Official Invitation

Winner !

Newcastle Port Traffic was the Winner of the 2013 Young Artist's Prize at the Bowral District Art Society.
Local Artist and Judge of the prize, Carlos Barrios published these comments:

"I have chosen this piece because, as a painter it vibrates with my soul and my own way to express art. I like the application of paint, palette of colours and the fearlessness and passion. We must risk all."

Carlos currently has a show at Barry Stern Galleries Sydney and you can see his work  at http://www.carlosbarrios.com.au/

Anticipation in the streets

With the exhibition 'Hiding Spaces' set to be unveiled in under a month an eager audience has started arriving in town. Hungry and homeless they are literally climbing the walls of Newcastle with excitement. Meet my biggest fans and keep track of their movements leading up to opening night.http://boointhestreets.blogspot.com.au/ 

Announcement of Solo Show !

This July I will be presenting 'Hiding Places' a very special exhibition in the unique location of the Newcastle Lock Up. http://thelockup.info/art-gallery/ 

Inspired by forgotten stories and the shadows that animate lonely spaces I have created a new series of works that are relevent to both the history of The Lock Up and my present day experience of Newcastle City. This is a wonderful exhibition opportunity for my mixed media works where their rubbery, fury, colouful limbs have finally found a home that is suitably dark, provocative and atmosheric.

Opening Night Thursday 4th July 2013
Exhibition continues to 22nd July 2013

Strange Awakenings

Winter has descended and fog skims the surface of the Newcastle Harbour. The city is eery and cold but there is a hum of energy, a quiet murmur, a distant howl. Whilst people may have vacated the outdoors for the comfort of their couches, a new community has moved in and is enlivening the abandoned space. They are an unusual bunch of feathers, teeth and horns, that lick the paint stripped walls of the city and trip you over as you turn a corner. They are transient and inconspicuous and have come to town to catch you when you least expect it !

Keep your eyes out at: http://boointhestreets.blogspot.com.au/

New Works on Paper

White Wash
Gouache, charcoal, collage on paper
50x40cm 2013

In preparation for the the Works On Paper Competition at the Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery I have a completed a new series of collage, gouache and charcoal works. The series consists of four pieces  that reflect on the working  industrial harbour of Newcastle and is a result of twelve months of work. Earlier sketches have been cut up and reconfigured with new gouache paintings so as to make layered collages. The compositions are loosely based on the  landscape with figure ground relationships between stormy skies and turbulent ocean, fishing trawlers, smoke stacks and freight ships.  Abstract planes of colour are incorporated too, so as to challenge the depth of field whilst meditating on the palette that dominates the industrial environment. Yellow  is a reoccurring colour that can be located on the hulls of ships. the sandy beaches and on the backs of high visibility of workers. Most notable is Ship Entering The Port that uses a yellow panel like a flat piece of signage that simultaneously seeps into the ocean of the composition. In contrast, works like White Wash, are more narrative driven and use shapes like characters that are playing a game of hovercraft on the surface. The technique of cut and paste isolates the shapes and creates a fun contrast that offers a sense of comic relief to the sometimes austere industrial landscape.
Stay tuned to find out if any of the series have been selected as a finalist !

This series can be viewed in the En Plein Air album located on the right column of this blog page.