PLANK CANVAS ART SPECIAL by Blaire Magazine

P L A N K C A N VA S E DI T IO N

And so the following artists, local to the Byron Bay area, were selected to showcase their work in this amazing event, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. It’s a mixed bag of stunning colours and powerful meanings. It also celebrates the craftsmanship behind each board, as they were each built by hand by the artists to showcase their work. Eco-friendly, handcrafted skateboards are a beautiful thing. So to Jimmy, Charlotte, and the Cottage Skate team – congratulations. It’s been amazing working with you, and we know that we’ll continue to support each other with our future creative endeavours. We hope you enjoy this little slice of magic in our Plank Canvas special edition. It’s been a pleasure.

Sarah and Em.

NITSUA

Aligning our brands for this event was simple. We wanted to celebrate local art and the underground artists who are having a positive impact on society in their own unique way. We should never underestimate the power of art in the call for societal change – it is a powerful tool and should be highlighted as much and as often as possible.

04 JOSH GALLETLY

EDITOR’S LETTER

When Cottage Skateboards and Blaire Magazine discovered each other, it was a match made in heaven, because we both represented young, creative individuals who are both carefree and intellectual. We love what Cottage stands for – a throwback to easier times, where people did what they wanted to, and lived how they wanted to.

MITCH GOBEL

ASIO

18 20 22 24

JOSH HEDGE

ISABELL HEISS

CREDITS

BROGAN FLETCHER

COTTAGE SKATEBOARDS

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

JOSH

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Plank Canvas Issue

GA L L E T LY joshgalletly

Josh, I have a real admiration for your art. Can you please explain what it is that you do? Thanks. I work full-time as a graphic designer (of sorts) for a clothing company in Byron Bay called Afends. Outside of that I try and set aside time to practice my own art which I guess is a kind of illustration if you’ve gotta call it something. I let the context and subject matter of the work dictate the style and techniques I use to create it. That way I’m constantly pushing myself to learn new techniques and work in different ways. Why do you think it’s important to share political messages through art? I’d go as far as saying that I think it’s vital that we share any messages through art, not just political ones. I think Art is the natural expression of the soul; Art made by any other means I’d call design, it comes from a different place and serves something external. We’re governed by these machine-like political systems that have been designed to serve the collective interests of an elite few. They’re external systems, regulated by the same cultural engineers who build and maintain them for the purpose of controlling the many by governing our minds. Art is our way of opting out of those systems. If you can align yourself with your soul to produce Art then you’re allowing

your soul to express itself and communicate through you in a language that these machinelike systems can’t comprehend. Machines can’t Art. It’s like kicking an abusive partner out by changing the locks and giving them the old ones. They still have the same old key, it still fits in the same old lock but now you’ve started using a new key and a new lock and your abusive partner can’t get close. They become your ex-partner. Then you just get 5

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

on with what you want to do, ignore the ex and they’ll soon be gone. That’s a pretty simplistic analogy, but hopefully you get what I’m trying to say. Maybe I’ll draw a picture.

website in the description next to a few T-Shirt graphics I’d designed, my boss’s wife saw it and asked him, ‘Who the fuck is Josh Gallellelletery? And what do I care?’ She had a point.

What’s the most powerful message that you’ve created? That’s not really for me to answer. I’d be so stoked if anything I create ever inspires even just one other person to pick up a pen or a brush or a skateboard or whatever it is that gets them to, in the words of Timothy Leary, ‘Turn on, tune in and drop out.’

What do you have in the works with your talent? I’d really like to find a way to spend as much of my time as possible practicing my own art. I’ve recently started working on a new project called ‘Bullshit Intolerance Disorder’ and I reckon I could easily dedicate decades to it, so maybe I’ll be doing that...

