Raw Ink Magazine - April 2012

raw

art | design | music | writing | creative | culture

magazine

brisbane gold coast tweed coast In this Issue: ‘Alice and Wonderland’ ballet comes to Brisbane Nico Underwear

Issue 8, April 2012

www.rawinkmagazine.com

THE RAW INK TEAM

Roxy Coppen

Graphic designer and editor. roxy@rawinkmagazine.com www.monkeywingdesigns.com

Ruth Dunn

Journalist. ruth@rawinkmagazine.com

Liana Turner

Journalist and photographer. liana@rawinkmagazine.com www.liana-anitra.tumblr.com

Cover artwork by

Lucks

Hello readers, Well, we’ve had an absolutly amazing respons to our ‘Get Inked’ competition and we’re very proud to announce our winners!

If you’re a Gold Coast Institute of TAFE student, hopefully you’ll be able to see Roxy this Tuesday when she comes to your campus!

Once again, if you know of any creative events happening in your local area, or would like to contribute to the magazine, feel free to send us an email to: roxy@rawinkmagazine.com Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on our Twitter-tweets.

We’ll see you next month.

From,

The Raw Ink Team xx www.rawinkmagazine.com www.facebook.com/rawinkmagazine.com www.twitter.com/rawinkmagazine.om

2

contents and Curiouser’ 4 ‘Curiouser Ruth Dunn

the White Rab12 ‘Following bit’ Ruth Dunn

and GoPa’ 20 ‘GoMa Ruth Dunn

Underwear’ 30 ‘Nico Liana Turner

with Lucks’ 38 ‘Hide’n’Seek Ruth Dunn

with Lucks’ 52 ‘Inking Ruth Dunn

Chat Corner with 62 ‘Chit Anthony Jigalin’ Ruth Dunn

3

Rachael Walsh and Blair Wood the Duchess and the Mad Hatter Photo Ken Sparrow

4

With its captivating and intriguing narrative and characters, it’s no wonder Lewis Caroll’s much loved novel continues to be kept alive through music, film adaptations, art and ballet. Brisbane recently had access to its own world of wonder as Queensland Ballet presented Alice in Wonderland. Intrigued by the idea of the adaptation of Alice into a ballet, a trip down the rabbit hole was imminent.

With many of the shows selling out I was lucky to get tickets and didn’t have to use my rash alternative of sneaking in through the vents… though perhaps falling from a tunnel in the roof would have been a fitting entrance to the ballet. After getting lost walking up and down various staircases, I arrived to see alert and captivated children sitting cross legged eagerly listening to Dan Christani, an actor and former dancer, who was telling the story of Alice.

François Klaus, Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of Queensland Ballet,

5

says he had children in mind when he was choreographing the ballet and he hopes the ballet is fun for both children and adults.

The excitement and buzz of the children and adults alike as they entered the theatre showed that Caroll’s much loved 1865 novel is still very much alive in 2012.

Based on Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, François Klaus brought Caroll’s novel to life with absurd yet graceful choreography. Though it is difficult to describe choreography in words, Klaus says ‘a lot of the choreography is a bit absurd because you’re not going to use purely classical ballet to describe what the characters are doing.’ The expressive qualities of the choreography were all the more important because very little words were used. Teri Crilly, the dancer who played the White Rabbit, said ‘The ballet is obviously very technically based , but François has found a way to throw those quirky moves in there and to make it really lively and energetic as well.’ One such quirky move is at the beginning where Klaus incorporated a skateboard into the choreography to emphasise the speed of the White Rabbit.

The ballet takes you on a journey with Alice as she meets weird and wonderful characters, such as the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum and of course the Queen of Hearts.

Through choreography, acting, costume and set design you follow, and feel part of, Alice’s experiences as she goes from one bizarre situation to another. To do this story justice it’s obvious that unique and quirky choreography was a valuable approach to take. Each character had their own mannerisms and personality coming through in their dancing, but all came together in a cohesive whole.

6

Teri Crilly White Rabbit Photo Ken Sparrow

7

The ballet varied from having one or two dancers on set at a time, to having 6 or so, to having the whole cast on stage.

With so many unique characters on the one stage, the scenes with a large amount of dancers were often amusing and fast paced. Perhaps one of the most giggle worthy moments of the ballet was when the majority of the dancers were on stage for the football scene. There was structured choreography, but there was also a definite element of improvisation as dancers played a chaotic game of football, which looked like a lot of fun to play and was a lot of fun to watch. Though Klaus couldn’t pick a favourite part of the ballet, he said ‘I like the football scene...it’s very silly, and I enjoy it because I have a very silly side too’.

In an interview with Klaus he gave me insight into the inspiration in the ballet.

8

“Most of the time inspiration is a practical thing. If you choose a book like Alice in Wonderland you look at all the scenes in the book, then you look at what could be danceable and how you could dance it. As you start to think on a practical side, then you usually get ideas and those become your inspiration. It goes in that order. Then once you choose your music you go into the studio and start to work with your dancers, and that’s where the inspiration comes into motion because you do not plan the moves that much…I mean you may plan what a scene looks like or how you are going to start it, but as soon as you start it that is when a spontaneous moment appears. Here and there you have inspiration, but it’s only once you start to work on it practically that you suddenly have those moments of what you could call inspiration, usually with a dancer.”

Robert McMillan and Rian Thompson with Bianca Scudamore Photo Ken Sparrow

9

Principal Meng Ningning Photo Ken Sparrow

10

The quirky choreography and mannerisms inspired by the dancers was complemented with extravagant costumes and an eclectic mix of music selected from composers including Benjamin Britten, George Pommer, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

The costumes were vibrantly coloured, elaborately designed, and classically Wonderland. The set design was effectively simple, artfully designed yet not distracting from the choreography. In fact parts of the set enhanced choreography; such as the Mad Hatter’s tea party table which was designed on a slant towards the audience, allowing the Mad Hatter, the Hare and the Door Mouse to slide down comically and use as a platform to dance on.

As a fan of all things weird and wonderful, Alice in Wonderland is my cup of tea and I went to the ballet with high expectations.

