ons i t i b i h Ex iew by Rev
JENNIFER O’ROURKE
INTERVIEWED ARTISTS
JO LANE JOHAN MARAIS PIPER
15FAME
minutes of
ISSUE VIII MAY & JUN 2011
SIXTOEIGHT
Jo Lane
Jennifer O’Rourke 15 Minutes of Fame
Exhibitions Review
SIXTOEIGHT
Johan Marais Piper
MAY & JUN 2011
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a moment with
Jo Lane
Jo Lane has been drawing since her school days, and she has always loved the
natural world and its inherent beauty. She worked for many years in creative industries and now devotes more time to the love of her life, drawing and painting. Studying briefly in Venice this year at The Internationale Sommerakademie, and having undertaken various short courses in Melbourne at B.A.S.M. she has learnt structural principals but is largely self taught.
Specialising in watercolour and graphite in the traditional genre of drawing, her work has been purchased and published since 2004 having exhibited only once before in Melbourne in 2006. Jo Lane
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Jo Lane - Feather Sentence 3
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Q
Q How do you describe your childhood ?
Happy but largely alone at home as I am the youngest, by a long way, of 5.
A
Q
Q What have you learn in Venice? Do you enjoy it there?
Tell us more about your art...
I love form and light - but yes nature constantly inspires me when I draw this is what I like but when I paint it is still life, landscapes, human moments and faces that I want to paint. I think that reality is so amazing - I am not compelled to paint anything else. Yet within the canvas I think the spacial design and form can be infinite. In this way the art expresses how I see and feel the world.
Jo Lane
I LOVED Venice! You are immersed in art - everywhere you look. Art is just part of life and celebrated as such, feel so at home with this as a life priority. I had an incredible teacher at the Academy and learnt more about allowing yourself to create this being your own personal expression - in this way art can't be judged - it is your and no one else's way of saying something.
A
Q What inspires you to explore and create drawings of 'feathers'?
We heard that you've finally completed your series of 'The Feather' exhibition, what subject will you choose on your next project?
Feathers are powerful yet fragile and flexible – such tiny particles of fibre – each with a perfect purpose. Seeing them singly makes you look at the wonder of the transience & potential of life and I find such beauty in each and every one, no matter how large or small, dramatic or plain. They are formed by the outermost layer of skin. They are made of the protein keratin, the same substance that forms claws, hair, nails and scales. Keratin of feathers has its own chemical composition. Every little stroke in these pictures is homage to the millennia of evolution and design – to not draw or paint a piece of detail is to ignore the wonder. Just when I think I have had enough of feathers I see another one that blows me away and I have to draw it. I can’t stop - I can’t help go into the detail, they deserve it, the intricacy is astounding.
A
Oil and landscapes plus some still life. The next project is all about light.
A
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Jo Lane - Lyrebird Tail Feather
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Jo Lane - Black Cockatoo Feathers
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Q
Q What is the biggest challenge of being an artist these days?
Learning to keep precious, the space that allows the eruption of design and expression. There is so much noise in our lives to deal with - not judging that as bad - because there are human relations to maintain, food to be prepared, currency to be earned etc etc - but 'seeking' out the space to exist and express at the same time is hard!
Five words to describe yourself...
What are your upcoming plans for your artist career?
1. Compelled 2. Kind 3. Observant 4. Dedicated 5. Varied
I am joining with some others to cross fertilise. Plus, getting out to capture the landscape. Pushing myself to see where I go - it's always a surprise.
Jo Lane
JO LANE If you had to choose a cocktail to represent your art, what would that be and why?
One I am just making up now Absinthe and fizzy water! A bit of mind alteration combined with some exciting water so you don't go too far off into space.
‘THE FEATHER’ EXHIBITION Brunswick Street Gallery 322 Brunswick Street Fitzroy Now showing till May 14 by Jo Lane
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Jo Lane - Feather Sentence 1
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Jo Lane - Feather Sentence 2
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It all began in spontaneous agreement between Visual Artists Fleur MacDonald and James P Gilmour while they were at Tim Olsen Gallery in June 2009. They agreed there was room for a blog to cover openings without the art speak and 209 posts later they are still going strong... They try not to review BUT they do have opinions... Fleur
s ame
J
So far this year is packing a serious punch, we’ve seen some amazing work by some amazing artists... And there was ‘Art Month’, a chance for everyone to shine!!!