Has working for Afends given your name exposure? Haha, yeah they once put my name on the

Who would you love to collaborate with? Steve Gorrow, he was the Art director for Insight. He just get’s it. Reggie Watts, 6

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

Josh’s personal experience of the medical industry has recently revealed itself in his latest artwork which features Big Pharma’s Martin Shkreli as the face of capitalism.

he gets it too. Warren Ellis, Derek Hynd, Harmony Korine, I’d work on any personal project with any of them if I had the chance. I’ve been working in and around the Surf fashion industry for almost five years now and have kind of become obsessed with the idea of trying to figure out a way to make clothing or even just basic T-Shirts in a way that completely bypasses the bullshit of the current fashion industry. After reading Tansy Hoskins book ‘Stitched Up - The AntiCapitalist Book of Fashion,’ I’d be keen to collaborate with her on anything. Or anyone else toeing that line. If that’s you and you’re reading this then get in touch.

Do you think art can change society’s perception of the world? I heard that ‘Society is a hoax’. That it’s just a bunch of individuals, who are sometimes pulling in a similar direction. I know for sure that Art can influence those individuals and inspire change in them. All kinds of artists from Bad Religion’s Greg Graffin to Michael Talbot, Marcel Duchamp to Kate Tempest – it’d take months to list all the artists that have changed my perception of the world. I think societies only change when the individuals that make up the societies change. You’ve heard it before, ‘change must come from within.’ I don’t know who said it, but they weren’t just talking shit.

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

_n_i_t_s_u_a_

What’s the most fulfilling piece you’ve done to date? Hmm… yeah that’s a hard one. I’m pretty fulfilled from all of the work I do, otherwise I would have no reason to create it. Although, if you and I had to lay one down I’d have to say the recent one I painted on my studio wall, she’s like this inspirational psychedelic explosive god with rainbow laser vision. It just felt really good to paint for nothing or anyone but my own inspiration. It was like I opened some doors painting that one.

well working here. Listening to some of his stories of what he’s accomplished over the years of his band’s fame is mad inspiring. My trips to Melbourne, painting with Makatron and the Everfresh Crew is insane… they just push me to go bigger every time I go down there. What life motto do you follow? Work with what you’ve got. Live and love the life you create. Where did you get your name? From my name backwards.

Through your creative path, what inspiring people have you had the chance to meet? Well locally to Byron, that’s ongoing. Creative legends are drawn like magnets to this place and I guess that’s why I moved here. Musicians like Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother whom I’ve gotten to know

Was there a specific moment in time that you decided to choose your direction in life? Or is it something that’s always come natural to you? Looking back now, all the specific moments which have directed me to who I am today 8

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

and what I stand for has come from natural instinct; that gut feeling you know you’ve just got to run with, cause it’s what you really want to do. Who would you love to collaborate with? I’m pretty keen on doing some more stuff with Everfresh. Although I do really aspire toward Madsteez’s work in California. I was stoked when he traveled around Australia last and dropped into Byron. He took a photo of a hippy bus wheel I had freshly painted and put it up on his Instagram. The funny thing was that everyone commenting thought it was his!

client or shops like Resold in Brunswick. Otherwise your best finds are ether at Ballin and Lismore op shops or tip shops. It’s hit and miss though. Sometimes you’ll go on a mission and find nothing, or find things that are rad but need too much time and work restoring it.

I’ve noticed you do work on vintage furniture, where do you find all of your pieces? Yes, occasionally. More so nowadays as custom pieces. So most of it is found by the 9

M I T

C H

Where did your fascination for resin stem from? Initially the fascination came from the unknown, the first time I saw a resin artwork it blew my mind because I couldn’t understand how it was created. My obsession with it (for lack of a better word) came from advancing my work, every time I learned something new I created another possibility. It still really excites me. You’re not just an artist, you’re also a conservationist? Environmental conservation is something I’ve always been really passionate about and over the past year or so, through my art, my team and I have managed to donate just over $30,000 in support of a range of conservation companies like Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace and the Wildlife Warriors, to name a few. I was blown away when I received a phone call very recently from the Australia Zoo, telling me that I was one of the three nominees who have been selected for their ‘young conservationist of the year’ award. I find out who’s won that at their gala dinner. Whether I win or not it’s already a massive honour and probably the highlight of my career so far. What has been the most emotionally challenging piece you’ve done? I’ve done an artwork called ‘Flight’ and I still haven’t released the story behind that piece, not sure if I ever will actually. It’s quite personal and reflects one of the darkest times in my life. That’s all I can really say at the moment... You’ve launched a bikini range, tell us about that? It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been working away at this bit-by-bit over the past year or so. It fits in well with my conservation efforts, they’re also 78% recycled fabrics, sustainable, Australian made and 10% of all profits go back into our own conservation charity.

