Re imagining the city on a bicycle

On Saturday, I ventured into the city of Melbourne to join a group of cyclists as part of the Melbourne Now program. I met the group outside the NGV Federation Square and we set off to see the city from a different perspective. With Aaron Roberts an architect of Room 11, as our guide, he would stop at various buildings, or voids and even bridge structures, to speak of his vision. He spoke of how the city might utilise these spaces, consider other demographics and their needs, or challenge what our government generally considers belongs in an urban centre. The group of cyclists was such a lovely, friendly bunch, which made the experience so enjoyable. I am going to join another similar expedition next Saturday, exploring Melbourne on a bike. I think you should consider joining us too. Check out The Squeaky Wheel, they have lots of really interesting events around cycling. My shirt, called “What if I could change the world one revolution at a time..” was commented on and now resides in Twitter sphere.

Meanwhile I have been working on the painting, ‘The Thirsty Dove’. A challenging painting as it turns out. I have changed my original structure and tried to make it more dynamic and integrated. I am also trying different colours, so as to separate the image and avoid it from being too illustrative. Try and abstract it somewhat. 

The idea came about after I came across a newspaper article in Israel about a man whose dwelling had been deemed illegal by the authorities so his home was destroyed. The photograph shows him offering a thirsty dove water, his thoughts for the needs of the bird more than for his own difficulties. I was so struck by this and decided to use it as a metaphor for the current conflict over land. The dove is a symbol for peace and by placing a soldier and an ordinary man and a dove between them, both men offering the dove water as a way of uniting the commonality of us all. Our basic human needs, shelter and water.

Recently Discovered Richter

I stumbled upon a very interesting artist the other day and his approach and practice were very inspiring. Gerhard Richter was born in 1932 in Dresden, where he grew up under National Socialism and then lived under East German Communism. He eventually fled to West Germany and over his extensive working life as an artist traversed many different styles and content. He is now considered one the greatest living artists. So naturally, I was curious and was delighted to discover a documentary of him working in his studio. It was fascinating. One isn’t often given the access or privilege of seeing such an accomplished artist at work. I particularly was captivated by his personal philosophies, which he offered in occasional moments. He painted very large canvases, and he would randomly apply large areas of colour before taking an enormous squeegee, the length of the canvas and drag it across the surface, smearing the paint. So the work has independence about it. It relies on chance and choice. They are strong, timeless and almost transcendent. I was especially taken by his variety of styles and it was an endorsement for me, as I do have a number of approaches to my arts practice. I am trying to develop a clearer and more focused style, which is looser and more lyrical. One sentence he spoke particularly resonated with me,
“ …to talk about painting is not only difficult, but perhaps pointless too. You can only express in words what words are capable of expressing, what language can communicate, and painting has nothing to do with that.” (G.Richter, “Painting”, 2011)

Gerhard Richter, Painting

I was also recently interested in the artist Raffi Lavie, a highly influential Israeli artist, whose works are sparse, rough, almost childish and extremely minimalist. They seemed brave and challenging to me. I like the space he places his figures and objects in the picture frame and despite that I don’t particularly warm to the works, their essence did inspire me to reduce the content and structure that I feel exists in my own work.

  

Raffi Lavie, Untitled, 2004

 Saren Dobkins, My Wall Becomes Me, 2013

Preparing for my upcoming exhibition in March

Happy New Year !! Hope it was a great one and the year brings much joy.

Back from a brief trip up to Queensland over the Holiday season, its great to be back in the studio.  With my solo show coming up on March 26^th, its time to think about getting down and focusing on creating and collating the works.

The show will be divided into three sections, and as the gallery has three levels, it will be a perfect venue to guide the viewing of the work.

On the top level, there will be ‘Sexual Politics’. There will be around 7 works, oil on board and smaller in dimensions. As the works progress I will be posting images as they develop and my thoughts about the motivations behind my imagery. 

The middle level, may well have about 10 works. This section is called Head Space and will show a collection of some of my previous works around the Head, a symbol I use to express ideas around identity, the self in transition, desire and communication among other things.  Some of you may have seen these works before, but I hope you will enjoy seeing them again in a different environment alongside more recent works. In this way, you will see the development of my ideas and the journey I am on.

The ground floor will show about 12 works. I haven’t finalized the name of this collection, but closer to the time, I believe it will be clearer. These works are all new works, mostly inspired by a recent trip I took to a kibbutz in the Arava Desert in Southern Israel. I studied Permaculture and lived in an environment that was quite challenging yet wonderful. The experience brought many new feelings, thoughts and insights to mind and I have enjoyed translating and consolidating these into paintings. My approach to painting was both reinforced and shaken up. I am on a journey that embraces a more minimalist way of being, trying to lose the extraneous and focus on the core, the essential, the calm and the true. 

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting my progress and I hope you will join me in this journey. 

When I was in Brisbane, I was fortunate enough to come across a koala, making an early morning stroll to his tree. He/she was most unconcerned by my close presence, it was such a wonderful experience.