With its humorous, witty and clever choreography, skilled dancers, colourful costumes and eclectic use of music, I was not disappointed.

11

12

F ollowin W hit

Queensland Ballet dancer Teri Crilly Photographer David Kelly

ng the te R abbit...

13

Ruth D unn Before Alice in Wonderland started showing at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre I had a chat to Teri Crilly, the dancer who plays the White Rabbit in François Klaus’ Alice in Wonderland Ballet, about her character and the production.

What’s the most exciting thing about performing in the Alice in Wonderland Ballet?

I think the most exciting thing about performing in Alice is probably getting to portray a wide range of different characters. I play the character of the White Rabbit and I’ve had a lot of opportunities in rehearsals to have a very good play with that character and really develop a character, and there’s so many different dancers and different characters on stage it’s a really fun ballet to perform.

How did you get the role of the White Rabbit?

François Klaus, our director, cast the ballet.

So there’s no audition for a particular

14

part but we worked very very closely with François on a daily basis, and he pretty much has an idea of who he thinks is right for each part and he will just cast accordingly.

I’ve read that you’ve worked with François Klaus before, what’s it been like working with him?

It’s been absolutely wonderful, François is our artistic director so he creates the ballets, he casts the ballets, he choreographs the ballets, he is very very hands on. So we as dancers work very closely with François and it’s a really great experience because he really taps into each dancer’s abilities and works with each dancer, with what they have, and

he’ll bring out the best in what they have to offer.

Has he helped you develop as a dancer in the process of working with him?

I would say most definitely. I started out at Queensland Ballet as a Professional Year student, which is a program that the Queensland ballet has set up for young dancers to work closely with François as a director and also our artistic associate director Robin White. So I would say that throughout my time here, I’ve been here for four years in the company and 1 year in Professional Year and I would say that my professional development has really grown since being in PY.

How does the role of the White Rabbit compare to other roles you have played in ballets?

The role of the White Rabbit is very different to roles I’ve played before because everything is particular to that character, so the White rabbit is really frantic and fanatic and always late, so I’m completely running round the stage the whole time.

He’s a lot of fun to play with; I have particular mannerisms, when you are developing a character you have to think of what they would do at every moment, so as soon as you hit the stage you are not yourself anymore. I will not be Terri Crilly I will be the White Rabbit. So I have to think where my hands will be and what my facial expression is, and how I

15

run and how I move. So it’s very different from one of the classics, like a Sleeping Beauty or a Swan Lake, because there is choreography but François allows for a lot of interpretation with character, so Alice in Wonderland is very very heavily based on characterisation I think.

So you had a bit of freedom to develop the character a little bit yourself ?

Yes. Obviously we have to work within the realms of the choreography and make sure you don’t run into anyone on stage or do anything crazy. But yeh, we’ve had a lot of opportunity, and I think since we’ve been back from our Christmas break we’ve had a lot of time to develop our characters as well. So there are a lot of little moments and things you can look for as well.

Is there any correlations between the character of the White Rabbit and your personality?

I would say most definitely! Actually casting is quite funny when it comes down to things like that because you start to see the similarities between yourself and a character. So I’m always busy as well, I’m always running around, I always have something to do, but however I’m never late, I’m always on time!

Can you tell me a bit about the production?

Sure. As well as coming to see the ballet before each show we have Dan Christani, he’s an actor and a former dancer, doing story time with the children that come to see the ballet and telling the story of Alice... it’s something different, it’s not something you get at every ballet. Because it is such a children’s ballet, Queensland Ballet thought it would be a great idea to incorporate story time.

16

Teri Crilly Photo Ken Sparrow

17

We’ve also had a few workshops with MAC Cosmetics. As well as how we portray character, we also have to do stage makeup and we wear some very elaborate costumes. So we’ve been working with MAC Cosmetics to develop what the characters look like. We’ve been doing makeup workshops in that process. We had a structure and a picture to follow and then MAC just came in and told us some practical hints about how to keep it on for longer.

With the stage makeup as well we have very elaborate costumes which are Richard Jeziorny designs. So as the White Rabbit my costume entails very large ears, a waste coat, a pocket watch and also a big big furry behind. So if I ever fall over on stage I’ve got a bit of padding there to save me hahaha.

That’s always good haha, have you found it a challenge to move around in that outfit or you kind of got used to it?

Ahh it is a challenge, but we are lucky enough to have rehearsals and have a bit of time to practice in the costumes… I did have a bit of a mishap where I did fall over on stage after sliding through one of the boys legs and because my bottom was so big I actually couldn’t get up and I was stuck on my back like a turtle hahaha, and so one of the boys actually had to come and pick me up. And also actually, as the White Rabbit, I also do a skateboarding scene, so I’ve had to practice a bit with the skateboard and go up into the studio by myself and roll around for a bit hahaha.

Haha, why are you on a skateboard?

François’ ballet is based on the Lewis Caroll Book of Alice in Wonderland, but François loves to play with things and his own ideas, so in the first entrance of the

18

White Rabbit where it’s rushing because it’s late he put him on a skateboard to emphasise how speedy he has to be to get places. I have to go the whole length of the stage as well, so I’m really hoping I make it across in one piece!

I’ll be looking out for that! How long are you usually on stage for the ballet?

In François’ ballet there are a lot of group scenes where he’s incorporated every character. So the White Rabbit has a couple of scenes by himself with Alice, but then also makes cameos in all of the group scenes such as the Rugby scenes we have on stage, and the unicorn and lion, we have a big crowd up the back while they are having a clash, so I would say the White Rabbit is on stage quite a lot actually. So you have to make sure that throughout the ballet you maintain your character at all times.

Are there any things you do to prepare yourself for performance and get rid of the nerves?

Nerves for me personally are a bit inevitable, they come with every show no matter what because I try to give my all to every role I do. I think the more you can rehearse the more you can delve into your character. Once you actually get on stage you are the character, so the White Rabbit was nervous, so Terri would be if the White Rabbit was. So we prepare as much as we can choreography wise and mentally, but when you get on stage you just have to trust yourself and trust your character.