mitchgobel_resinart

You’re building quite the desirable fan base on Instagram, what’s the weirdest thing a fan has said to you? Yeah I have had a few weird requests... The stand out was probably the person who offered me just over $15,000 and a plane ticket to come to that persons house (interstate) to ‘observe the space’ then fly back home and do a painting for them. Before that request, the same person also had been... Very motivated, in trying to get my attention through private messages on FB. I’d often get, ‘hey sexy, you there?’ At 3am haha. Needless to say I turned that one down. How long does it take you to do one painting? I make the entire artwork from scratch, I hand pick the timber for the frame and build it before doing the artwork, that’s 4 days work on its own. The artwork usually takes another week, then hanging the piece, photographing, writing the story and publishing it all take a few days too. Usually take 2 weeks from start to finish. How will you go using resin on a skateboard? I’m assuming it’s not going to do what I want it to, but I guess we’ll see...

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

ASIO asio_art What was the last piece you did? The last piece I did was ‘Hail storm’ which was a commission paste-up on the entranceway to the client’s house. The piece I chose was one sixth of a larger piece I plan to do in the street. My recent works have been abstract and minimal. I’ve developed my own rules for abstraction based on my studies in psychology, photography and perception. What inspires your unique style of art? While I was studying art history and psychology I was teaching myself photography and archery as a hobby. I figured they are both skills that I could master and perform at an old age. After some years I became bored with the constraints of traditional photography and started to explore different effects. I would go through phases of taking a particular type of exposure (e.g. blurry long exposures or long exposures with rear flash etc.). These phases helped me explore the effects that you can produce by using a camera as instrument of expression rather

than a tool for recording the world. After a while I felt the main constraint was that it was impossible to recreate the experience of observing something or somewhere with one photo. I thought a lot about how this could be overcome. After researching perception psychology further, I understood that we create visual representations in our mind by sewing together snapshots from our eyes into a cohesive whole image. As we look at something our eyes dart around snapping up points of detail as our mind puts this information together. So I decided to take multiple photos of the same object/ scene and put them together to visually represent the process of visual perception. Why are you Asiothepirate? I don’t really refer to myself as ASIO but see it more as a name for my art. I only added ‘the pirate’ for a social media page. There is a freedom to be what and who you like when you have an alias and so I guess pirate represents a part of myself that wanted to be recognised by me and others. At the end of the day I needed to give my art a name

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Plank Canvas Issue

other than my own and so I tried to think of something few others would have chosen while at the same time being synonymous with Australia.

their expression and it gives the viewer a narrative to decode. The difference between clarity and mystery. Apart from the principles behind my specific style, I’m normally working on particular themed series like landscapes, skulls, masks, paredolia and more recently concepts about abstraction.

Do you ever explore political art? I once did a piece saying ‘vote’ in green letters before the last election. A weak attempt at subliminally influencing votes. Other than that, personally, I’m not really into political art. To me, pure visual bliss is timeless and political statements are time specific and lose impact and meaning with time. There are bigger questions worth more consideration.

What does colour mean? Colour, for me, is a light gradient interpreted by our brain. From an evolutionary perspective we’ve evolved the perception of colour to assist in and create cognitive ease in object recognition.