W NE ! R R OU MBE
ME
landsca
pe pain ter
Bernade
& art t eacher
tte Tre la
>>
James P Gilmour is a Sydney based artist making artists books, watercolours, encaustic paintings and plotting large scale projects that sometimes get off the ground... His work is in many collections including Monash University, Mitchell Library, British Art Library, Fremantle City Council and the Art Gallery of NSW (just to name a few). He's been hung in the Archibald and the Wynne and at one point had paintings on every continent in the world, including Antarctica..
Fleur MacDonald has been exhibiting since 1985 with 11 Solos and over 50 Group shows under her belt, has work in private and commercial collections all over the world... Hung in the Gallipoli Art Prize, (3 times), Mosman Art Prize, BBC and the Churchie Emerging Art Award... Working mainly in oils as a landscape painter, her last show in August 2010 was of objects in Gouache... A passionate art collector and considers herself to be an Ambassador to the Arts...
www.sixtoeight.net Sixtoeight
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Narin Scott @ James Doraphy Project
Hard Sleeper at Damien Minton Gallery was a truly fantastic show...
We loved it!!! Many great works, and beautifully curated by Catherine Croll in which artists Frances Belle Parke, Peter Gardiner, PhilJames, Guy Maestri, China De La Vega were followed to China by Art critic John McDonald and the rest is history!!!
Next up with the annual National Art School Award Exhibition at Australian Galleries-Glenmore Road, a collection of beautiful works on paper by artists Robyn Frances, Diane Hamilton, Kate Riley and Sophie Wolfson Keeling... We couldn’t make it to the opening so we asked if we could do a silent sweep of Nairn Scott at James Dorahy Project Space, Nairn reintroduced us to the old fashioned ‘doily’ and offered it a new lease of life which was spectacular!!! With 1 brilliant show after another how do we keep up, Anna Kristensen at Gallery 9 gave us a painted glimpse of the inside of the Jenolan Caves with her fantastic installation piece ‘Indian Chamber’, we were completely gobsmacked and luckily for us we managed to slip into the gallery before the show opened to film it in it’s entirety...
Sixtoeight
@ Damien Minton Gallery
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A tv favourite in Peter Berner at Gallery@28 showed us an insight into his ‘Self Portrait’, these works were personal, intimate, funny and sad and we loved them all!!!
@ Gallery @28
Off to Guy Maestri at Tim Olsen Gallery for a broad slather of oils slashed across large canvas’s of linen, these landscapes are so confident and bold in their directness, deconstructed forms with strong and assured painting. Winner of the Archibald and a most technically gifted Painter... Gabrielle Courtenay at the Danks Street Depot 11 Gallery, these works were great, with a definite surreal edge... Although void of bright colours, the grey hues seem to reflect a certain depth which gave them a narrative of ever changing colours... The Gaffa Gallery was throbbing, as part of ArtMonth celebrations and what an interesting Gallery this is... Euduardo Woolfe-Alegria first Solo draws on his inspiration for a body of work that deals with notions of self-awakening and liberation, as each work produces both a personal and universal narrative, playing on themes of intimacy and interconnectedness...
Sixtoeight
@ Charles Hewitt Gallery
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Robert Hirschmann at King Street Gallery on William was creating a new beginning for himself... Delving into his past, resurrecting his persona, striping away the layers of his personality to reveal a deep soul within... Tackling his bare roots as to say!!! And also gave our Fleur a chance to share her writing style and review this show for the ArtMonth blog... Wendy Harmer opened the ‘The Imagined Life by Wendy Sharpe’ at the S.H. Ervin Gallery and talked about the ‘Wonderful World of Wendy’s’, the connection all Wendy’s share in having the same name!!!