Queensland Ballet Alice in Wonderland Dancer Teri Crilly Photo Ken Sparrow

19

GoMa & G

Ru

20

GoPa

Guido

uTh DuNn 21

The walls of Bleeding Heart Gallery recently came alive with the GoMa & GoPa exhibition, which presented a fascinating mix of street art, sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, and paste ups. The exhibition brought together some of Brisbane’s finest contemporary artists, including Anthony Jigalin, Guido van Helten, Sam Butel, LUCKS, Barek, and ZKLR. The exhibition was put together within one month as a result of a last minute offer and some very hard work. Bleeding Heart was offering a discounted exhibition price because another artist had cancelled, so Anthony Jigalin jumped at the chance. He saw this as an opportunity to have a show with some friends.

Within a month he gathered artists, put together flyers, and worked on getting the word out in the media. The name of the exhibition, Go MA & Go PA, was a pun on Brisbane’s GoMA that Jigalin came up with as a joke.

The opening of GoMa & GoPa was buzzing

22

Barek

23

Ordered Chaos Sam Butel 24

with artists and people keen to check out the intriguing accumulation of artworks. We were lucky enough to catch up with Guido, Butel, Barek and ZKLR and say a quick hi to Jigalin at the show.

Rather than having a curator for the exhibition, each artist was given the freedom to curate their own works, giving the placement a personal touch, with each artist presenting their work in different ways.

Jigalin went for a ‘salon style’ approach with works positioned side by side and above and beneath one another. His bright works were strongly charged with images of leaders such as Bin Laden, Gadhafi, Saddam, Kim Jong Il, who all died in the last year. Through these images he is commenting on the way people in positions of power will abuse it. He says ‘the system is grossly corrupt, the law favours the rich’. Jigalin often creates intensely charged works which touch on issues he sees in life, resulting in artworks intense in colour and content.

With over 15 years street art experience under his belt ZKLR produced a collection of skate decks souped up ZKLR style, stencilled and painted posters-large and small, artworks on perspex, and a set of small artworks produced by drawing and painting. Though he prefers to work on the streets, it was a treat to see his work in an exhibition context, though admittedly strange against the white wall of the gallery.

Guido van Helten is another street artist who prefers to paint on walls rather than canvas.

This can be seen in the way he attached a plank of wood to the canvas to make it more familiar and comfortable. Guido said the paintings draw correlations between his ‘particular method and perspective of creating art, i.e. the pure (visual) ways of seeing, and the digital (through a lens).’

The works he exhibited in GoMA & GoPA demonstrate the ‘subsequent distortion that follows when translating the digital reference with spray paint + roller brushes on canvas.’

25

Sam Butel put together a body of work especially for the show which consisted of screen prints and resin on wood and skateboard decks, and a curious assortment of clay sculptures. Butel has only recently started experimenting with colour in his artworks but he effectively used blue, orange and red which worked well with the surface of the wood and composition of the works.

Traipsing in off the street Barek’s foxes made an appearance, as well as his familiar, pale, round headed figures and various other content including noodles and ice-cream personified by the iconic Barek eyes. Some of his works were painted on found objects, such as part of a cardboard box and a suitcase, reflecting his interest in bringing the street into the gallery using found materials. He also cleverly used glow in the dark paint in one of his artworks to depict fireflies, which, according to Barek, would light up most of the canvas in the dark.

The bold and colourful paintings and drawings LUCKS included in the exhibition reflected his interest in graffiti, religion, colour, and mixed media. Constantly moving across the images my eyes were drawn to different details within the artworks. If there had of been a glass window in front of the artworks my face probably would have been pressed against it inspecting the watches, diamonds and night sky contained within LUCKS’ skulls.

With each artist bringing something different to the show it was a great opportunity to look at the diversity of some of Brisbane’s finest contemporary artists. I found the curatorial freedom given to the artists a refreshing alternative to group exhibitions curated by one person, and the fact that it was put together in one month makes it all the more impressive.

Devastated you missed out on the exhibition and want to check out some of the artists? http://www.facebook.com/anthony.jigalin http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lucks/ Sam Butel: sonofsam.com.au http://www.facebook.com/barek.art http://www.guidovanhelten.com/

26

Wabbit Season

27

28

Illustration by Rebekah Dunn beskhetti@yahoo.com.au

29

LIANA TURNER 30

Tell me the story of how Nico Underwear came to be.

The idea behind Nico was to fill the gap between the ‘over-the-top-tacky’ and the ‘boring-practical’ in women’s underwear.

I always found it hard to find interesting underwear that suited my personality and I spoke to heaps of girls who felt the same way! That was really the foundation of the idea behind Nico.

The brand is now four months old, correct?

How has it been developing in that time?

That’s right - still just a baby! Things have been going really well and we’re getting a great response to the idea of Nico so it seems like there’s heaps of girls out there who felt the same way that I did about the lingerie market.

The first year or so is also a really nice time for a fashion label as we’re still small enough to be able to keep everything quite

31

boutiquey - so everything is hand-made in house at the moment, and I get to be really involved with all our customers and stockists. I’m also really conscious of trying to hold onto these things as we grow and develop and to maintain that feeling and to stay true to the philosophy of the brand.

How long did it take in terms of planning before Nico Underwear became a reality?

What was it like to undergo this process?

The idea for Nico had been growing in the back of my mind for about 2 years before we launched in December last year. It was something I didn’t want to rush into and I spent a lot of time considering things and shaping the philosophy of the brand. My background is in fashion photography and I was really lucky to be already working with some great local labels who were great mentors in helping me pull it all together. I think the lead up to the launch of a fashion brand is probably one of the most stressful periods to go through, but it’s also in a way one of the most intensely creative. Despite having to sleep for about a week post-lauch I did really enjoy the experience!

You pride yourselves on being environmentally conscious. How do you strive to maintain this? What steps are taken to ensure Nico Underwear isn’t detrimental to the environment, in the way many massproduced labels are?

The way I approach sustainability in Nico Underwear is to include the environmental impact of our choices as an important factor in all of our decision making. Firstly we strive to use sustainable materials - fabric is a big part of this. For example in our first collection we used a lot of bamboo which is a natural fibre that has minimal impact on the environment and can be grown without the use of the awful pesticides that are such a problem with a lot of cotton production.