Is there a depth or meaning behind your creativity that the public eye is yet to explore? Yeah, heaps. I don’t think I’ve ever made anything purely for the sake of doing so. One of my friends and mentors made it very clear (and I agree) that art without meaning is decoration. The meaning doesn’t have to be obvious. But if there is an underlying meaning it gives an artist direction for

Your skull series was rad, do you have another series coming up? I’m pretty deep inside my own mind about abstraction at the moment. The end goal in this series is to make art that is simple in its complexity, nonrandom in its randomness, while being understandably vague.

COTTAGE

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Plank Canvas Issue

B O A R D S cottageskateboards Why cottage? Because it represents the simple life. It’s based on slowing down and enjoying what you’ve got. It’s working towards a good community and taking-in each day as it comes. Enjoying the ride as much as the destination. Are your boards made out of recycled wood? We have made a few 1960s-style cruisers out of recycled wood, but the majority of our decks are made from sustainably produced Australian Hoop Pine marine ply. Using this, we can bend and shape the decks so they are super fun to ride, last a long time, and are environmentally conscious too. What’s the weirdest image someone has painted on one of your boards? That would probably be a deck painted by Rebecca Cunningham (@lardart) for last year’s Plank Canvas show at the Gold Coast. It was called The Seven Founding Fathers of BWAS and it was basically a desert landscape with the tops of the heads of a bunch of well-known bald people. Kelly Slater, Bruce Willis, Peter Garret and Britney Spears were a few of the heads sticking out of the dust. It was so well done.

Who would you sponsor, if you had the opportunity? This is such a hard question for me, and it’s one I always think about. Surely it’s every skate company’s goal to sponsor the best riders,

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

or ﬁnd some grom who shreds waaay above their years. But it’s never felt right to me. The whole notion of curating a life for a kid so you can sell the most t-shirts seems weird. Does anybody else feel that way? I think I’d rather sponsor someone who skates and is trying to ﬁgure out their place in the world and make a positive contribution to society, rather than just creating a few nice photos.

they worked the way everyone imagines them to work. But hey, if Dyson could make something as amazing as the Airblade, then I’m sure someone can ﬁgure out the hoverboard, especially seeing as every hoverboard attempt video gets about a billion views… maybe I need to start a Kickstarter campaign. Where did PLANK CANVAS stem from? Plank Canvas started three years ago, because we were making all these crazy shaped boards

What do you think of hover boards? Haha yeah I’m sure they’d be pretty rad if

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

and we didn’t know what artwork to put on each of them. We didn’t know how to screen-print and we knew we couldn’t just keep asking our artist friends to paint on decks that were eventually going to be scratched up. So we just asked them all if they wanted to do one for an art show. It was pretty much just a creative outlet so we could make crazy boards, they could show their work and we could all have some beers together.

What does the future hold for PLANK CANVAS? It’s hard to say! I’ve keep putting the event on because in each town I’ve moved to, I keep meeting so many great artists that I’ve almost felt it necessary to keep the event going. I think I’ll keep doing it as long as it feels right.

BRO

GAN

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

artofbrogan

There’s a lot of detail in your sketches, how do you maintain your concentration? I have ADHD, among other so-called mental illnesses, and as such, I find it really difficult to sustain my attention to anything that calls for it. So any time I sit down to do some editing or visual effects or a painting, it forces me to calm down and concentrate, and I think doing this kind of work has trained me to focus and think deeply.

encapsulate the mystery and horror of the original story in the design because I just worship the whole concept. To capture the imagery I saw in my head, as the story unfolded was the toughest part.

Why are you so fascinated with sketching people? It’s really difficult to get the form and shape of a person while still translating it into your own style. I guess it’s the challenge that I find tantalising.

Do you ever hit creative roadblocks? If so, what helps you free draw? The only roadblock creativity can give you is the feeling that your not good enough to produce what you see in your imagination. This makes you procrastinate and you can waste so much creative energy in not thinking you’re good enough. The only way to get to the level of skill you dream of is to just do it and trust your brain that it will develop with practice. Confidence is key.

