Lights Off_opening night

Opening Night was great, although dwindling summer in Sydeny meant it was daylight for most of the evening... and so hot... it was nicer to sit outside in the gutter. It was on rotation 30min inside / 30min outside.

Beer helped immensely.






Formalities over...

Lights Off_hanging

Empty galleries are scary places. So much white and soooo much echo.


With the help of 7, a few of Germany's finest lagers and an old broom as a ruler we managed to get the place looking hot in preparation for opening night.

Lights Off_cutout

So, Had some divine (or daft) inspiration to run with the carnival theme for the "title" of the show and build a cut out installation for the entrance...
Quick trip to bunnings and a few intense debates over the thickness of masonite + some house paint and a electric saw... and ... voila!




The idea being that apparently there was supposed to be a guestbook for the gallery to keep a record of guests... which we couldn't find... so I got a few poscas hooked up to this thing for people to scribble on.

The Art Of Dying

Decided to check out the new show for Ben Ali Ong at China Heights.
I hear it's still a work in progress.
Very impressive stuff. Sorry there aren't more pics, but the delightful framing and packed-out-ed-ness of the gallery made copyright nice and safe.
If I had a spare $1500 there were a couple there I'd be sure to collect... sadly I don't have a spare $20... I should get on that.






As always China Heights was packed with the regulars there for a free tipple and some culture to finish off their Friday. As well as Ben's fan club.
And hey, without a booze sponsor they pulled together a nice supply of Hollandia to keep the masses happy. Rad. Cheers.

Lights Off_invitation

Here is your invitation to "Lights Off".
Huge thanks to Aurelia, aka. Lapin, for her amazing desgin work on the fliers. And also to Wei who's printing and stealth skills will go down in the history bokks as hell cool.

The show is coming together nicely.
I'm having battles with myself regarding a possible mural element... we shall see.

I'm finding it a confronting experience going from months of printmaking back to the ol' canvas and horse hair. Such a shift in technique and the whole way i plan out imagery. But hey... I have a whole 3 weekends left to face the challenge...

Dirty Show X

Cutting Lino

I have started the process of cutting and printing as I go.

So far I have printed editions of 5 of my blocks. They're looking pretty good, and I'm over the 1/4 mark... I guess that's some kind of milestone.

I've got a bunch more ideas, and have started cutting out some of the sketches I've done.

It's frightening how productive I've become with these, I really thought I'd be hitting the wall by now desperate for inspiration... but nay... not yet anyway.

I'm using a japanese woodblock printing tool (which for the life of me I can't remeber what it's called!). It's a round pad wrapped in a dries leaf and it is my new love. Hand printing these lino cuts is so much easier, wooden spoons mean nothing to me now.