Another important part of the picture is manufacturing. We currently manufacture in-house and are determined as we grow to keep our manufacture fair-trade. The other big thing we think about is the life of the

32

33

34

35

garment, so we try to use quality materials that will last to reduce the excessive waste that is such a big environmental legacy of the fashion industry.

Your website states “it’s about good looks and good karma”. In terms of style, describe what sets Nico apart from the runof-the-mill lingerie.

Like I mentioned earlier - in terms of style, Nico Underwear is kind of in-between - it’s not the ‘over-the-top-tacky’ and it’s not the ‘boring-practical’. It’s like a different kind of sexy! It’s a little bit unique and really styledriven - for girls who have a strong sense of individuality!

As far as fashion goes, there’s so much out there it can be challenging to find something unique or interesting, at times.

What advice would you give to aspiring fashion designers who hope to appeal to a more environmentally aware clientele?

I think there is definitely a fast-growing market of environmentally aware clientele and the old perception of eco-friendly fashion being a pair of hemp fisherman pants is dying out while the idea of high fashion that can also be sustainable is growing rapidly. The fashion industry is one of the worst culprits for environmental damage and exploitation, and I think in the future we will look back and wonder why we ever allowed it to be that way. To start a business on the right foot and with practices that will be valid into the future makes a lot of sense. www.nicounderwear.com www.facebook.com/nicounderwear

36

HIDE ‘N ‘SEEK PROJECT Hide ‘n’ Seek Project is a one year writing project that will include articles about Brisbane street art, as well as interviews with some of Brisbane’s best street artists, and photographs of local art found on the streets of Brisbane.

New material will be published each month exploring the Brisbane street scene and the artists that work within it.

This month I interviewed Shida, read on to check it out!

If you’ve spied some street/graffiti art in Brisbane and want to publish some photos or let me know where it’s at email me! ruth@rawinkmagazine.com

37

HIDE ‘N ‘SEEK WITH

Lucks RUTH DUNN

38

Lucks has been gracing the streets of Brisbane with his inky presence since 1988. He is a pioneering street artist and also works in a variety of contexts as an artist and community worker. From his wealth of tattoos to his fearless content, style and technique, Lucks lives and breathes art. I caught up with him to chat about his practice as an artist and discuss the Brisbane street scene.

39

When did art first make its mark on your life?

Art made its first mark on my life when I was quite young… Ever since I could pick up a pencil I guess. But I’ve been drawing cartoon characters and what not for quite a while now, so maybe since I was 6 or 7.

How did you learn to draw and paint the way you do from that very young age?

I’ve learnt most of my skills and developed my painting practice mainly through self teaching and self research over the years.

I’ve had a little bit of formal training at TAFE, but to a large degree it’s just been through observation, interest, and just self motivation to learn and push myself. I’ve just been really self motivated and forth looking in my research and picked out what’s interested me and left behind what hasn’t interested me at that point.

What’s the thing that’s made you keep going and keep being so self motivated?

Well a lot of that would have come from graffiti and my practice in graffiti. I flew over to Brisbane in ’83 from New Zealand, flying basically straight into Hip Hop culture, break dancing, and rap music. Through that I experienced and encountered graffiti for the first time. I’ve tried to replicate that, I became involved in the scene with friends who are likeminded with myself and we’ve driven each other. Also just that competition spirit and that willingness to put yourself out there and to be seen through graffiti is probably what has motivated me the most. Through that I‘ve also experienced other artforms which tend to sort of then motivate each other.

So looking at your art now, it’s kind of not purely graffiti; it seems to have a street art mix in it as well as some other influences. Would you call yourself a graffiti artist, street artist, or do you not like to categorise yourself?

Yeh categorising oneself is hard sometimes, but in the current climate, and I’m not afraid to say it, I’m a proud graffiti artist foremost and then artist in general from there. But answering your question, a lot of my artwork within the gallery scene has got elements of graffiti or street art to it but is not completely in the realm of traditional graffiti you could say. That has come from a few differing reasons, one is the argument that graffiti in

40

the gallery is not graffiti, and two is I think graffiti in its word sense and in its raw sense looks best in the public environment. It can look cool on the plain white walls of the gallery too, but there’s just a fine line. I’ve tried to extend upon that by using it within my artwork but not making it a complete whole graffiti piece solely, and letting my graffiti influence the way the artwork sort of comes out and looks on the canvas and found objects.

On that point about the gallery, how long were you working as a graffiti artist on the street before you started exhibiting in galleries?

Well I did my first piece in 1988 and I exhibited first in 1996 in a group exhibition and so they’ve sort of been in each others back pockets since ’96. But as I’ve gotten older and busier in life I’ve done the gallery thing more so these days than the street thing. So 8 or 9 years since I first started in the streets to my first exhibition, but then there was maybe a 4-5 year gap before my next exhibition.

Okay, was it difficult making that transition from street to gallery?

I wouldn’t say it was a hard transition to make because at the end of the day I’m just creating artwork like I was drawing when I was younger, or I was painting graffiti in the streets, it was just another avenue, another platform, another surface to get up on.

So I haven’t really found it difficult. There’s the odd story of artists finding it difficult starting a brand new canvas because it’s so white and it’s so perfect and pristine sort of thing. Coming from my own experience and talking for the greater majority I don’t think a majority of graffiti artist would find it difficult, they’d see it as a surface to just destroy and dirty so to speak.

The public sometimes don’t have a clear understanding of the difference between graffiti art and street art, but there’s quite a difference between them. Could you talk about how they are different in your own words?