What’s the most challenging design you’ve done? I did a film poster design based on the great H.P Lovecraft story, At The Mountains Of Madness. It was really difficult to

What would you be stoked on doing with your illustrations in the future? I’d like to simply get to the point where I can make a living doing what I love. That’s every artist’s dream isn’t it?

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

JOSH 20

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

H E D G E joshhedge

What’s the weirdest photo you’ve snapped? There isn’t one in particular but definitely some of my film photos have made me go ‘whoah’ a few times after developing them. Just doing triple exposures, light leaks, etc can alter images in a weird and funky way. How would you describe your photography? Earth, sun, energy. I love shooting outdoors and in afternoon light, especially around the Byron area we are super lucky to live in a place where the Mountains meet the Sea with National Parks left right and centre! What does the word wanderer mean to you? I guess it comes off the wrong way at times, I look at it in the terms of an explorer and someone who’s never happy sitting around in the one spot.

Who was the last person that you captured naked? And have you ever been in trouble for doing it? I haven’t done a completely naked shoot as of yet to be honest, it’s definitely something I am looking to do in the near future. I doubt it will lead to trouble, as it’ll be done somewhere in nature and away from the public eye (until the images are released haha). Photography takes you on some pretty wild adventures. Where’s next? India is next on the list, I’m super excited to get in the thick of the culture over there. A lot of my friends have been and say nothing but amazing things about it! Your cute little black rabbit lives the life. Does she/he have an interesting story? Haha Bambi (or bambilicious when she’s being sassy) lives the life of a queen bunbun. No real interesting stories, but she is potty trained which is pretty groovy. She comes for bike rides, down to the beach and stuff. She’s a good little buddy that’s for sure. 21

HEISS

Blaire Magazine

Plank Canvas Issue

I S A BELL i_heissa Describe your artwork in one sentence. I like to describe my work as a distorted view of the beauty around me paired with a hidden oddness, which reflects the controversy in it. ‘Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.’ - Pablo Picasso What inspires your style of art? How we interact with one another, our cultural habits and conflicts, nature and fatality. The works of Egon Schiele, René Magritte, Sally Mann, Del Kathryn Barton and many more. What has been the most challenging piece you’ve done yet? A piece called ‘Des Fours’; I painted over it about 7 times and am still thinking it is not quite right. The idea I had in my mind for it just didn’t want to appear on the canvas, but there comes a time when you have to let it go… Murphy’s Law – this one is most people’s favorite. I’ve noticed that you create art on vintage furniture. How long have you been doing that for? I have always been making my own furniture; be it from scratch or ‘up-cycling’ vintage pieces. Having a Blacksmith as a Dad with a big workshop helped, I guess, and when I came to Australia I realised that there are so many beautiful old pieces in the op shops, so why not do something with it!

What helps you get into the zone, to focus on a big piece? A deadline, that’s for sure! I work pretty well under pressure, always have and working in event management for 7 years told me even more so. I am pretty easily distracted but without some play times I would probably have no inspiration. What adventure do you see your talent taking you on in the near future? I would like to explore different materials and techniques, especially for sculpting, maybe even going back to welding. Winning an artist residency overseas is another goal of mine. I am particularly interested in Asia as the art culture over there is so different. Can you tell us about any cool projects that you’re currently working on? I have just finished eleven 25cm x 25cm pieces for a show at the Retrospect Galleries here in Byron and I am working on a new series of plywood tiles, which will be sold in several stores. An upcoming project I am most excited about is an idea I have been working on for quite a while. It is a series of work including photography, paintings and sculptures discussing my experiences with Australian culture, the love of ease and the problems that come with it. Therefore I want to reach out to some artists in Sydney and Melbourne to exchange ideas and maybe work together, but it is still in its infancy…

DECEMBER

ISSUE launching soon

Designer Megz Noel Cover Photo Artwork by Josh Galletly Event Sponsors Blaire Magazine Cottage Skateboards Stone & Wood Brewery

Blaire Magazine