Raw Ink Magazine – May 2012 by Raw Ink Magazine

magazine

In this Issue: Liana chats to

KATIE NOONAN Liana hangs with

BLUEJUICE

brisbane gold coast tweed coast Issue 9, May 2012

www.rawinkmagazine.com

Ruth caught up with brisbaen street artist Mikey XXi We interview our Get Inked winner, Stephan Carmichael

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 photography by

Liana Turner

of BLUEJUICE in concert

Hey guys! Well! This is definately the biggest issue we have EVER HAD! We’ve all been very excited the last two months in prepartion of bringing these amazing stories. We would like to thanks Bluejuice for finding us and giving us the oppotunity of a lifetime! We never dreamed that a small time magazine like us would be interviewing you! Also thankyou to Katie Noonan for taking the time to talk to us - it’s not every day we get to talk to one of Australia’s most talented voices. 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

contents Noonan’ 4 ‘Katie Liana Turner

8 ‘Flux’ Photographu by Bronte Cutcher

20 ‘BLUEJUICE’ Liana Turner with Mikey 33 ‘Hide’n’Seek XXI’ Ruth Dunn Carmichael’ 52 ‘Stephen Liana Turner

Designs’ 60 ‘Nzkat Art and fashion by Natasha Zraikat

Hallen’ 62 ‘Kate Liana Turner

katie noonan liana t urner 4

Katie Noonan holds a striking presence within the Australian music scene – it’s impossible to deny. Involved in an array of musical projects, Noonan has, over the years, developed an impressive repertoire and a passionate following with her remarkable vocals. Widely recognised is her trio Elixir, in which Noonan is accompanied by her husband, Zac Hurren and Melbourne-based guitarist, Stephen Magnusson. Elixir’s self-titled debut album, released in 2003, was met with a great level of appreciation for the trio’s truly refined musical abilities. While Noonan is quite evidently the most prominent public face of the trio, their abilities of all three members are considered to be on-par. Magnusson, who became the band’s new guitarist in 2005, is ““Arguably the best

jazz guitarist in the country,” says Noonan. After adopting him into their ranks, Noonan says “We could get to a deeper place of improvisation; it took us to a new exciting place.” Elixir released their second album, First Seed Ripening, in August 2011. Having debuted at number one on the ARIA charts, the album brought about a wave of success, claiming the 2011 ARIA Award in Jazz. Elixir have since toured with the new album. “We had an amazing huge national tour with this album,” says Noonan. “We’ve been very lucky with the response of the audiences coming to our gigs. The ARIAS was a nice bonus after making the record – especially because it’s peer-based.” First Seed Ripening is deeply inspired by the work

of Australian poet Thomas Shapcott, exploring “The gentle intimacy of his themes – those of lovers, mother and child, friends, humans and nature,” says Noonan. “His themes were ones I could relate to, obviously as a mother in particular.” There is a striking correlation between the intimacy of Shapcott’s themes and the nature of the band itself, says Noonan. This is also extended through the intimacy of their live performances, where audiences are drawn into the evocative, thoroughly emotive experience of their music. “We’re so lucky to perform to such a beautiful audience,” says Noonan.

says, “But I started to make that side project a priority about 18 months ago.” Having such a widely spaced lifespan, there was always potential for the passion of Elixir to diminish. There seems, however, to have been little struggle in maintaining the momentum and motivation of the band. “I keep myself busy with a multitude of projects,” says Noonan, “So the passion’s still there, and it remains fresh. My band mates are also incredibly inventive.” www.katienoonan.com www.facebook.com/katienoonan

Having worked on numerous musical groups over the years, where does Elixir fit on the scale for Noonan? “Elixir has been more of a side project that fits around other projects,” she

www.facebook.com/pages/Flux-Photography-Gold-Coast/196227720462951

bluej 20

juice

LIANA TURNER 21

Many of us have been through the stage of claiming a thrown-together band as our own. Nervous gigs at high school concerts, our hands clammy and our mothers overflowing with obligatory pride – few make it far beyond this point. Even fewer are those whose musical passions will pay the rent – let alone amount to anything remotely remarkable. For most, what was once a great dream, a burning desire, wanes gradually; it fades into the realm of distant memories. The very idea of such a thing, with time, becomes somewhat of a long-running joke. Sydney band Bluejuice have, amidst a world of brutal competitiveness, managed to make this dream a reality. I spoke to Jake Stone and Stavros Yiannoukas last month, while they were in Brisbane touring their second album: Company. The band, which claims to consist of both “ex-members of Sherbet and Taiwanese transgender runaways”, came together by

coincidence in a Sydney bar. Starting off with very little – in a material sense, anyway, the boys had no choice but to make the most of what they had. “We just had to cut through,” says Stone, “We had no support starting out. We were like, well, we have to a) have a sense of humour and b) well, it was kill or be killed pretty much – we didn’t have a choice.” “Also money, we had no money,” says Yiannoukas. Renowned for their confronting, far-fromcliché video clips, the band takes pride in the symbiotic relationship between the music they produce and the videos used alongside them. “We literally had like, a grand, and that’s so small as a budget that you can practically do nothing, but you know what, funny is free – sort of,” says Stone.