Probably the differences from my opinion of graffiti and street art is that graffiti in the traditional sense is words based and letters based, and street art is leaning more towards artworks on the street, like being figurative

41

plus textural, and being more like stickers, posters, stencils. I could go on forever, but there’s sort of fighting in some senses, like someone might say ‘a street artist is not a graffiti artist and a graffiti artist is not a street artist’, but at the end of the day they’re both using the same surfaces, the same public platform. So you could say street art is a reevaluation of the idea graffiti has planted, and it has taken it in a totally different direction, if that makes sense…

Yeh I’ve read a lot about how the roots of street art is graffiti, but they’ve transformed it so it’s more figurative, with more mediums and that kind of thing, so I get what you mean…

Yeh and even the example of an overseas artist named Vhils who basically destroys walls by carving pictures into them. So there’s the aesthetic of the idea of graffiti as destroying something, and Vhils has taken the destruction of public property to a new level by carving into walls… Some of the pieces are pretty amazing.

So, would you say that graffiti is vandalism?

Umm, I would say graffiti could be viewed as vandalism, and sometimes we like to joke about being a vandal and take the derogatory term back and reclaim it. But at the end of the day it’s only paint on surface, so it’s not breaking a window, it’s not causing any real physical damage to anything, it’s just a layer on top of that surface. So if you look at it from that point of view, it’s not really vandalising anything.

What are your views on the graffiti artists that tag on local businesses and on private properties and that kind of thing?

It’s a whole learning curve of what defines placement and where you place your work or your tag, and placement is the important thing. To my regret I’ve tagged on a private fence or two in my early career, but not long into my career, like maybe a couple of years, there was a loose written rules scheme for the culture of graffiti and a learning to some degree of a defined boundary to where you could or couldn’t write. So for example cemeteries, churches, private houses, people’s cars, things like that were a no no and anything else was basically fair game. To the question of small business and what not,

42

43

there’s better areas to do it, but it’s all a matter of opinion. Like spray paint and ink, the traditional mediums for graffiti, are still going to be able to be cleaned off or painted over or water blasted off, whereas glass etching on windows can really rile a few more people up. But that’s just a sort of more vandalistic evolution of the graffiti game, but if you look at it just from paint and markers which the majority are, it’s not really a problem. Just leave common respect between persons is my advice.

So would you say you develop a system of rules and guidelines as you develop as a graffiti artist?

I think so. I did, but that was the self managing of the culture and learning from the culture and being within the culture sort of thing.

I feel in the current state of Brisbane it’s gone backwards because the hand me down knowledge that could have possibly been there to self manage the game has all been broken up because of the laws within Queensland and Brisbane, so the younger guys haven’t got that sort of older guys experience or teachings, or advice to go from.

They are learning basically from square one.

So it’s natural that there’s probably going to be a few mistakes made within that starting period.

So on that point, over the time you have been working as a graffiti artist, how have you seen the climate for graffiti and street art transform and change within Brisbane?

It’s always been illegal…there were periods in Brisbane where it was quite accepted and welcomed and nurtured a little bit. Like for example the Myer centre in Brisbane had some really nice pieces in the gaming area upstairs before it was cinemas, we’re talking 1988 there. There was hoarding boards painted I believe on and around city hall, King George square, where there was murals covering the ugly hoarding boards around construction sites. There was pieces of, you could probably say, street art on the railway lines coming into Central. So it was more welcomed back then but I think politicians have used graffiti as a real easy target and political tool to talk to the public and scare the public. Like they say graffiti means bad community, it means assaults and rapes and drugs, whereas those things are happening

44

45

anyway. With the practice of graffiti I think it puts a bit of colour out there and it doesn’t cause assaults, it doesn’t cause rapes, it doesn’t cause drug dealing down a dark alley. It’s only going to beautify some of the desolate parts of the city. In reality it’s not that bad. But it is really bad according to some people you know… like it’s…

There’s some different opinions out there…

Yeh, hahaha.

Let’s have a chat about the style and content of your work. To me both your style and content seems quite distinctive, so how has it developed over your career as an artist?

I guess I do have a certain style of doing things, but I’m forever experimenting so you could probably say that’s my style to a certain degree. I don’t know it’s just been free flowing.

Some of the paintings might stem from me only having a blue or a pink at the time, to me using a little bit of collage because I’m liking a certain image, and then that’ll lead into something else, or I’ll see something on TV that’ll inspire me. My style and content has probably changed over time from looking at more comic characters when I was younger to doing strictly graffiti based work around my name Luck and then onto Lucks over the years. Then from there I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the letters and the figures and everything in between. So it’s just a journey forward, a journey into experimentation, and a journey just into the unknown of what’s going to happen next, utilising whatever’s around me and taking inspiration from everywhere around me.

Sometimes I can do a completely different work to the next work, but they’ll have a little thread in there somewhere, a link somewhere.

So I’m assuming that the name Lucks comes from your interest and driving philosophy of good luck and bad luck in your practice. Is this correct, and could you just expand upon your name a bit?

It’s probably gone the reverse order of what you just said actually. As luck would have it, as a little bit of a pun, I was just flicking through the dictionary in my younger years of graffiti, looking for that cool word, that cool name with good letter combinations and letter balance. There was a couple before Luck which was at the time what I was writing, but

46

Luck stuck and as I was writing it and writing it I became well known for that name so it was a smart decision to stick with that name.

But then as I was progressing through life and my practice, sort of just self analysing, you could say, about me and about my identity I was thinking for a name like Luck I’m having a lot of bad luck. There was a period there, like the first 3 months of the year I had a different charge and I was in court the first of each month, and I was just like argh what’s going on! So I was thinking you don’t just have good luck, which you think of straight away with the word luck. In life you have bad luck as well and it’s all sort of yin yang, black and white type thing. So that’s where the ‘s’ came into play on the end of Luck to make Lucks, because life’s a big journey of both good and bad luck and you can’t have one without the other. That has just given me the perfect amount of ammunition for a life’s worth of work to focus back on things of good and bad luck. So heaps of subject matter there, most of my artworks have something to do with either good or bad luck or a mix of both in it, and that’s just me now. So the name and identity has adopted me at the end of the day really.

You have a really interesting mixture of religion, graffiti, tattoo, urban culture and that kind of thing in your artworks. These things seem to be a big part of your identity, like obviously you have a fair few tats going on and graffiti has been a big part of your life. So are your artworks an expression of your identity?

