of Erik Satie's composition 'Vexations', a short passage of chord progressions accompanied by a bassline that is repeated twice in each repetition of the piece (which is meant to be repeated 840 times), it successfully presents repetition in a way that is both calming and beautiful and at odds with usual connotations of boredom, staleness and noise.

The musical composition is stark and eerie and the two have chosen to represent it visually using a colour palette of white and grey. Derrick, now a digitial media designer at Freemantle Media, who sub majored in film and video has created a collection of motion graphics entitled 'Rest'. Venetian blinds open and shut, the viewer is transported down a rectangular tunnel, there are swirls and repeat patterns of boxes that rise and fall. Each scene transitions flawlessly into the next, an indication of how well considered the work is yet how effortlessly it is played out. The young designer has been known for his quirky and colourful animations, from peanuts walking on stilts to whirling red zebras to coloured blobs falling from see-saws and this is his most mature work to date.

His design partner Christina Perry produced a series of wallpapers and stories entitled 'Repeat', a physical exploration of repetition. From afar the wall coverings appear bright and vaguely textured, a closer inspection revealing the intracacies of the work. One appears reminiscent of a snowflake, delicate and ephemeral while another bears resemblance to pianola paper. Christina handcrafted the paper, yet the final product does not seem at all laboured. Her collection of short stories are both sweet and intriguing, her readership of Murakami and Fitzgerald subtly discernable.

The collaborative work is mesmerising and successful with the two designers retaining their individuality whilst exploring the same concept. And in a time where everything seems to be shouted and noisy, from advertising, product placement and political debate, their use of white and peace produces a work that is a simulatneously bold and gentle and worthy of exhibition.

Design Now! opend at Object gallery on 17 April and will remain until 21 June in Sydney, before travelling to Melbourne. Look out for Eric Ng's work 'Scenarios for a Sustainable Future', which is also on show.

By Sonya Gee

ADOLF HITLER

2009-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

They said he'd never make it because he "wasn't talented". But Hitler finally made it.

http://player.sbs.com.au/naca/#/naca/wna/Latest/playlist/Artworks-possibly-the-work-of-Hitler/

Click on the above link to see the fruit born of a little patience with your art practice.

Knockin' At Fortunes Door

2009-04-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR ARTISTIC PROPOSALS FOR …

REALITY CHEQUE
19 June - 5 July
ATVP’s Winter ’09 Show ofthe Season
(Opening launch Fri 19 June 6-9pm)

REALITY CHEQUE: Money isn’t everything, but apparently it is the force responsible for the rotating of the Earth on its Axis. This past year has seen an unprecedented collapse in the mechanisms of capitalism and suddenly the stability and integrity of financial institutions have been found wanting.

At the same time, the squandering of the earth’s natural resources including the burning of fossil fuels and destruction of rainforests, as well as the drive for a western standard of life in developing countries like India and China has us wondering whether we’ve driven the world past a tipping point that we may not be able to recover from.

As a Global Community, we face a vast array of challenges & problems. Now, more than ever, we are all being asked to consider what makes the world go round; to consider our actions, our impact on the environment, our economies, our cultures and how our actions and choices effect all. It may not be money but a different kind of currency we need to look for to facilitate the world going round!

What we need now is a Reality Cheque, and we’re asking for artists to contribute.

ATVP is looking for 15-25 artists working in any medium that addresses the theme – Reality Cheque.

An Exhibition fee* of between $80-130 will apply, depending on the number of artists selected.

Proposals due by 5pm Monday 18 May 2009
(see proposal form below)

Artists will be notified 25 May regarding the outcome of their proposals. Delivery of artworks will be due Sunday 14 June 5-9pm, and Monday 15 June 9am - 6pm

For further information or to receive a proposal form contact:
Reality Cheque @ ATVP
(02) 9519 2340 / 0430 083 364
info@atthevanishingpoint.com.au / www.atthevanishingpoint.com.au

*ATVP is an independent artist-run initiative run by a dedicated team of volunteer Directors, representing emerging artists and arts professionals from the Sydney community. Exhibition Fees go toward the running of the exhibition as outlined at www.atthevanishingpoint.com.au/admin.php?p=edit&idd=16&menu=menu

