I don’t have too much of a plan with these updates but I’m always super interested in what inspires other creative people and also how their work changes across a timeline. So to add a bit of a structure I’m going to include art that I’ve made and art that I’ve consumed.
OUTPUT
Did a few bits and pieces for Cypher Brewing Co. You can see my alternate version of Omerta ( a mafia code of silence) where I illustrated what happens if you break Omerta: You’ll be sleepin wit da fishes! I love seeing full can designs together in a shot.
I’ve been getting back into more traditional acrylic painting by making it more fun for myself. The trick is to paint as fast as you can and not worry about symmetry or brushwork or any of the usual stuff I spend way too long agonising over.
I’ve also been learning more about types of cubism and following specific artists through their evolving work. To do this Google Arts and Culture has been a life saver! You can do virtual gallery tours, zoom right in and see textures and brushstrokes and read about the period, the artist and the context of the art. I’ve also been enjoying these channels on youtube: Contemporary Art Issue, Great Art Explained, and Crash Course Art History.
I find my abstract cubist work to consistently be the most interesting and enjoyable stuff recently. I can cram in so much personal storytelling into each image and it’s such a change from getting too hung up on perfection and traditionally beautiful looking work. I can still include high contrast and my colour blindness doesn’t really matter haha. To get my head in the zone I’ve been doing quick little post it notes as well as reveiwing my past work for elements I like.
The main piece I’ve been working on this month is like one of those MY STYLE NOW VS. THEN type deals.
8 years ago I painted the picture to the right and like every artist I hated the end product but over time I’ve come to quite like it. It’s meant to mash up laid back aussie coastal life with religious iconography with a bit of collage thrown in, I used jute for the powerlines.
Below is my synthetic cubist interpretation of this same artwork. Line work stage and finished.
It felt like a pretty big gamble trying to do something like this symmetrically, and to be honest that probably doesn’t fit the cubist aesthetic. I think I like how it’s turned out. It’s meant to be viewing the ibis through the fourth dimension of time as the viewer walks around the base of the telephone pole. Looking one direction we can see an overcast dreary evening, the other direction is warm sunset. It’s a bit of bushland close to my house that has a tree tunnel which lines up perfectly with a setting sun. The clippings are from our local newspaper and illustrate how the telephone poles, these big ugly structures, interrupt natural beauty but also keep us connected and updated.
INPUT
I love watching movies and this is a regular source of inspiration for me, cos I watch some weird stuff! I have a Letterboxd account if anyone else uses that. My account is a no negativity affair, if I hate a movie I give it 3 stars, love it 5 stars. I watched 24 movies in June, here are the ones that got me thinking the most:
Paprika is absolutely stunningly animated and I can see a very strong likeness with Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Come to Daddy is all kinds of great, I love that Elijah Wood is kicking out the same energy as Daniel Radcliffe and just picking bizarre indie projects, don’t read anything about this one before watching. Godzilla Minus One shoots straight to the top of my favourite Godzilla movie list, it has a heart that Japanese cinema does way better than Hollywood, I’m keen to get my hands on the black and white cut of this. Beau is Afraid gets a lot of hate but it definitely makes me feel things, I really enjoyed it such a good representation of anxiety manifesting.
Pretty eclectic mix but these are the albums I’ve been going back to most regularly this last month. It’s all the major food groups with angry, nihilistic, melancholic, chill, and pump up music. I’m always keen to find new music so hit me with some recommendations.
These are the books I enjoyed. I’ve waited sooo long for Red Side Story, the book before it ‘Shades of Grey’ really rocked my literary world, I didn’t know you were allowed to write books like that. I actually had 2 books that I had the courage to put down and didn’t finish and I usually force myself to endure them until the end and then regret wasting my time, so go me.