Yeh, I think my artworks are definitely an expression of my identity and just the self analysing and self researching into myself to create outwardly works. I was born into a Catholic family and my parents still go to church, but looking at that and doing my own research on luck I found Ezili Freda, the voodoo goddess of good fortune, and because of the out ruling of voodoo culture her counterpart is the virgin Mary, and the whole voodoo god system has counterparts from various Catholic identities. So that’s where my Mary has come from, a close connection between this research and my catholic upbringing. It was just one of those connections that fitted really nicely. Bringing my graffiti into that, the voodoo gods have a veve each, and a veve is their particular

47

symbol which was written in chalk on the ground to invoke spirits and what not. I’m not that knowledgeable on voodoo culture but I know the basics of some of the gods.

So it’s writing on the surface, decoration of objects and that kind of thing that I’ve used as an inspiration for my artwork and in some aspects, because of my interest in tattooing culture as well and being heavily tattooed like you mentioned, I’ve featured some of my tattoos as decoration on my artworks as more abstracted self portraits. So the combination of research into my name Luck or Lucks and the happy, coincidental accidents from my upbringing and other interests, I just throw them all in the one and mix ‘em all up type thing and…you could say hope for the best, because a lot of my painting on canvas work is pretty loose right at this moment and I want it that way, I want that randomness and quick thinking and not so much planning involved.

That is trying to get away from the tight structure of graffiti and trying to loosen up a bit more, but just trying to keep that happy balance between tight and loose, you could say maybe good and bad, light and dark, you know all those things. So that nice duality of things within my artworks.

You seem to have a belief system built into your artwork, is that correct? Like overtime you’ve kind of developed your own belief system…

Yeh, you could say I’ve developed my own sort of belief system. Because of my bookwormishness and interest in knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, I’ve looked into different religions like Buddhism, different forms of Catholic and Christian offshoots, and all the icons of painting and decoration.

Taking my learnings from those readings and coupling that with my life lessons, through life in general but mainly through life doing graffiti and the opinion of graffiti in common society, that’s made me evaluate life to a great extent also. I look at things like Campbell Newman being so harsh on graffiti yet there are homeless people out there, yet there’s people being assaulted everyday and the offenders are only serving two years in jail and then getting out and doing it again. So there’s bigger issues to be worrying about and I think a lot of the politicians at the moment are self centred and have a self agenda and they’ve forgotten, and the police too, that they are

48

there to serve the people, to help the people and protect the people, but I don’t think that happens so much. They say graffiti artists are bad and are thugs, but it’s not the case at all, we are just human like everyone else and if there is that common humanly respect between people it’s all good. So it’s made me focus on the good of life and not to be so ego driven, self centre-ing, self agenda driven type of person, type thing.

So when you first brought all these images together did you find it hard to combine them in a way that made them a cohesive whole?

It was pretty easy to put them together, I guess through graffiti I have a pretty low preciousness about my artwork, so if something’s not right I just paint over it and start again or adapt it a little bit. Like half might look right so I’ll just leave half in there and put something over the other half and just create those layers and layers, and if something works the first time that’s good and well but if it doesn’t it doesn’t matter. I just like that flow and I’ll just keep working with something until I am happy with it. I’m not completely happy with a lot of my graffiti pieces because I’m a pretty bad perfectionist but that’s where my looseness in my canvas practice has come from too, like me trying to loosen up and have that balance between tight and loose, sharp and maybe a little bit rounded. It’s just progressive and lots of fun just mucking around and not worrying about it too much because it’s only paint at the end of the day, you can paint over it.

What’s a good thing, or your favourite thing, about working on the streets of Brisbane?

Working on the streets of Brisbane can be a really good thing. The first good thing about working on the streets of Brisbane is it’s going to put colour on the streets, so that’s never a bad thing. But it’s a hard thing sometimes even if you are doing it legally because of the various graffiti laws in Brisbane and Queensland. You’ll get hassled just as much doing a legal piece of graffiti as you will doing an illegal piece of graffiti in Brisbane. The laws currently standing to my knowledge are 7 years maximum for graffiti and 10 years if it’s on educational premises and/or if it’s obscene in any way, pictorially or textually…So comparing that with crimes

49

against a person it’s maybe not so wise to do artwork on the streets of Brisbane because of that, but in the other aspect it is totally worth it to flip it back at ‘em and say nup this is not right, this is more than common assault and crimes against the person.

What would you like to see change within the Brisbane street art/ graffiti climate?

The only thing I’d really like to change is the focus on graffiti itself and graffiti itself being such a bad thing. It’s quite a fun thing; I view it as quite a learning tool because you are preparing yourself for the greater work force.

You’ve got workplace health and safety, especially if you are painting on the train tracks. It teaches you self motivation to get the job done, to go to work in the first place so to speak. It teaches you team work if you are working and painting with partners. It’s a really valuable thing to be involved in, but politically speaking it’s the worst thing in the world. So that’s the only thing I’d like to see change, is the focus to go to greater crimes in the community than the supposed crime of graffiti.

Before we finish up I just wanted to talk about the community projects you have been involved in as well. Can you tell us a little about those?

I’ve been involved in quite a few workshops and community mural projects, and graffiti projects with youth and with various youth groups around Brisbane. I’ve done a fair bit of work in the Redlands area and the Redcliffe, Caboolture, and Moreton Bay region, and I’ve done a fair bit of work down Logan way with both the council and various youth groups there. The workshops and projects that I’m working on with youth groups have ranged from stencil workshops, to free art workshops, to mosaic workshops, to community mural workshops. Through these things I’m teaching the youth all these skills plus knowledge about laws to do with graffiti, the good and bad aspects of graffiti, and the climate around it. So I’ve done quite an extensive amount of work with these youth, but I value it because in my own way I’m passing down my knowledge to these kids and my experiences and I can share the good and the bad of my experiences with them, maybe help them avoid trouble with the law and with the court system, maybe help them avoid trouble in

50

other aspects of their life and surroundings both at home and in their peer groups. So if I can pass that down I’m happy because I am helping them out and maybe giving them different views and different avenues for where they could go with different things, and encourage them in their wants and in their enjoyments.