“The videos fit really well with what we’re doing; we all get together and write it together,” says Stone. “They cycle upon themselves,” says Yiannoukas. “It’s really hard to have a successful video without a successful song.” “We just try to think of things that are going to be good to watch. If you can say it in a sentence, if it’s got a hook – like a pop song,” says Stone. “It should be memorable. When we know we’ve got a strong song, we want a strong video to go with that song.” The band’s videos, which are largely accountable for their undeniable impact upon the Australian music scene, have been produced by their close friend, Sam Bennets, from the very beginning. From skydiving to granny-kissing, their videos are an undeniable contributor to their flamboyant image. “They’re usually a little funny, a little

liked doing it, we thought it was funny to do this ridiculous thing that was such a poor fit. There were so many serious bands around that were just so cool, and we were just so uncool, so over the top. It was funny for us to be this big wart on the face of the Sydney music scene.” “We’ve always been pretty eclectic-sounding as a band, probably because we couldn’t make our minds up,” says Yiannoukas. “It’s like we all were pulling in different directions all the time and most of the time we’re writing, it’s like the song is its own little world and that world has a number of references, like Act Yr Age is like the Style Council, Phoenix, Eurythmics, Elton John, those kind of things but in a modern context – trying to get the energy of those things and the upbeatness of those things, and the fact it’s arranged around the piano, and put

subversive – and of course at the same time trying to be original,” says Yiannoukas. “Sam really is the sixth member of this band,” says Stone. “He’s been making our videos since day one, and is one of our closest friends.” Their willingness to throw themselves into the public eye with little reservation has arguably been one of the Bluejuice’s most prominent, and lasting, characteristics over the years. Since the release of their single Vitriol in 2007, they have not looked back. Between airtime on triple j and their prominence on the Youtube community, they have unquestionably lasting impression on the Australian music scene. “We wouldn’t have lasted if Vitriol hadn’t happened,” says Stone. “Categorically this band would not exist had that song not hit radio in an appropriate way.” “It was a completely misfit band. There was no reason for us to exist except for the fact we

them into a modern danceable context with personal lyrics that’s a little bit down but sounds up. For me it’s often classic rock and pop influences, but trying to put them into a modern dance feel,” says Stone. The modern music industry’s fast pace puts a great deal of pressure on bands to adapt themselves to remain appealing throughout varying contexts. Many bands, in doing this, lose a great deal of their individuality and thus run the risk of becoming a part of a monotonous-sounding cloud of faceless bands. Have Bluejuice, however, been able to remain tru to themselves whilst adopting a more refined, yet still startlingly unique, image? “The production’s more sophisticated now,” says Stone. “Before, we didn’t know anything, we were just 20, 21 and didn’t know how to record music ourselves – didn’t understand

the process of working in a studio. You know, we were a live band, a performance band. For the first album we just did it ourselves and with a couple of producers, one of them was very technical and very good, the other one was sort of as entry level as us in a lot of ways. That worked and didn’t work in equal measure, but it’s not a cohesive album.” “With the second album, an American producer came out and did everything. We just played the songs, and it felt really hands off. We hated doing it like that. It wasn’t satisfying to have someone produce the songs that way. This time, I’d spent a lot of time trying to learn about those things – we’d all learnt about it in the process of recording and just doing it. We thought well, we’re just going to co-produce this and work with someone who’s a bit more collaborative – and try and make it what we want it to be, finally – make it an album that you can listen to at home as well as something you can go out to and see as a show. In that sense, it’s much more of a pop record, but that’s what we like. We couldn’t keep on making the same kind of scrappy music we were making the whole time, it’s just impossible, you know. We don’t listen to that stuff anymore and we wanted to make it a sophisticated listen.” “I feel like with Company, we’re a band that knows what it is now, whereas the first two records – it was exciting. I mean, the first record’s exciting because it’s just so haphazard, it’s really bold and confronting songs are either really energetic, exciting, loose and interesting, or shit.” “Same as the ‘no money’ thing. It was a band with a lot less, and a lot less idea,” says Yiannoukas. “But a lot less to lose, in a way,” says Stone, “And not giving a fuck, just doing whatever the fuck we wanted – but it seemed like it had energy. Whereas the second record is like trying to write songs, and failing mostly but getting a couple of good ones in there. I think Company is a good mix of both those

ideas, with more consistent song writing. I just wanted to make the song writing consistent. It really had to be.” “Once you get past 21, and you get into your mid-twenties, you want to actually do something that’s quality as well, you actually want to be more in control of what you’re doing. Of course you continue to love it – we’re not sitting around hating this job. If it wasn’t something we enjoyed, we wouldn’t be doing it. I arguably say we like it more now than we did to begin with, because we don’t fight as much.” The extent to which the music industry, on a global level, can be shaped by commercial influences is undeniable. Bluejuice, as a refreshing change, revitalises the idea that yes while money is, in fact, an important part of life (big news there!), talent and passion as a driving force for music are far from dead.

other band is. I think that’s really actually the audience growing through a certain stage of knowing us. But of course, like any marriage or whatever, so long as you’re staying together and you’re serious about it, the relationship between players doesn’t get more shallow, it gets a lot deeper to be honest.” “That’s why I genuinely believe that the music is just better now. It might not have the insane highs and the insane troughs that it used to. We used to have amazing and shit and there was no in-between. Now it’s professional and consistent most of the time. But that’s what we’re driving for. It’s not just carnage. If you’re a band that doesn’t do that, you either disappear or you get poorly reviewed. It’s very hard to be a band that stays together with that original intensity and makes a success out of it – because you’re getting older, your values and interests are changing. It’s not

“I think it’s inaccurate to say that at this stage we’re doing it for commercial reasons,” says Stone. “That’s not the case. Of course we want to get our songs on radio, but – I’ll be honest with you – I always wanted to do that. There was never a question of whether or not I wanted to write singles. I always have, and always will want to write radio singles, that’s the culture I come from and I’m always trying to do that. I’m not concerned about whether or not anyone think that’s “selling out”, I don’t give a fuck.” “ The reality is, I like radio songs, radio songs drive audience, radio songs make me feel good as an audience member – and for a pop band, radio songs are your best songs. They wouldn’t put it out as a single if it wasn’t the best approximation of that band.” “In terms of the current record being a more cynical attempt, or whatever, it’s just not. We’re just trying to make a record, like any

feasible, the only way to really survive is to go through this progression, trying to get more stable and get your basic craft and skills down. People who don’t do that don’t last in this business.” Starting out, Bluejuice stood out in an enchantingly-sore-thumb kind of way, amidst the overtly serious indie crowd that dominated much of Sydney’s music scene. Was it difficult for the band to deal with the level of critique received? Or rather, was the whole idea of musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously an invigorating change? “It’s the same as it ever was,” says Stone “People are still pretentious, young bands are still pretentious. Bands in general, especially in the indie scene, are still taking themselves very seriously, and people will still want an antidote to that. This band is still providing

