Curatorial Mentorship A Conversation

What does the artworks, the choices of artworks say about you?

Why are you drawn to the artworks?

Is your choice of artworks motivated by your experiences, by curiosity?

Do the artworks reflect your life?

What do you want the artworks to communicate to other people?

What do the artworks have in common? I love everything, to see how other people use paint and get their ideas. I’m happy with the work, everything I’ve said. It’s interesting to know what’s in the background of the painting, what’s the story.

The portraits, I just love them. What I love about the paintings is seeing them together because they are looking at each other, they are different but the same. I like that you can think about what they are thinking.

A bit of both, I want to improve my colours, my oil techniques, you know yourself at first you think you are feared to make a mess, and after a while you just wipe it and start again. I was working on the cubist style. At first, I thought it was terrible, but I kept with it, and now I think it’s great.

I think so aye, especially Tony Brooks’ dog, I keep looking at it. Just one wee eye just looking down, but it says so much. John Barry’s painting reminds me of Tricia (John’s wife). It reminds me of when we were at Penguin Island in Australia, walking on the beach. This was before my stroke. The Stephen Staunton painting reminds me of being paralysed in bed, in the hospital, life going on around you.

That they are different, but they are same. People see them (the artworks), and they might think it’s just one artist but it’s lots of us. Everyone is the same. We are from Scotland, from England, from Australia.

The paintings take you over with their stories, the colours, lines and all, the angles and things like that.

Ken Done Beach painting I 1999 (detail) Courtesy of the artist and The Ken Done Gallery, Sydney