Lastly do you want to just say a shout out to Brisbane graffiti artists?

Just to the whole graffiti, street art scenekeep going, don’t let ‘em stop ya. We’re doing a great job as it is and we’re just going to keep on going. Keep up the good fight, welcome to camphell and we’ll see how it is in 3 years time.

Intrigued much? Check out Lucks at http://www. facebook.com/pages/Lucks or http://www.lucks. com.au.

51

INKING WITH

52

Lucks

Lucks shows Raw Ink how to get maximum use out of a spare room 53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

Chit Chat Corner with

Anthony 62

says he’s lord vader, sir

y Jigalin 63

future music festival

Anthony Jigalin is a Brisbane based artist working mainly with oil paint to create strongly charged and intense artworks.

Colourful in character and palette, I caught up with Anthony for a very interesting chat about art, politics, and well everything in between.

How did you learn to paint?

I’ve been doing it all my life, so basically I just started painting as a kid, just for fun. I started drawing cars, I remember I used to draw cars in primary school, grade 4, and sell them to my classmates. I thought it was just a normal thing you know, it was just a way to make some cash. My dad was an architect at the time so I’d use those really cool pens that he had. But I just always did art. Way back then they never said you could do art as a career, you know, they never said you could do this, it was always ‘get a real job’. It’s not that I’m rebellious, it’s just that I didn’t want a real job, I just wanted to work with my hands, I just wanted to paint.

64

long ago when halen

So you were always just drawn to art?

I was also actually in a rock band, the no bodies and I had another band called La Cosa Nostra, and they were just like rock death punk bands, and I did that for like 10 years…15 years. But I had art shows along the way and I just thought that, you know, that would work out… but it didn’t f***ing work out. Maybe I’m cursed, I dunno. Maybe I am cursed.

Why would you be cursed?

Maybe I did something bad in a past life, or you know, I dunno. Because I’ve had a horrible childhood, I’ve had call girls for step mums and dad’s a criminal and I’ve had a horrible childhood, absolutely horrible. I’ve been to 17 schools and I’ve been bashed and starved, and all the rest. And maybe that’s what’s made me think the way I do, maybe that’s the thing that makes me so…not socially aware, but umm…you know I have empathy for the homeless people and I can see through the politicians and the cops…

n were biggs

you know, I just don’t think things are right at the moment. We’d like to pretend that they are, but I don’t think so.

Is art a way for you to try and make it fair?

Yeah in a way it’s a way for me to say what I want to say without offending people even though they don’t get it anyway. Like you know the pope artwork Couldn’t Handle His Smack, religion is the opiate of the masses, but people don’t get it. Like that one with the Sesame Street characters, called Future Music Festival, when you go to Future Music Festival you have to be hoffed up on goofballs, that’s obvious. The fuzz know it’s not a freaking blue light disco, but everyone goes there spruced to the eyelids, it’s a known thing. Decriminalise everything might be an answer? The dealers and the cops are the only ones getting rich, guess I’m a conscientious objector.

They get paid off. The cops get paid off, the government gets paid off at customs to allow drug importations to happen, and these drug

dealers are getting rich, and the people that are getting paid off. I’m not saying they are all rotten, there are some good police, you know, the five or so that are good… There’s no black and white.

So you don’t think the world is clear cut…

Nothing in this world is real. If you think something is straight down the line whatever it is, no it’s not the case. Some poor guy that you see homeless, he could have a university degree, he could have a house. But then again some politician or policeman, he could be a paedophile, he could be a this, he could be a that, nothing that you see is real. We do great art but we’re not known for that and it really sucks because you know it’s the bigwigs that choose all the art, and it just sucks, it’s very unfair, it’s very corrupt, the government is corrupt.

It’s not that I want my art to be controversial, I just want people to think, I just want people to say it’s not just a pretty picture, it actually means something.

65

Getting people thinking is a very important thing…

Well yeh, and here’s another thing, people think something painted really well with crappy materials isn’t better than something painted really badly with gold. People think that just because it’s spray painted or just because whatever, you know. Like I’d rather have a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that’s painted in dirt, than a painting done in gold by some dipshit that doesn’t know what a f***ing good painting is. People don’t have any f***ing idea, and look I was never schooled in art so they’ll never accept me as one of their art people you know.

Would you ever exhibit in a big gallery?

I’d love to, I’d really love to but they’d never choose me to exhibit there. It’s what everyone aspires to and if anyone says they wouldn’t, well then they’re talking through their arse.

I was just curious because it seems like you’re not a big fan of the way they do things…

I would exhibit there but it’d be all my way or the highway. It would all be ‘I want it done like this’. You can’t censor art, you should be able to have anything you want. Art’s a funny thing…you feel like you’re f***ed if you do and you’re f***ed if you don’t. The art world’s a very interesting thing, and it’s funny cos sometimes you see some amazing stuff and then other times it’s just really lame, and you just go, you’re kidding me right? The government’s just paid a fortune for whatever lame thing it is. They’ve paid a fortune, and how dare they pick what they want us to like.

It’s like they’re spoon feeding us. We have all these other choices, people need to know that good art isn’t just at GoMA. Good art is a lot of the time at these little galleries because that’s where you see the artists really struggle and fight to do their thing and really experiment.

That’s where you see the magic happen.

Okay, so let’s give our readers some insight into your practice as an artist. What are the most important things to you as an artist?

Time, travel…My freedom is important as an

66

artist, umm… my personal freedom. Money is important because without money I can’t do anything. People will get the wrong idea but the most important things to me as an artist are as long as I’ve got music, space, art supplies, other supplies, a bit of time to paint, bang! I just wanna be left alone, paint for a couple of days straight, no stopping, just go hard, paint. That’s what I love to do. I love to just get myself in a heavily meditative state and just paint for 3 days straight. Or write music. It’s a good change and distraction.

Is that always your process?

Yes, the paintings you saw at my show, every single one of those paintings I was high on life, all of them. And, AND, up to and including every single process to make those paintings, it’s all done in that state, everything. I was at the show high, I booked the show high, I did every single tiny little thing absolutely high on life, and for me that all counts you know, it’s all part of it. Nothing crazy happened and no animals were hurt.