that – and hopefully there’s other bands out there who have a mind to do that…but I love pretentious indie-rock. I mean, if you can pull it off, anything’s good. If you’ve got a sense of style and take the writing seriously, then I’m happy to see it but there’s a lot of people trying to do that, and not doing it well and it’s all a bit boring if you’re just staring at your shoes, and you’re wearing a nice shirt but you’re playing shit songs. I consider it a fraud, like you should work as a stylist, not in a band.” Aside from a strapping ability – and willingness – to find humour in practically any situation, Bluejuice’s vivacious live shows emanate an eagerness to connect with the audience in a way that’s not only humorous, but relatable – and well, simply human. Whereas so many bands readily adopt an aura of super-humanness whilst on stage, they’re not afraid to put themselves out there, actively striving for engagement. They do, however, understand that this isn’t every band’s style, for good reason. “It’s up to the band’s vibe,” says Stone. “If you’re The Strokes, you’re not going to try that hard to involve the audience because you’re very cool, but your songs are so fucking amazing and you’re such incredible musicians, - so you don’t have to try. For us, we were never that good. The battle’s won where the battles fought. We didn’t fight battles on that scale or in those areas. We weren’t great song writers to begin with at all, so what we had was this slightly comedic, overly energetic, sometimes very unpredictable stage show. That’s what we do. “That doesn’t mean we don’t like bands that do the opposite. I respect anyone who’s doing something excellent, it doesn’t matter what it is. I’m just as happy to go see a Bill Murray film directed by Wes Anderson or Anchorman, to me it’s all the same level. To me, anyone who thinks a great comedy is worth less than a drama is an idiot and isn’t looking hard enough at the form. They are not intelligent enough to see that these things are all valuable in the same way. You need all this

shit in your life. You need to laugh, you need to cry. Why is one thing worth less than the other? In fact, if you look at it, you probably want to laugh more than you want to cry – it’s just that you do need both and I don’t know why people value this self-seriousness in a critical way so much more than they do a light touch. It takes a deft musician and a deft songwriter to write a song with a light touch. It’s not easy to write something that sounds carefree or casual. It’s tricky, there has to be a lot of moments when you’re not taking yourself seriously – and that’s hard for people who are creating something that’s personal – you tend to take your own emotions very seriously. It’s hard to get out of that headspace and treat it casually.”

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 Mikey XXI, 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

HIDE ‘N ‘SEEK WITH

MIKE Y XXI

RUTH DUNN

Mikey is a prominent aerosol artist who has been painting the streets of Brisbane for 21 years. His roots lie in graffiti and hip hop and his art reflects his passion for these cultures. I caught up with Mikey to chat about his art, experiences, and graffiti culture. Would you call yourself a street artist or a graffiti artist? I call myself an aerosol artist because it’s the medium I use. I’m an artist with a graffiti style, that’s my background. Graffiti and street art are slightly different even though they share the same medium sometimes. You’ know, in graffiti and street art you’ve got the posters, the stickers, and the stencils, and even though I might do that sometimes, the base of my work is just straight aerosol style. I use a lot of lettering and a lot of characters from that New York generation of art that came up and influenced it first. Where did the xxi come from in your name? I go by the name Mikey xxi, which is like Mikey 21. The xxi comes from an older graffiti tag I had which sort of became a tag I rapped under as well. So a lot of people got to know me by that number. It’s from the 21st Century, and I started using it back when I was 15 because the 21st Century was coming up. Some people have a name, so I thought I’d have a number. It’s part of my history and

is the name that stuck with me. I changed it to Mikey xxi so the general public would understand the name more. When did you first become interested in graffiti style art? I guess ’86…like late ‘80s when Beat Street, and Style Wars and all those old movies came over from America, and other influences from America came over; like break dancing, and rapping, and DJ-ing and that sort of thing. So I got into tagging back then when I was a teenager and I was trying a few pieces… there wasn’t really a graffiti scene back then, there was just a couple of us and we were just sort of doing it not really knowing there would be a scene or a movement or anything bigger to come…we were just painting. What drew you to that kind of style? I came from a pretty bad home and I was out of home really early at 15 and that, and when I was at home I wasn’t allowed anything art; like drawing implements or anything. So I guess when I moved out of home and I had that freedom of my own I just took it further than the paper and there was ownership there with what I was doing...they couldn’t take that from me. So the ownership of it was what kept drawing me to it. So did you have an interest in art from a very young age? Yeh, I was always drawing but I didn’t really see art as a career, it was just an outlet, something I did. It was as more opportunities came up and I did more and more art and I got out there more with the public art that I realised that’s what I did and that’s what I did best and that’s what I should follow. What do you like about the spray can medium? It’s fast, it’s instant. It’s like Photoshop in real life, you can put it down and paint straight over it ‘cos it’s touch dry. It’s not contained within a frame, it’s big, there’s a lot of movement, you use your whole body to paint, you’re not just using your wrists to draw. I guess it’s the physical side of it too, like it’s an action, as well as the pride you get when it’s finished because it’s an accomplishment. But definitely the physical attributes of it. Have you worked much with other mediums?

Yeh, a little bit. Like in my private practice of doing canvases at home, it’s all mixed media; acrylics, gouache, oils. Whatever makes the mark, whatever puts the colour down you’ll use and work out how to use it. Hip Hop culture obviously has a strong influence in your work, what other things influence your work? There’s a lot of art theory and practice that comes out in my work. I paint because I love painting, I love the action of it, I love the accomplishment of it. But my biggest influence is just from art theory and practice and what I’ve learnt from looking at other artists. I know this is a really hard question but who would be some of your favourite artists? Some of my favourite artists are some of my closest friends. Like LUCKS, his style is so different to mine but we’ve grown up together painting so much that we’ve taken from each other, and even though our stuff looks very different there’s a lot of similar techniques and a lot of influence from each other. There’s overseas writers like Can 2, some of the original writers; Seen… You’ve got Australian writers like Mr. E. I’ll take influence as far as style and technique and sometimes just the way they go about things. When I started there weren’t that many aerosol artists to look up to and get influence from. But then again there’s many artists, poets, musicians, everything that I can take influence from as well. I couldn’t narrow it down, but I’d say my closest friends would be my biggest influence because that’s who I’m painting with the most. You mentioned art theory before, is that in a broad sense or… In a broad sense of art history; as in the masters to the expressionists…Just the exhibits we’ve seen through the years, the books we’ve read, from Michelangelo, Degas, Picasso, whoever it be. The ones who have done it before. That’s what I mean by art theory, trial and error, learning from their errors. Oh and comic books have been a big influence… Any favourite comic books?

