Challenge accepted The Vincent family from Cooma, NSW, became an Instagram sensation when they recreated Jackson Pollock’s Blue poles in LEGO as part of the #BetweenArtandQuarantine challenge.
Karen Vincent at home with sons Noah, 10, and Tobey, 7, and dog Bonnie.
How long have your family been members of the NGA? I’ve been a member for most of my life. My father first bought me a membership when I was a teenager when he realised that I had a strong interest in the arts. The boys and I have had a family membership for the last couple of years, but I’ve been bringing them since they were babies. What is your favourite work in the national collection? I have a soft spot for early Australian art. John Glover is a favourite, any of the Heidelberg School artists, Margaret Preston and Thea Proctor. The boys love James Turrell’s Skyspace. And we all like spending time in the Sculpture Garden and having a hot chocolate in the café. Why did you choose to recreate Blue poles with LEGO? I’d seen a couple of other people overseas using LEGO as a medium for recreating abstract and contemporary works. The boys are both LEGO fanatics and we have A LOT of LEGO! I knew we’d have to utilise such an impressive collection somehow and it seemed like an inventive way to capture the chaotic and iconic paint splatters. Talk us through the process, who was involved and how long did it take? Noah and I sorted through our LEGO collection and found the pieces that matched the colour scheme and Tobey made the poles. It took about 45 minutes to find the pieces and build the poles, 20 seconds to tip it Jackson Pollock Blue poles 1952, oil, enamel, aluminium paint, glass on canvas, purchased 1973 *© Pollock-Krasner Foundation
out onto the floor, à la Jackson Pollock, 30 seconds for Tobey to arrange his poles on top and a few minutes to snap a couple of photos. Then the recreation was scooped back up and returned to our LEGO collection. How has art helped you during the pandemic lockdown? Art has kept us motivated during this time. We’ve been inspired to revisit old favourites and to learn about new works. It has given us all a rare opportunity to visit our bookcase full of art books and meander through the pages looking
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for our next project. We’ve posted our recreations online (Facebook and Instagram) and kept our friends and family entertained.