PROPOSAL FORM
REALITY CHEQUE
19 June - 5 July 2009

Artist(s) name:

Contact Address:

Phone number(s):

Email Address:

Briefly describe your artistic practice (100wd max):

Clearly describe your proposed artwork (200wd max):

Please attach further relevant information:
• Please provide a relevant brief artistic CV (no more than one page):
• Please send us no more than 3 images, or concept drawing(s) or a cd/dvd of your proposed artwork (jpg files at 300dpi around 1MB per image):
• For further information about submitting entries for Reality Cheque contact ATVP on 9519 2340 or go to www.atthevanishingpoint.com.au

Send Completed Proposal Forms to:
At The Vanishing Point - Contemporary Art
565 King Street Newtown NSW 2042
or email info@atthevanishingpoint.com.au

PROPOSAL FORMS DUE BY 5PM MONDAY 18th MAY 2009

AND

Firstdraft is currently accepting proposals for its Exhibition, Emerging Artist Studio and Emerging Curators Programs for the second half of 2009.

Emerging Curators Program:
• A three-week exhibition in the whole gallery (including promotion and opening costs)
• Access to and assistance with Firstdraft's equipment and resources
• Funding and assistance for the production of a small catalogue to accompany the
show and towards curatorial costs

Exhibition:
• Exhibition proposals are invited from individuals and groups, artists and curators

Emerging Artist Studio Program:
• A studio space on the ground floor of Firstdraft for eleven weeks
• A three-week exhibition at Firstdraft upon completion of the program

For more information please download application forms at
http://www.firstdraftgallery.com/050%20Information/004%20Forms/index.html

or email mail@firstdraftgallery.com

Applications for the new Firstdraft/Runway Emerging Writers Program will be available shortly.

Applications close: 6pm Friday 15 May 2009

AND

*FREE HELP!*

An information day for second half of 2009 applicants will be held at
Firstdraft Gallery on Saturday 25 April from 3pm. Come and get some info and
tips on how to write a killer application for Firstdraft. Hear from
Firstdraft Directors, as well as artists and curators who have recently
completed the exhibition, curators and studio residents program. We will
also be launching the Emerging Arts Writers Program.

Firstdraft is a non-profit gallery run on a voluntary basis by a group of
practising artists and curators. It is one of the longest running and most
successful artist-run spaces in Australia. Firstdraft asserts the
importance of contemporary art production, dissemination and discussion in
society, providing a stimulating exhibition space that is professional and
accessible for a diverse range of artistic practices and projects.

For more info click here!!

A push, a shove and a whole load of sugar

2009-04-20T01:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really do need a good kick in the pants to get things going. Being given the opportunity to have a show with just under one and a half weeks notice is one such occasion. My last exhibition was produced very slowly and gently, with a few real stakeholders involved so it was fun to do something spontaneous and silly.

This was very silly. There were hundreds and thousands everywhere! On the floor, in my hair, they turned up in my tea cups and will forever be stuck in between the cracks of the floorboards. But it made for a very popular box!

The Wall hosted a Bid-A-Box night for a project I've been working at steadily for just over two years now. Normally I make them and abandon them once a week but these were particularly extravagant.

I'm a new exhibitor, mainly because my work normally appears in print and that I'm apprehensive to call it art. Nevertheless, I've discovered that for all the anxiety of showing - it's actually really fun and addictive! I most enjoy getting very immediate feedback and chatting to people who are into similar things. There was some very interesting talk about the Creative Sydney project that's coming up, something I'd never heard about until that night and am interested to find out much more about.

I've been stoked to find that people really like the matchbox project, regardless of whether they find or get a box, mainly because it's an excitement about gift-giving and an indication that basic giving is increasingly devoid in life. I never set out to prove or offset this when I started the project but realise now that the small amount of joy the project gives people is well worth the effort it takes to make it. I loved making tiny things for the boxes! And am now off to make a tiny patch of wool green grass for another box, to nestle a very precious hand-made toadstool pendant in it courtesy of Michelle Vandermeer.

Thank you to Tony Curran and Dan Chin for their help and cuddles on the night.