Yeh Mad Magazine *laughs*. Mad Magazine has been a big influence in my characters. They’re just goofy. I’m not much of an angry artist. Some people are really good at drawing dragons, or demons, or skeletons, and they are really good artists, but I don’t see that kind of imagery in my head. I make music as well and my music is very dark while my art is very light, they’re the two contrasting sides of me. I’ve always tried to portray a very light side of me when I paint. Does each of your characters have their own personality? In a way, yeh. I’ve heard people say ‘there’s that character of yours again’, and I think well that’ not the same character, he’s wearing a different hat or he’s got different colour eyes or something. I think what makes the character is the expression. If you paint something with big eyes, big nose, big mouth, big chin, big forehead, it just looks like a normal face. I think if you paint something how it looks, or how it’s supposed to look, it kinda looks boring. But if you give it a big nose, or one big eye, or a big forehead or if you add character to it that’s what gives it personality, a bit of expression. I’ve studied a lot of expression and how to draw expression and I guess that’s what gives the characters their personality. Did you have a mentor type figure or someone who taught you the ropes and helped you in your practice? Yeh, I was lucky enough that when I got into aerosol there was a few more old-school artists there…it was very different to now where kids can just learn from Youtube, they’ve got specialised caps, and they are spoiled for choices of colours. But yeh there was a few older guys that took me under their wing and showed me the ropes. I was talking to ZKLR and he was saying that you were kind of a mentor to him in a way. Do you feel like you are a mentor to other artists? I feel like I like to encourage a lot of other artists. Like ZKLR, I highly rate his stuff, he’s been painting as long as I have, he’s been painting next to me the whole way. We’ve done a lot of commercial jobs together and I’ve always had him as…I guess my offsider. I don’t know if I’ve mentored him because I

see his artwork on the same level as mine, I’ve always just wanted it to be next to mine. So I guess I try to encourage him. The fact that he could see me as a mentor is nice, I like that. Is a huge part of the graffiti and street art scene about community and working together? It was…and in different places it is. Like in Brisbane it was and then the communication broke down when the council and government got rid of all the legal art places where we could go, and meet, and pass down the old codes, and talk, and educate the next ones coming up, and collaborate. When they got rid of all the legal spots nobody talks anymore…nobody’s meeting anymore. In Brisbane we are losing our culture, we’re losing our communication, we’re losing passing that on. In other places in Australia and Europe they are embracing it, it’s getting passed on, they’re talking, they’re meeting, they’re together. So the restrictions cause people to not want to get in trouble with the law and that makes the communication break down? Yeh. Okay, on that point you mention on your website that you started out on the wrong side of the law. Do you want to talk a bit about that? I put that out there for the general public to understand where I’m coming from…it’s sort of why I changed my tag to ‘Mikey’ too, so that they understood it as a name rather than a ‘what does that name mean?’ or ‘why are you writing that?’. I had other tags that I was known for growing up and ‘cos there was nowhere to paint I did it illegally. I got caught and I got punished pretty severely, served a bit of time, did a lot of community service, a lot of restitution. It put me back a lot…I couldn’t travel, I couldn’t do much for a few years because I had a lot of graffiti charges on me and then I thought well there’s gotta be a better way. That’s when I started asking people if I could paint their walls and they’d let me do it. I found the more I asked the more people would let me. Then some people wanted me to do what they wanted so it turned out to be like a job, and then I started getting work out of it. I found enough of it on that side that I was able to not worry about having to do it illegally…and as I was

getting older I was getting too old to run from the cops. Now I’ve got enough avenues to do it that way and set the example of trying to do it the right way. Did you have that example of doing it the right way at the start? There wasn’t an example set for doing it that way when I started because it was new, we were all new, there was only a few of us in Brisbane who were learning this thing. I guess we were the ones who were taking it from illegal to legal, like legal graffiti was never even heard of back then. I did start on the wrong side because there were no opportunities back then to do it on the right side, but I guess being caught for doing it the wrong way is what was the turning point for me to start doing it the right way and has opened up a new scene within a scene. Do you see a hierarchy in graffiti where some kinds are acceptable and others aren’t? Yeh. There’s personal taste and there’s also just offensive to be offensive. Sometimes you’ll get political graffiti, or socialist graffiti where they are really trying to protest and push a point…and I mean, it’s cool for them to have that medium to work with, but it’s not on the art side of it. Everyone’s got their opinions and putting your opinion on the wall means some people are going to get offended. I try to stay a little more public friendly in my work, not because I’m trying to do it for them, I’m still doing it for me. I’m just trying to be acceptable by more people being able to relate to it rather than segregating it off to certain people. So in terms of now, do artists have to go to people and ask them for work or are there more opportunities where people are coming to you guys? It depends where you work. When I started I was constantly knocking on doors, going around seeing people. Then once I got my name out there and it was word of mouth and that kind of thing, the jobs started coming to me. I got to the stage where I was working full time, I had employees, and I was working together with ZKLR and LUCKS. That’s what we did; we used spray cans every day and were able to pay our bills. Then our Council changed and they started taking

