Absence makes the heart grow dimmer

it has been a drought. Attention spent in other places, gathering new ideas and feelings about the way the world is turning for me. I have been attempting to gain acceptance into galleries and it has been a fraught one. I had hoped by now the passage into a place of fairness, good business practice and positive endeavour would be on my cards but still no, the paintings languish in my overcrowded studio, wishfully dreaming for the opportunity to hang on a different wall in a new space with new eyes feasting upon them for a change. I have been studying a difficult course in a field so far removed from my usual preoccupations, one of International Urban and Environmental Management. It has opened my eyes to a myriad of real life concerns and dealings as we try to come to terms with the rising overcrowded populations of cities, the threat of peak oil on our whole livelihoods and the best practice way to engage communities in addressing their concerns in the way they see fit. How does this work with being a painter I ask, well my painting is about what I see in the world, what I know and what I understand. I try and unravel the complexities of being, as it affects me and others, who are we really? How does where we live and what we have to contend with, affect how we interpret and react to the world around us. Whilst reading about the struggle of millions to survive on the fringes of burgeoning cities and seeing how complicated and complex the problems are at trying to sort out the 'mess' of the mass habitat, I felt that no one really knew what to do and how to get there and in the end it was jsut a case of The Blind leading the Blind.  Hence the painting below was my response. 

The Blind Leading the Blind
100 x 76cm
oil on canvas
SDobkins 2012

Invitation to the Studio Show 2011

I am mounting this show to present several works both recent and past. Some smaller works which are fresh and poignant. My white cat seems to have become an incidental muse on this quiet journey that I am currently undertaking. Lots of boats, red of course on a vast blue ocean which suggest a feeling of being adrift, searching for connections.

Invite to Studio Show

White Cat in a Midnight Garden

Adrift

Sweet Hearted Chook

Comfort

Invitation to the Studio Show 2011

It's all happening folks, the tension mounts and the expectation can be felt in the air. Meanwhile I am finishing off some smaller works which I am really enjoying. There are a couple of bigger works that I am procrastinating about finishing which is a pain. Invites have been sent out but I really need you people who are thinking about coming to let me know so I can get excited too. Never much of a show when only I turn up coz, well I've seen it all before so won't be able to engage in any revelationary conversation.  As this show is part of the BATS (Boroondara Artists Travelling Show) there will be five other venues that can be visited on Sat 8 Oct so lots to see and do. Need a poster and an invite.. Look no further than below.

The Struggle to Make Sense of it All

Well I'm not doing too well at making sense of it all this past few weeks. Hence the dearth of blogging, talking, diary entries, the whole shebang really. Pity really coz sometimes I think I've managed to get it to a point where I'm going to take off, jettison into a different kind of stratosphere, as far as thought process, opportunities and generally a different scene when one wakes up in the morning is concerned, and then flat liner.... Its the eternal sameness, relentless going round in tiny circles that's so frustrating. So it comes down to creating one's own reality, and as I paint my realities into existence it seems fairly obvious that I have to shift the content of my study, the approach to the work. Therein lies the catch 22, because my work reflects me at any one stage, so for the work to shift I've had to shift, but if I can't manage to get my perception to change then everything stays as it is and I go no where. I take full responsibility although I do crave the odd helping hand. Lethargy, ennui, the spiral of pointlessness. Does one scratch up the disappointments or only acknowledge the successes. Doesn't the effort of putting ones self out into the world determine a positive acknowledgment, or is it only valid after another opens the gate and lets you through that particular door which you summoned the courage to knock on.

Waiting for Seamail

The Anonymous Astrologer

Well folks, it's another chilly day in Wintery Melbourne. But there is just next to me 'The Anonymous Astrologer', recently painted and so fresh, one is in danger of having red paint leap onto any decent piece of clothing. It has a quiet contemplative feel about it. I believe the source of this imagery is two fold. I recently saw a magnificent, dark and brooding painting by Molly Pwerle and I was struck by her colours in this work. It made me connect to a part of myself I hadn't in a long while. I wanted to explore these feelings, these dark. stellar places. Meanwhile I have been watching a program by Stephen Hawking about deep space, infinity, black holes, the unimaginable space that we float within. So here I have it. It's different but I am enjoying its contemplative state. The ladder has appeared again, a recurring theme it seems. The frailty of the ladder, its simple geometry yet it so efficiently elevates one to places one cannot normally reach. The simplification of the head, the flatness of it yet graphically conveys humanity.

Flood Journey

Earlier this year my country up north was swamped by a torrential downpour. It was quite devastating. I painted this work to continue the  conversation I started with 'A Single Life' and then 'Journey To'. The story is about moving forward, from the past to a new future, possibility and potential. In this work, 'Flood Journey' i was inspired by the way people, strangers and neighbours can to the assistance of those who were suffering from the effects of the flooding around them. Another metaphor I suppose about support and that by taking a chance and risking something, there is a boat, a vessel that will take you to dry land.

 Flood Journey

The use of line

I attended a meeting the other evening around the topic Art and Politics.