GAME, SET AND MATCHBOX

2009-04-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Tuxedo, 2009. Sonya Gee

In 2006 Sonya Gee started The Matchbox Project. Not to be confused with another of the same name, this work is part blog, part craft and if you can handle Gee's objections you could even call it "contemporary art". Sonya puts a small present in the matchbox and leaves it somewhere to be found. If you read her blog religiously you might hunt one down but more often than not they get found by an oblivious bystander.

Sonya Gee, now graduated with distinction from Sydney Uni, has since been writing for Vibewire (Editor) Lost at E-Minor, Ordinary Magazine (upcoming online magazine), SBS News, Insight, and Ryde City Council all the while maintaining a target of one matchbox a week and on average getting posted on major blogs such as Kluster , Coolhunter, twothousand.com once a month and she's just been interviewed for Readers Digest Magazine!

On Wednesday 15th of April, Sonya Gee will be unleashing ten limitted edition matchboxes to THE WALL at Sydneys The World Bar for a silent auction. Come along to 42 Bayswater Rd from 8-11 for Champagne, DJs and a close up of one of Sydney's finest emerging projects.

SOMETIMES YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO MAKE IT ABOUT YOURSELF.

2009-04-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

TITLE AND ARTIST UNKOWN

Posted by Tony Curran

History Lesson

2009-04-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

A buddy of mine got me onto a TV series called This is Modern Art and told me I could stream it on youtube.

The show is unlike any art history program I've watched. It taces the steps of humanity and how they are manifest throughout the modern age. Art as the symptom of humanity's wonder.

Fastidious foam: the not so exquisite corpses of Hany Armanious

2009-03-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hany Armanious
Empathy Chart

The old surrealist game of exquisite corpse was once again rinsed off and hung out to dry at Roslyn Oxley9 last Thursday night. If unfamiliar with the game, its what Breton and the rest of the surrealists used to make - something from bits of nothing in the early days of the movement a century ago. This was of course, the sculptural beginnings of found object turned modern mythical edifice that filtered on through the rest of the 20^th century.

And now here again almost one hundred years out of date, Hany Armanious has given us something that can only be distinguished from a retrospective by the fact that he worked fastidiously with foam to reproduce found objects instead of simply using them: a manikin head on a sphinx on a box; cardboard tubes, under a log, under a gray thing...it was beautiful. At least that's what I overheard. The 20-something up-and-comers in attendance went out of the way to exercise their extended adjectives that night, though all their theater only fell on deaf ears while the older patrons of Oxley9 simply wandered around seeming a little more puzzled than usual.

Everyone agreed with admiring relief on one wall piece-slash-torn notice bound. Seems it was the only work that was almost similar enough to something that could safely be comment on...sounds confusing...go see the show and find out for yourself.

But seriously, Roslyn Oxley9's press writer Amanda Rowell leads us to believe that through these works we find an 'otherness' in the slippage of the real and unreal of every day objects. Hmmmm...despite the ambiguity of these works delaying our judgment, in no way do they transgress the object/observer relationship to mitigate the encompassing experience of the 'Uncanny Valley'. Juan Munoz or even Felix Gonzalez Torres have been extending further into anthropomorphic sculpture and found object than Armanious' work dreams of, and with no need for expensive fabrication techniques for validation. Really, these sculptures don't boil down to answer the 'intriguing' question “What is it”, as Rowell claims, they only incited the assumption that 'they don't mean anything'.

Art should insight us shouldn't it? It should move us deeper into our understanding of the human condition. And isn't there a much greater discussion of 'otherness' in that than in a reductive, labored critique of the uncanny?

A bitter taste came to my mouth whilst watching the next generation of art school students work their way through the free beers and giggle about finding their next sculpture in a wheelie bin. Seems the only insight from this show was a cheap hangover and a couple of contacts.

A.A. Gabriel

ARTIST PROFILE: James Jirat Patradoon

2009-03-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

My pants got a hole in them. I went to DJs to get another pair that didn't have holes. I stumbled upon the handiwork of an old aquaintance's printed onto a Mambo t-shirt.

JAMES JIRAT PATRADOON

I first saw Patradoon's work while frantically getting a form signed in the printing building at COFA in my student daze. The image struck me as hip, now, and awesome and when I bought my first copy of "Empty" magazine it had a Patradoon on the cover. It was the Semi-Permanent issue and Patradoon was that gold nugget of graphic design bliss.