away the opportunities, they also backed down on legal writers because they say that we are encouraging illegal writers. They started painting over murals that I’d done for people, they started making it so that you needed two permit letters to get it done, they started shutting down a lot of jobs we were getting and making it hard to do the work. Even though we had permission they were personally trying to stop the legal side of it here in Brisbane. So I guess now I’ve gone a bit more private. We’d have a lot of government and public projects but now we are getting pushed to do more private yards, rumpus rooms, that kind of thing. That’s just in Brisbane, I recently moved to Melbourne where it’s a completely different story. In Melbourne they embrace and use it for tourism, people understand it’s a culture. So since I’ve gone down there it’s good to go back to that attitude where I was hungry, when I was trying to get out there before people knew my name. There’s a bit more of a drive down there to make it. Unlike here where I have to try so hard to get a wall, I’ve found it’s been a lot easier down there, so they seem to be rolling in a lot faster. When I was looking through your website you have two different styles. One is more of a ‘mural’ style, e.g. in the Australian bush/animal murals, and the other is your personal style drawing on graffiti and hip hop culture. How do you find painting in this more ‘mural style’? I’d say that’s where I can use my talents to pay my bills. People still enjoy the art and I still enjoy doing the art for them. If given the choice to really do what I want, I’d wanna write my name in big letters, do funky characters, you know; whatever excites me on the day. But if people are paying for it and it’s their space, I’m looking at it as more of a commercial artist. There’s the commercial artist and there’s the artist artist in me. It’s good to have an outlet and sometimes that outlet gets to be your job and that’s a bonus. I’d still come home and do my own thing as well though. Okay so you don’t find it frustrating doing the mural style? Nah, I think it all adds. I love a challenge, I love being versatile. I love people setting the scene because when they give me a theme I

have fun painting it anyway. The things I learn from doing it, like techniques and effects, I might take into my private practice as well, which I wouldn’t have learnt if I wasn’t given the challenge to do what someone else wanted. It can get frustrating when I’m just painting the same kind of thing over and over and I’m not given freedom of expression, but it’s a learning curve. You make canvases as well as painting on walls. Do you exhibit much? Yeh I’m always working on canvases at home. I do have exhibitions but I find with putting a lot of my art online my canvases are selling before I can even get them to an exhibition. Every now and then I’ll exhibit but I’m not painting towards exhibitions all the time, I’m just painting to be painting. When I have a big enough collection that I feel like exhibiting, if I haven’t moved them, then I’ll have an exhibit. I’ve had a few, like exhibits with ZKLR and LUCKS. How do you find the cross-over between street and gallery? I think the art gallery is needed for those people who need a safe environment to view it in. Whatever fear they’ve got to not be able to view your art in a natural environment, those people feel safer within the environment of confined walls and confined frames. It’s something they can take home and have their own personal piece without having to go into places they may fear. It gives the public a safe place where they can see your art and it also gives you a place where you can meet them without the intimidation or the stigma of it all. Yeh, it’s a very different environment. Do you find it difficult making art for a different context? It’s just scaled down, so the implements get scaled down. I still use aerosol on the canvas, but unless that canvas is as big as a wall I’m a bit more confined, so that’s when I start using the brushes, the markers, and other stuff. It’s not imagery that’s different; it’s just the space that’s different. The confines of the canvas can become a challenge in itself. A lot of the time when I’m painting canvas it appears that what I’m painting on the canvas is meant to be a lot bigger than it is.

Have you done multiple canvases as the same work? Yeh, triptychs and that, I love doing a few and joining them together. Sometimes you’ll paint a big canvas made of many canvases and they’ll get separated and taken to different places and that’s even better. Obviously Brisbane has its challenges, but what’s something you’ve liked about working in Brisbane? It has its challenges but I think it still has its potential. I think the more you try and suppress something, the bigger the things that are going to come out of it. I’ve always liked the challenge...I’ve got a passion for my art and a passion for this movement in general because I think graffiti is more than an artform, it’s an art movement. I think they need to recognise it as a movement, and they’ve gotta recognise it as a movement of many styles and artforms within it, not just one art style or artform. I grew up here and I’ve got so many friends here, and I guess my heart’s in Brisbane so I want to see it become like other places. I want to see it successful in the graffiti culture here and not have the culture disappear. I like the energy that Brisbane has because Brisbane artists are very suppressed…it’s harder for them to make it here so they try harder, and I love that energy. So obviously you have been around in Brisbane a fair while… Since I picked up my spray can and did my first piece I’ve been painting in Brisbane for 21 years…coincidently enough. I’ve been painting 15 years commercially. So I have definitely seen Brisbane change. What do you think it’s transforming towards at the moment? It’s really hard to work out Brisbane’s next move because you’ve got such a great underground scene but as far as the public art goes…the filtering process needs to be looked at. It’ll just be interesting to watch whether we’ll lose that culture in Brisbane or whether we are going to get some really great things to come out of that. What do you think needs to change in order for something great to happen? I guess separation of what it is they are actually fighting against. I understand that

vandals and artists share the same medium, but not always the same mindset. A vandal will stay a vandal if he’s not shown the example of an artist. Whereas a vandal could become an artist, an artist isn’t going to become a vandal. I think by shutting down the culture and the art side of it, like the murals and public art spaces, it’s only encouraging the other side of it…it’s going to attract the mindset of people who aren’t really artists, just people who are angry. Whereas if they allowed more public art spaces that mindset of the criminal isn’t going to be as attracted to it because it’s not as tough to do, it’s more for artists and more artists are going to be attracted to it. Or people that did do it criminally might be more attracted to doing it the right way because there’s more of an example set. I think they need to allow more of the right example of how it’s done instead of painting over the good murals and then whingeing about the tags. I’m not defending the taggers and I’m not condemning the taggers because it’s all a part of the learning process, but I think they need to allow more public spaces so an example of what can be achieved is out there. What would you say to the up and coming graffiti and street artists out there that are struggling? Stay connected and don’t be divided by everything against us because if we are divided they win. Make sure our community grows stronger. What’s next on your adventure as an artist? More painting, more travelling, more happy living. Shout out to Brisbane graffiti and street artistsThere’s so many and almost too many to name…I’ll just name a few closies like LUCKS, ZKLR, Subway Suds, Diesel…There’s so many, there is too many to name and I wouldn’t want to offend anyone by not naming them so I’ve just dropped a few that I’ve been painting with recently. Can’t get enough of Mikey? To check out more go to www.artofmikey.com or http:// www.facebook.com/xxibrisbane.

