Time Passages

A plot of crown land with a trig station on top, near the centre of Melbourne, is the setting for a new series of paintings that I will exhibit at Tacit Contemporary Art in August.  The beauty of this location is that it is rarely visited, so it's quiet yet contains 360 degree views of this huge city.

There's incongruity in this location with She-oaks which are normally associated with semi-arid regions thriving only a few kilometers from the Melbourne CBD.

Also visible from this location is the former Willsmere Psychiatric Hospital, now "fashionable" inner city apartments.  The grand facade still looms over the city and is a poignant counter point to the insane apartment development going on in the inner city.

I hope this location, just above the Yarra Boulevard in Kew, never gets developed.  In a world obsessed with productivity, it can be refreshing to stand on this lonely hilltop where status and possessions mean nothing, and where I can contemplate the ambivalent relationship I have with this town - and perhaps with life in general.

From Railway Clerk To Painter Of Twilight

Like many people, I have this misconception that there were no British painters of any significance between Turner and Francis Bacon.  There was to name but one, John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) who was featured in an exhibition in London in 2011.  An article in The Guardian accompanying the show paints a picture of an artist dogged by the pressure to produce work rapidly in order to pay the bills, keep the family together and in lieu of rent for his various residences.

Liverpool Quay By Moonlight  1887

His parents actively discouraged his artistic urges by refusing heating in his studio and throwing away his paints.  Proficient in both oils and watercolours, Grimshaw painted thinly (to save money) and used quick drying varnishes.

Heath Street, Hampstead

Grimshaw emerged from the shadows after a 1979 exhibition of his work at Leeds and he is now one of the most sought after artists of the period  "Another trademark subject, rain-washed streets in views of northern cities and central London, had the bonus of needing a smaller palette. It was shrewd move because a wet road reflects the sky so the same basic colouring can be used."

Boar Lane, Leeds  1881

Grimshaw had 16 children, 10 of whom died prematurely while 4 became painters (see below). Greatly admired by Whistler, Grimshaw died of tuberculosis and left no journals, papers or letters thus leaving art historians little material to work with.

Grainger Street, Newcastle  1902                                                                            Louis Grimshaw

Melbourne's Other Art Fair

I hope they run this event again in Melbourne.  As I understand it, Sydney has held it twice. The opportunity to exchange minds with a large group of visual artists all under the one roof was too good to miss.  I attended on both Saturday and Sunday, the first day was to take in the whole event and with 100 artists exhibiting it was a little overwhelming. On Sunday I focused more on the marketing aspect, that is; how each artist had presented their work in the space they'd paid for ($400 per metre - average space 5 metres).  Also I looked at their promotional material, business cards, flyers, booklets etc.

It was a totally rewarding experience getting feedback from artists about participating in such an event.  Many were first-timers, some had come from Sydney, Adelaide, WA, even New Zealand.  Most appeared happy with their experience and said they would do it again.  A few felt rather differently about it, most notably those whose work was more conceptual.  One artist said she felt that a fair was the wrong context for her work.  Others weren't entirely happy about the location of their "stall".  Whilst artists can choose what size stall they are prepared to pay for, the event is curated.

The location of the fair at The Facility in Kensington drew a mixed reaction as some artists thought is was too remote from the Melbourne CBD.  Then again is was close to public transport.  Some artists were a little disappointed with the attendances but this was the first time the event was staged in Melbourne. 

As you might expect, the art which seemed to sell he best was what I call corporate art, slick, colourful all surface and as one conceptual artist said to me, "I can't do slick".  Nor can I.

One artist summed up the experience very succinctly.  "You have to be clear about your objectives when you participate in an art fair.  You also have to be realistic".  She, herself, was not using the fair for sales purposes as she is already well established.  So promotion was her key objective.  Others said it was a valuable experience for networking purposes and getting feedback from the public about their work.

OK, so lets to the mathematics.  About 100 artists paying an average $2000 for their space which included business cards featuring an image of the artist's work and a saarchiart web address/ artist name.  So nearly all artists brought along their own cards.  So that's $200,000 for 4 days yet the organisers still charged entry fees for the public.  And not even a complimentary free drink for the artists on opening night.

I have this image of a milking shed containing artists, not cows.

Edward Burra

In an age where artists are constantly being reminded that they must come out from behind the canvas, the plinth, the camera or whatever and put themselves forward if they want to succeed, it's worth reflecting on the career of Edward Burra (English 1905-1976).

Striptease (1934)

Stricken with painful arthritis from childhood, Burra mostly painted in watercolours as he felt this would put less strain on his hands.  He was fascinated by the seedy side of life in London and Paris - as an observer, not a participant.  After each trip abroad, he would return to his parents house to recuperate. 

Snack Bar (circa 1930)

Despite his debilitating illness, he did have 3 things going for him; his parents were wealthy (he never had to work), he was a fine draughtsman, and he had a patron.  His attitude to publicity can be summed up very simply; "I never tell anyone anything".  He hated being interviewed.

This was Burra's response to the Spanish Civil War which he witnessed first hand in 1936.

Living In A Parallel Universe

Czar Nicholas II commissioned a series of eggs from the Faberge company in the late 19th century to satisfy his hunger for expensive trinkets.  They are exquisite to be sure, but meanwhile his country was disintegrating. Over 500,000 were dying of starvation which ultimately led to the 1917 revolution and the execution of the entire Russian royal family.

The abyss into which Russia was sinking is best represented by "The Black Square", painted by Kazimir Malevich in 1913.

Sir John Soane's Museum

Ever wondered what to do with all those unsold masterpieces cluttering up the house?  Why not build fake walls which open up like pages of a book?  This is Sir John Soane's Museum in London, established in 1837.

Judging by these photos, it looks as though the museum contains as much art as the entire NGV.

The Lost Forests Of Gippsland

Apparently much of Gippsland once looked like this scene, painted by Isaac Whitehead circa 1870.  The title of this oil is "A Sassafras Gully, Gippsland", and in Whitehead's time large areas of Gippsland were heavily timbered including massive mountain ash rivalling the redwoods of California.  But lumbering was well underway, hence the bullock train hauling split timber depicted in the lower left.  Photographer Nicholas Caire became popular in the late 19th century with his Gippsland views.  He warned that Gippsland's big trees were in danger of becoming things of the past if harvesting continued unabated.

I have an issue with the scale of this work.  To me the ferns seem far too large in relationship to the mountain ash and the bullock train.

Travel And Thought

One of my favourite authors writing about one of my favourite artists, I couldn't resist this.  "Journeys are the midwifes of thought", argues Alain De Botton.  Introspections which are liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape.   

Edward Hopper, "Compartment C, Car 293".

Thinking improves when parts of the mind are given other tasks such as listening to music or following a line of trees.  The changing landscape distracts for a time that nervous, censorious, practical part of the mind which is inclined to shut down when it notices something difficult emerging in consciousness and which runs scared of memories, longings etc. and focuses on the impersonal and administrative.

You only have to think of what happens when you've forgotten the pin number at an ATM.  You take yourself off on a walk, viewing shop fronts or whatever it takes to distract the practical mind.  And sure enough, the pin number is remembered.

According to De Botton, Edward Hopper enjoyed train travel, the dreaminess fostered by the noise and the view from the window, a dreaminess in which we seem to stand outside our normal selves and have access to thoughts and memories that may not arise in more settled circumstances.