If Warhol was Tech-Noir Punk then he would have lived in the shadow of James Jirat Patradoon's pop style. Patradoon's art is the bad boy of artworks, his figures hyper-masculine, donned in lucho-libre masks munching on obscene quantities of nutri-grain or violently battering an opponent of sorts. His would send a shiver down my spine if it weren't for the sugary delight of his colour palettes. His work follows a leading crusader through a journey outside place and time. His images are linked by subject matter but not event, they speak of comic books but they aren't sequential the figures wild and the compositions considered. A show at the Firstdraft here and a few clothing label deals there Patradoon is definately one of the promising talents of today making it!

James currently has his art on display at Oxford Art Factory until the end of April.

the prints are in - working with a local council

2009-03-15T21:12:00.001-07:00

It's been many months, a few anxiety attacks and countless meetings (telephone, office and site inspections) but my exhibition is nearly done. Today, a minor triumph as the photos went to the printers and were accepted! I'm a Photoshop newbie and had to text my designer of a brother for advice on how best to save (Tiff and 300 dpi! he said) and size images. There was a whole load of math in it at one point, which was very overwhelming.

The project I've been working on is actually one that was originally intended as a zine. The idea was pretty simple - I'd lived and grown up in this neigbourhood and was always curious about certain people and places that had become fixtures of the area. People who lived there knew about them, about the mysterious blue shopfront window that revealed itself as a cakeshop after about 5 years of trade and the roundabout that is actually in the shape of a peanut for no good reason. I wanted to know more about these things, how they came to be, an explanation of sorts but also an invitation for residents to become more curious about their surroundings.

It was actually based on a column I used to write when interning in Seoul, South Korea that was called 'A Glimpse of Seoul.' As a tourist, who didn't speak a word of Korean, it was incredibly difficult to pen an article each week about a quirky happening or person. I did manage to make friends with a basketball cheerman but the rest was pretty tough going. My aim, having come from a history and media major, was to investigate in a highly accessible way, how geographical spaces become felt places, where feelings of belonging and pride begin to emerge.

How this transformed from a zine idea into a Council funded project was all a bit of an accident. A good buddy of mine, illustrator Matt Huynh had done a few similar story-telling micro history projects with the support of his council (Fairfield and Cabramatta seem to be very supportive) and he encouraged me to see if I could get some help. So I wrote up a proposal, having never written one in my life - that broke my idea down to synposis, motivation and expected outcomes. I had done a little bit of research into the Council's aims in the arts area and tried to do a bit of match up. I also trawled through their site until I found the contact details of the Arts and Culture Development Officer.

It wasn't immediate but things started unfolding slowly. I was contacted and guided into rewriting my proposal complete with a quote, take out arts insurance (in case any of my interviewees tripped or something) and start work. It was so cool when I got my first advance! I just liked the terminology, it made me feel legitimate about what I'm most interested in doing. It was awesome to be paid to hang out with people, take their pictures and find out their story. In the process I spent time with everyone from the local baker, an award-winning primary school aerobics instructor, who at 50 put my flexibility to shame and the softly spoken toy librarian at the local library who went through all the possible learning benefits from toys.

The op shop ladies were my favourite. They were generous with their time, funny, thoughtful and delightfully anachronistic. Though they made me eat this chocolate coated biscuit that the cat licked because they didn't want it to go to waste. That was gross.

I'd encourage anyone to approach a Council directly and ask for funding. There weren't any grants going at my local Council so I didn't bother waiting. I also think that people appreciate it if you are quite forward, they usually call it 'initiative' and know exactly why you want to do what you're proposing.

I learnt a lot accidentally. About boring but important practical things like invoicing and accomodating the Council's needs, especially when the invitations went out and the formalities are being finalised. It is difficult not having complete ownership of a project, I struggled with that at times but am thankful that at the end of the day, there is someone to pay my printing bills so I have have big shiny mounted photos and have access to a space and an audience during exhibition that I probably wouldn't have ordinarily.