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CA RM ICH A E L liana turner

Let’s face it, the music industry is enormous. Yes, that’s probably also the understatement of the century. Finding something unique, let alone inspiring, can be a bit of a struggle. It seems a bit ironic, in these days of social media. It should be easier to find great talent, when it’s all at our fingertips, right? The truth is, wading through the masses to find the true gems can prove difficult. Stephen Carmichael, aged 21, strikes out above it all as a startlingly unique musician and all-round creative. A vocalist, producer and multi-instrumentalist, currently in his fourth and final year of studying architecture at Queensland University of Technology, Carmichael has been interested and actively involved in the creative industries for some time now. “I think I was quite little when I started singing,” says Carmichael, “But when I was in grade eight I started taking it seriously.” Having written his first song in grade nine, Carmichael became heavily involved in music – making him well-equipped to begin playing gigs at the age of eighteen. “I think it’s always been something I want to do, but the last four or five years have been quite intense.”

A fervent enthusiasm and talent for music is quite often associated with a musical upbringing. How relevant is this to Carmichael’s own creative experiences? “No one’s musical in my family,” he says. “My mum’s quite artistic, and she’d take me to art classes when I was quite young – but I went to a very musically orientated school, so they really pushed that. They encouraged me to really explore myself, especially with art and music. I basically lived in the art room. I think it’s healthy for teenagers to learn to express themselves in different mediums.” It’s often typical of young aspiring musicians to undergo stages of variance in style and genre, in the attempt to define themselves musically. While Carmichael’s music may not have undergone an overtly dramatic change, he does recognise its occurrence. “It’s sort of developed as the years go by,” says Carmichael, “It’s always been based around my production style and I think that’s altered as well. I used to be quite poppy, more pop-oriented, especially a year ago when I produced Girl. It was quite mainstream, quite commercial, and now I’ve gone away from that a little bit, and my music’s a little bit more alternative – especially the stuff I’m working on now, which I haven’t released yet.” Carmichael has been known to cover a vast expanse of popular music, from MGMT to Gotye. Time and time again, musicians who play covers have been attached to a stigma of unoriginality and monotony. Carmichael’s covers, however, are unique and inspiring in the way he truly strives to take wellknown songs, and add something of himself – and a great deal of his individual creativity – to them. I guess when I do covers, I try to always do what I feel is best,” says Carmichael. “I always try to put my own interpretation, my own stamp, on the music. I do feel a little bit that a lot of artists just try and copy original artists too closely, but I think if you’re just starting out that’s also healthy to get your foot in the door, to get a grounding and to learn a bit, but I think as things move on it’s important to start to develop your own sound. I think the whole cover scene is good to progress, and to learn from other artists.” “The pop industry is really, really hard. It is possible for a band to do it without even worrying about covers, but I think it’s just a good way to connect

with people. It’s more about connection than trying to rip off other people. The pop industry is just very quick, with such a high turnover. I think triple J is changing things. They’re really pushing original content, and there’s a lot of venues in Brisbane, like X & Y or The Zoo, that are pushing for original things. There’s a lot of niche places pushing for original content.” Carmichael has earnestly taken advantage of many opportunities, such as Triple J unearthed. However, prospects such as this, while unimaginably useful in helping musicians to get their music out into the public domain, may also function as yet another way for emerging musicians to be drowned by the immense proportions of competition. “I think it gives them a platform,” says Carmichael, “But then once there’s a platform there’s a lot of artists wanting attention. I think it’s always difficult to stand out, but I guess it’s about who you know in the industry. I do like what Triple J stands for – just giving other artists a chance, because they have so much support for artists, and they’re one of the most mainstream radio stations with a lot of Australian content.” Carmichael’s dramatic combination of catchy vocals, pertinent lyrics and electronic soundscapes are far from bland, with a nod towards a variety of inspirations. “I’m highly inspired by David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, I always draw inspiration from them,” he says. “The themes are usually quite dark, and I try to incorporate that with an alternative electronic commercial sound. Also I think architecture pops into my films, with how I go about the project and the ideologies behind the concepts. I think architecture also draws from other creative industries, like fashion, film, they’re all sort of mixed together because I think once you get into the creative industries, everything’s combined into this supernova of creative essence. For example, fashion architecture; I’m really inspired by some architects turned fashion designers.” Carmichael released his most recent single, Falling For You, on 28th March. The preparation for this entailed so much more than simply musical expertise; he went so far as to hand-print his own merchandise for the launch. “I wanted to do something different, instead of just getting T shirts printed, for the release

of Falling For You,” he says, “So I just explored what I could do, and remembered doing a lino-block print on a T-shirt in high school. I literally spent ten hours carving out a mask; it took me a couple of days to get the print right. I think I printed about 30 T-shirts, but it took a lot of time, a lot of effort. If someone’s going to spend money to buy my merchandise, I prefer to have something that’s really personal. It’s like my music, even with the films I do, I’m heavily involved with every inch of the process, and that’s my perfectionist side coming out, I just want to craft everything I do to perfection, as much as I can – without being a control freak. I’d definitely buy a T-shirt if someone had hand-printed it; it’s more like an art piece.” “I just want to try my hardest to be the best I can be and I want to make sure that I make things that people will remember.” www.stephencarmichael.com www.facebook.com/musicarmichael

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Kate Hallen, 19, is in her second year of Fine Arts at Southern Cross University, Lismore. An avid drawer, painter, digital imagist and all-round creative, she has deeply passionate, and truly positive hopes for the future. When did you first decide that making stunning pictures was what you wanted to do? Did you grow up around artistic people? Over the years, who have you viewed as your most inspirational figures? I’m sure if I had it my way I would have spent the first nine months of my pre-life with a note pad and pen (Do they even make note-pads or pens that small?) but that would honestly be awkward for everyone… how did she end up with that pen? In all truths I cannot recall the pivotal moment within my life when I decided that I wanted to create worlds and get lost in my own imaginings and headspace, but I can safely say that, like most artists, it was at a young age. I was lucky enough to grow up around some very artistically minded teachers in primary and high school, as most of my family was quite the opposite. My Mother and Father were in the military, my Grandfather a stubborn farmer, Grandma did a lot of quilting (That is very creative though, just not something I was interested in) and the rest of my family members all had jobs like