I like to dream about writing fiction; short stories are my favourite, here’s one I prepared earlier. It’s like a nano story, only one paragraph short.

My brother Andrew and I went to Barcelona recently. We Googled where to get the best cocaine and Google said go to a suburb called la rambla and ask around. We found a dude and followed him back to his inner city, up a few flight of stairs apartment. He was friendly and even offered us drinks. Don’t accept the first stuff they offer you, cos it’ll be that dental novacaine crap, which they gave us! We kindly asked if they could go out and get us the good stuff not the shit stuff. Soon he was cutting up new lines to inhale. Yeah I filmed the whole thing. Off to moog, this cool rock club where we saw The Night Terrors and Heirs and part a and part b’d all night. We missed our plane to Paris so we thought fuck it, booked another night in a hostel and kept snorting our way to tomorrow…

So travel, time and freedom are important to you as an artist. What are some of the

67

most important things that you want to get across through your artwork?

I just want people to think differently about their own lives. They don’t have to work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, doing some shitty job that they don’t want to do. That is not a life. You don’t have to spend your whole life paying off the house you won’t get when you die, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to be an ant like everyone else. I dunno, maybe people should respect themselves a bit more. Our only alternatives to relax and to get wasted on a Friday or a Saturday night is to drink alcohol. That’s the only thing we can do, and we’ve got all these other things that they’ve made illegal, but I think they’re better.

I dunno, people are funny.

Are there any other main themes in your artwork?

Ummm. I had a horrible childhood, I just want to reflect a couple of things that I think are unfair, and the main themes are corruption, religion, the war on drugs, and power. I have a lot of heavy metal references because I grew up on metal music, so you know you might see a Van Halen guitair or a Judas Priest font or a Twisted Sister logo or something.

So the challenging time you had growing up has had an impact on your artwork…

Yeah, and people don’t think I grew up ok because of my beliefs, and the funny thing is I really think my beliefs are true and very honourable and very upstanding. Better than the ones we have in place now. So I think how dare they think that, those ignorant f***s, how can they think that when they haven’t even thought about it. How can they just say something like that without thinking about it properly, you know.

So you are more about letting people believe what they want to believe and not condemning others?

Yeah, people can believe what they want to believe and religions are okay so long as they don’t force it onto someone else. The worst thing is when someone looks down on you because you’re not their religion and it’s like

68

what the f***, how can you do that…I just don’t think we have evolved as humans. I mean technologically we have gone years and years ahead, we’ve landed people on the moon, bang we can fly to the moon, we can make iPads, cure diseases, but we can’t figure it out. Many people are depressed. If we are running our own world why aren’t we happy?

It’s our world, we’re ruling it so why can’t we make it happy for ourselves? We are doing something wrong obviously.

You seem to have a strong take on religion?

Yeh, for example this one here, we’re talking about the pope artwork, Couldn’t Handle His Smack, everyone sees it as an offensive picture. Religion is the opiate of the people, of the masses. But I don’t believe there’s a God, I don’t believe there’s a devil, religion is one of the biggest misconceptions known to man. *points to Couldn’t Handle His Smack artwork* This is a heroin brand of a really excellent grade of heroin, that’s a stamp UO GLOBE BRAND and they stamp high grade heroin from Asia, and I’m saying religion is the opiate of the masses. WAKE UP!! We have wars over religion, I think wars should be abolished, religion should be abolished, all this homophobia should be abolished.

So you believe in the push and pull of the universe, but you aren’t religious…

What I mean by that is that for every action there’s a reaction. It’s like you do something bad to someone, something bad might happen to you, and you have to almost expect that.

So it’s kind of like a karma thing?

It’s like karma, but more of a scientific version of karma. Karma is an airy fairy version of the push and pull.

How does your belief in the push and pull of the universe affect your art practice?

I meditate very heavily and put myself close to death …and I think when you’re really close to death that’s when you become really creative and that’s when I think of really good

couldn’t handle his smack

69

ideas, and that’s when I nail it…that’s when I get what I really want out of the painting and I really push and pull it.

I meditate as a fuel for my work...., it’s like if you have a car you need petrol, I use it to get from a to b.

So I see a theme of justice and duality running through your work?

Only because I see how it is for the poor homeless man to be kicked around, and I feel sorry for people who think he’s done it to himself. He could be mentally challenged.

If it’s a drug or alcohol thing then that’s the governments fault. There needs to be something more than Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous…It’s not enough.

I think there should be something more to help those people. Our class systems are like if you’re a poor person you can’t get into this rich man’s world. The law favours the rich. If I’m rich, I can do whatever I want, and basically get away with it. But if you’re poor you can’t do that. If you’ve got the money, you can hire the best lawyer. In that way I don’t think civilized society is very fair.

How have the concepts, ideas, content, and medium developed over time for you as an artist?

It doesn’t matter what you do, you always get better. I think my ideas are getting better. I’m also finding better ways to get them on a canvas, and finding a nicer way to violently push them. When I paint I want it to either be fun, or I want it to be absolutely so treacherous that it could be the last thing I do.

So I’m noticing that you use things other than canvas, like on that painting on your wall you have part of a…

Yeah, I want to get away from just canvas. It’s good to paint on big old broken mirrors. I get more into painting on found objects, it’s just more fun and I think they come out better, I really do. They are just more interesting.

It sort of gives it a back story, it used to be something else. Like that’s a chopping block *points to work in progress* I found that on the side of the road, it’s a chopping block and

70

Gillard would be holding Abbots head cos they’re about to have their election. Whose head’s on the chopping block? Makes it more fun. I want it to be fun. I always go for the underdog. Commercial suicide, but it’s the truth. People in positions of power abuse it.

Okay, so finishing up, what’s next on the agenda for Anthony Jigalin?

I will continue to oppose our so called civilized society for truth, justice, and the anthony way, god bless the censors.

Simply can’t get enough of Jigalin? Check out www.facebook.com/anthony.jigalin or stroll over to www.anthonyjigalin.com

wabbit season 71

www. raw ink maga zine .com 72