This will also be my first solo show and my first chance to work one on one with a curator. Tony Curran is curating the show and faced a very difficult task of making me realise that my aesthetically 'perfect' design for the exhibition (cramming everything into one room to give it a sense of organised clutter and overwhemling community) was not practical for the audience and didn't allow the project to be viewed in a way that focused on the writing as well as the photographs.

And Maxine McKew is coming! The project was also produced in direct response to the 2007 Federal election, in which my neighbourhood became the site of a very significant campaign between the standing Prime Minister and a newbie. The campaigning was aggressive and sparked so much excitement amongst the community and this was my way, after the media hype had died down to remind everyone that they existed as a local community before they were localised into a political one.

Come along if you're free, the show opens 25 March 2009 at Brush Farm House, 19 Lawson street Eastwood. Opening starts at 6.30pm and the show is open until April 2.

A Parisian excursion

2009-03-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

I flick over to this girl's fashion blog frequently, because she seems so excited about getting dressed in the morning and running her own online vintage store. Her enthusiasm for Levis cut-offs is incredible.

In one of those blogger-makes-it-in-the-real-world stories that really only happen in America (remember the Julie Julia project that made it into a book, soon to be film?), a pic posted on her blog ended up on the mood board for Esteban Cortazar, the designer currently behind Emanuel Ungaro.

And suddenly she was in France, front row of his show, having been specially invited and fitted with an Ungaro dress. Such a nice story!

Anthony Bennett

2009-03-11T03:10:00.000-07:00

Anthony Bennett, self-portrait in the bathroom discussing beauty, bukowski and brett whiteley with my ex, now a stripper, who likes to dress as wonder woman, 2008

This guy is definately THE artist to watch. Making it into the Archibald, The Wynne and The Sulman prizes with three different works and being the only artist whose work I actually like in any of the prizes (except Del Kathryn Barton) this artist is one of the strongest Aussie's of today. While Jasper Knight and Ben Quilty might be leading the young artist race, Anthony Bennett can paint more than just portraits and figure-ground and he drips better than Jasper! He ought to work on his titles though.

I took a photo of his landscape of insufficient green… where mountains are crushed for speaking out, but the gallery attendent made me delete it in front of him. When he wasn't looking I managed to get this snap of the idea of a michael hutchence haiku... wasn’t it nietzsche who first said god is dead and tom cruise is a dick?

Recipes for success part 2

2009-03-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

When I was in primary school, I was given a copy of '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by my Dad. I pulled a face and it was exchanged for something a little more child friendly and very likely, something pink and shiny. Though now, when I'm very tired and demotivated to do anything creative after a full day of work, I get a bit curious about what it said inside.

There are a hundred different theories about getting inspired, staying inspired, maximising productivity and work practices. I get very distracted learning about a whole lot of them. Apparently Japanese author Haruki Murakami wakes up whilst it's still dark, brews himself a very black coffee and writes until dawn.

It's all very distracting. But I think the people I find to be consistently creative and most importantly still happy in doing what they do, are constantly in a state of curiosity and excitement about the smallest things. All of which eventuate into a steady state of action and production, even if it is for their own means.

Take a peek at:

Popperbox, The Snail and the Cyclops, Shelbyville, Tony Curran, Simply Breakfast, and Luke Austin.

RECIPES FOR SUCCESS??

2009-03-06T23:23:00.000-08:00

All Good in Theory

2009-03-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

The arts don't seem to make much economical sense these days, despite precedents such as the Whitlam government's purchasing of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles. The National Gallery of Australia held (and still holds) the most important American cultural artifact (of its time) for ransom and strengthened Australia's international reputation and negotiable power over America. Some say this purchase cost Whitlam his place in Parliament. However the arts have persisted throughout history longer than science, industry, and economics itself. It seems that the arts are innate to culture whatever the medium and expression.

Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling are how we take in information from our environment. Some artforms utilize a variety of senses - theatre and others use only one - photography. The persistence of sense for sense's sake is invaluable in the development of children and civilizations the same. The effects of sensory stimuli (the arts) on an audience are essentially the backbone to tv, nightclubs, parties, good books, your true love, the clothes you wear, the food you eat.

So if it's so important how do you get from making it to making a living off it?

Tony Curran