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vets or farmers. However, I do know that if there was one family member I could pin down as my creative partner in crime, it was my Aunty Kathy. She was an absolute riot. I’d often be greeted with an Aunt splattered with paint in a white lab coat and enthusiasm I doubt anyone could match. I can remember walking into her garage and seeing her latest paintings… well, she usually had to scrape my chin off the floor. She was like that one kid that dared to colour outside the lines and make it look far more incredible than what was asked. I adored spending time with her as a child and as an adult. I can remember as a kid I never used to understand colour, and one afternoon we sat down and cracked open a brand new packet of crayolas that I was given, and we painstakingly laid out each one until it made a colour spectrum. From then on in, it all seemed to make sense. She certainly was an inspirational figure to me. Animated cartoons definitely played a big role in my desire to create. When the penny dropped that people actually drew and painted all of these things…with their HANDS I was absolutely motivated and started a 19-year love with the world of animation (It’s a love still going strong mind you). That is not to say, computer animation isn’t the same, but as a small child, to learn that all of this was drawn with paints and pencils made it sound like it was within my reach. I guess I have been lucky enough to grow up with a mad-crazy-wonderful Aunty in a time when hand-drawn animations flourished and a wild Kate appeared just in time to put it all together. In terms of inspiration, which artists have made the most lasting impacts on you and your work? I could probably list a plethora of artists who have inspired me in some small way or another. Michelle Dawson, Gerhard Richter, John Wolsely, Beth Cavener Stitcher, Kellie O’Dempsey, Antony Gormley, oh I

could really keep going. I’ll keep this one short. I think in terms of impact, most of the artists I have listed, I’ve mentioned because of techniques they use, and are visually exciting to me. I adore the way Richter paints, and I don’t necessarily mean photo-real either. The way he uses paint just sings to me, especially in his larger scale works where he is simply pushing the paint around. I adore Dawson’s animal works, especially her fantasy creatures. Wolsely for his map works and terrain works. I don’t work in 3D myself, but I can admire Stitcher’s sculptures; the surface on a lot of her works almost looks organic. The objects themselves are beautiful, and I guess, as someone who draws a lot of animals, I find myself interested in subject matter. I’m fairly new to Kellie’s works and practice of Performance Drawing, but the concept interests me thoroughly. I was shown Gormley in high school, but his works have been prevalent in my mind. His sculptural works and installations are very eye-catching, but I am definitely drawn to the freeness of his drawings. Even just being in the studio, surrounded by everyone else’s ways of painting or drawing all affect my own process in some small way. Tell me a bit about the different mediums you work with. Which do you find the most enjoyable or rewarding? Which of these are you most passionate about? Oh goodness. Okay. Paper, pencils, pens, felt-tips, ink, pastels, charcoal, dirt, rocks, sticks, water, sand, acrylics, oils, canvas, string, photography, print-making, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Wacom Intuos 3, 4, Corel Painter, Adobe Flash CS5. I’m probably forgetting dozens of other things, though I suppose that doesn’t really answer the question. Do I have to pick a favourite? I really don’t want to. I love all the mediums I work in, otherwise I wouldn’t be working in them!

At current, I am exploring oil paints, and let me tell you, it’s a two-tiered experience, especially if you are, like me, considerably new to painting. On one hand, they are for lack of a better word delicious to paint with (I’m starting to sound like my old art teacher now); the colours are noticeably different to acrylics in that they just seem more intense. I love moving the paint around the canvas with no goal in mind, some of the most interesting things can happen from ‘nothing’. They are wonderful for blending and if you make a mistake, you can just wipe it off because it is still wet. That’s the only problem; the drying time can sometimes be a burden, especially if you really want to add another layer immediately without it all turning to mud. That aside, oils have certainly won me over. Drawing is something I enjoy as well, and I don’t just mean painstakingly rendering something to be as life-like as possible. I adore playing around with inks and charcoal and pastel and seeing where it takes me; creating textures with inks and layering linework over them. Drawing in this way is really quite new to me, so I have a lot of exploring and playing to do. I guess art school has shown me a lot of new ways of drawing, and it is all really quite exciting. One of my other favored mediums has to be within the digital realm, using programs such as Photoshop or Painter with a graphics tablet. Whilst I adore the tactile nature of paints or drawings, the immediacy of painting something within Photoshop is exciting, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t use it at times within my painting to scribble up quick ideas. It was through painting in Photoshop that I piped up the courage to paint with actual paint, I mean, all you need to do is think in layers. I guess in terms of where I want to head career wise, I have been focusing a lot more on the digital aspects of art-making, but my practice and playing within studio drawing and painting has definitely informed my digital process.

Thinking thematically, what are the most prevalent ideas throughout your work? Are there any particularly strong recurring ideas? How do you explore these in a way that’s unique and exciting? I’m not going to lie; I create a lot of things relevant to myself, but myself is certainly something I understand quite well. For the most part, I like to respond to things that have happened as a means of figuring them out, or dealing with them. I prefer to express things in a poetic manner, rather than having an unwanted thought float around in my head. If it’s a good feeling, I like to create an image with that particular emotion in mind as a lovely reminder that it’s not always going to be a bad run. Some of my more recent artworks have been responses to some pretty awful things that happened late last year as well as this year, and by responding to these I feel I can make sense of them and let them go. Landscape, terrain and the map are one thing I enjoy exploring within my art making. When I think of terrain, I like to break it down to its simplest forms; sights, smells, sounds, touch, texture. We humans are tactile creatures and we use these senses to understand the world around us. I get a kick out of recalling these aspects in my drawing, rather than drawing a literal landscape or trying to add in every little visual detail, otherwise I might as well just take a photograph. As a child I adored maps, and I can recall many evenings where I would race home from school, tear up some butchers paper and draw a treasure map; palm trees and all. I’d ask mum to burn the edges for its added authenticity and then set off into the backyard getting lost in my imaginings. When I was older I started to learn about contours and how they translated into the height and dimensions of the actual landscape. I can look at a map now and I marvel at the thousands of lines that create

the terrain and think back to that small Kate and her wonderful backyard adventures. To me, this sort of subject matter holds a special place in my heart. When I’m drawing terrain, I like to add elements of a map and play around with the lines, no matter how cute or detailed they may be. I have actually noticed a lot more now that a lot of my subject matter within the digital realm is distanced from my drawings or paintings. I think that comes down to the tactile nature of the mediums. I’m slowly breaking the barrier I seem to have set myself, but I honestly don’t mind it that much. It’s nice to have a separate mindset and it’s incredibly refreshing when I’ve had a stressful day in the studio and I can come home and almost switch off the studio brain entirely. Within my digital practice, I think more in terms of concept art and illustration, creating concepts for some creature or character and then drawing them in a situation to see how they would react. I’m actually a concept artist for an upcoming online game called Antilia, and working on this has been a lot of fun. It’s within my digital art that I have certain characters in place of myself and I often draw them in scenarios I find myself in, or have them feel something I feel. To me, it’s an interesting means of self-expression; I know that character is me, but the audience doesn’t always know that. Within the realm of digital art, a lot of possibilities for collaboration can open up. I do draw a lot of deer in this medium. Sometimes a lot of human-faced deer. This is a response to an online game The Endless Forest. The beauty of this game is that it has no goals, no plot and no means of talking to each other, other than through actions your little deer can carry out. Essentially, you are driving this little human faced deer around, and people from all over the world can interact with you in the same way, and you really do not have much of an idea as to who is who. I see this game as an excellent stimulus because of its ambiguity; I can create stories and scenarios

and images surrounding these little creatures, and other players and friends can do the same. It is a wonderful collaborative experience. I guess I have roots to my childhood in this way too, creating stories and images from my imagination. I guess you could say childhood, childlike, imagination are certainly my most frequented themes. How do you feel about the situation of art culture in Australia at the moment? Do you feel the arts are supported to a sufficient extent in the your area, compared to other areas? I’m not to chuffed with it, at least within the Northern Rivers area. A lot of galleries in the region are closing, and our own Lismore Regional Gallery is shut on a Sunday, which is usually the one free day for a lot of art students. There is certainly a lack of support within this area, and for a region stocked to the eyeballs with creative folk, it certainly is a real downer. Our university’s own next art gallery was closed down from the town of Lismore, which, I believe, rendered us the only art school in Australia to not have its own gallery. To my understanding, we are getting a gallery space in our actual school block, but to have it there, out of the way of the entire university and the town of Lismore itself really does remove our presence within the area. I really do feel a little bit forgotten. In terms art culture in Australia itself, I do see it as an emerging presence, and when brilliant publications like this are about to promote it, I do feel good about the whole situation. I feel good on where it is going. Being a professional artist is so often attached to a less-than-positive stigma of a lack of money and a struggle to find enough work. How well do you think this

represents the true situation for many artists today? Do you feel the passion and drive behind your work outweighs that negative aspect, or are you left feeling a little bit uncertain at times? How accurate do you believe this situation to be in terms of your specific personal goals? I think it is fairly close to the truth. I do hear tales of other artist friends who are trying to scrape by with little money, and I have seen it happen in other instances. I am honestly lucky enough to have a supporting family as well as a job to get me through university. I feel I cannot speak from experience, as I am not really out there as a practicing artist, relying entirely on whether my artwork sells or not, because at this stage I am only really a student. I have never sold an artwork before and the most money I have made has been off the odd little digital commission I have done, so at times I do worry. But I guess it’s normal to worry, I mean, I’m contemplating my future here. I honestly try not to think about it too much at the moment, as I have other things to think about. I do know where I want to go, I have a goal and I am certainly going to get there. I don’t really know what the financial pressures are going to be like, but at this point in time I shouldn’t worry about it because they are not actually there yet. I am enjoying my creative journey and I don’t want to let stresses drive me from it. I’ll take each day as it comes. Speaking of goals, tell me a bit about what those are. Where would you like to end up? At this point in time I know I want to head towards animation. Of all the things I have wanted to be, nothing has been more prominent than this. I would have loved to move from high-school straight to studying animation but my HSC marks did let me down, which was very disheartening. Thankfully, because Southern Cross was

portfolio-based, I had more of a chance to get in. I also feel that, at the time, I was very, very scared. If I moved to Lismore I would be close to a lot of my family and I was assured a place to live with my Aunty Kath. I feel because of my fear, I didn’t really look into other options such as going to a tech college and then going on to further studies. If I could have those three years back, I may have done things differently. I had lots of security with my Lismore option. To a shy, fresh out of highschool student to even consider moving to Brisbane, a big city with no family close by scared me a great deal and I admire all of my friends who made that big leap anyway. My plan at current is to finish my Bachelor of Visual Arts here at Lismore. If anything, it has taught me a lot, I have met some incredible people, I have matured a great deal and I certainly feel comfortable with the idea of moving to a bigger city where animation is offered as a study option now. At this point it would be hard to say what job I would want in the animation field exactly as I honestly do not know enough about it. I know that if I studied it in depth, what path to take would probably reveal itself to me. I know it is a competitive industry but I am certainly eager to learn more about it. Here’s to the future! What advice would you give young aspiring artists? Jump right in. Honestly and truly, just go for it. Art school has been a wonderful eyeopener for me. Previous notions of making artwork have been utterly shattered, all in a good ways though. If you are open to it, you can be exposed to so many different ways of making other than what you have. Sure, you may like the way you make artwork, but you can always go back to it! You should make the most of your time there, I mean, is your house stocked to the eyeballs with darkrooms and kilns and printing presses? (If it is, I think we should

be friends.) If you are paying so much money to be here, make every cent of it count. The company you keep is certainly a bonus. A room filled with like-minded creative-heads? Yes please.

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