rougher shade!!! Welcome Back Tight at TIGHT projects with a welcome return of a beautiful intimate space inside a bookshop. Marisa Pucell, Fleur MacDonald, Eric Ng, Melita Oram, Matthew Allen, Douglas McCloskey, Julie Burke, Sophie Holvast, Anna Fraser, Maria Gorton offered up a sheer delight... And last but not least, the first Solo show by young artist Declan O’Doherty at MILLS Gallery is both strong and intelligent, he has a lot to offer and we can see a bright future ahead for him...<<
Kieran McInnes can obviously give some of our better known landscape painters a definite run for their money with her Masters show at the COFAspace. These landscapes were beautiful, from tight references to flat landscapes and picturesque cloudscapes to a much looser approach to our vivid landscape... A founding member of the Yellow House, Dick Weight’s show at Charles Hewitt Gallery was Art on a stick, we couldn’t get over just how Australian they really were and could feel the ground crackling under our feet and imagine the colour of the bush stripped back to a paler
Sixtoeight
@ TIGHT Projects
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a moment with
Q
Q
Q How do you describe your childhood ?
Have you alwa become an art were a kid? W like to dra
My childhood was a mixed experience, although for the most part it was fun and carefree. I grew up in Jakarta until I was 10 before moving to Sydney, it was a huge shock to me although I probably did not admit it at the time. Where in Jakarta I would play street games with my neighbourhood friends till late at night, in Sydney I found that I began to spend less time outside during the first few years, possibly a large part of that was due to the weather.. so cold in comparison to Indonesia. I don't think it made me any less social but maybe I learnt to enjoy my own company in a way. I found out that I was actually pretty fun to hang around with...
A
Johan Marais Piper
It's not career path I chose consciously, to some kind of art (be it doodling on s fun). I have always loved to draw thoug hours. As a kid I found myself drawing like some kind of childish replica of c comics though and so I never really p line, instead I'd draw them as if I pluck scene I imagined.
A
Q
Q
ays wanted to tist since you What did you aw most?
Tell us more about your art...
It is a recurring theme that my artworks tend to focus around the themes of the human body; both in its limitations and extentions. I am curious as to what that means for the human identity. I have been interested in this duality Oilreally and landscapes plus of body and soul for some time now but never had noticed it insome my still life. The next project is all works until the last year or so. Most recently I have been considering ideas about light. an exhiof existing beyond the body in a digital realm and have just finished bition with a friend of mine, Jordan Stokes, at the Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown with this idea in mind. I work in video, digital illustrations and paint on canvas, though I don't try and limit the mediums in which I work. I have recently dabbled in resin casting and am excited about using that in my next show (hopefully in the second half of this year).
, however I always find myself reverting some paper or writing a short story for gh, I can lose myself in one drawing for characters or protagonists in a scene, comic characters. I wasn't hugely into placed these characters within a story ked them out of some awesome fight
A
A
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Johan Marais Piper - She’s Not A Toy
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Johan Marais Piper - The Fruit is an Indication of the Root
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Q
How long have you bee Could you tell us more
We've seen a lot of different characters from your illustrations, where did you get the inspirations from?
I guess these come from everyday experiences. Some of the more literal works, such as 'An Adlay's Ode' is a more literal representation of the type of people I have met in my life, however there are other characters which I feel are embodiments of my own fears and emotions. It is a way of me working through my thoughts and reservations definitely. I've noticed the most obvious sense of irony in that I love drawing bodies at its limits, usually depicting flesh, blood and guts in my artworks, while I personally can't spend an extended period in a hospital without feeling like I need to faint. My imagination gets the better of me and having an outlet such as illustrations and video allows me to have a release.
Johan Marais Piper
I studied at the College of Fine Arts, U 'Time Based Arts' in 2004. Despite the a great introduction to new media arts. video art for 4 or so years professiona would have liked). It is an interesting p tirely in the post modern era, so unlike tations as to what it should or could be. still a lot of scope for experimentation a of video art (think white gallery space playing repetitive/static imagery).
I am more inspired by beautiful works l immersive Johan Grimonprez's "dial H work of art.
en doing video art? about this practice?
What is the biggest challenge of being an artist these days?
UNSW and completed my degree doing ambiguous name, Time Based Arts was . So, I would say that I have been doing ally at least (though not as prolific as I practice to me in that it has existed enpainting it had no preconceived expec. Being a relatively new medium, there is and is flexible. I'm not so into dry pieces with a tiny television in the corner dis-
like Daniel Crooks' "Static No. 12" or the H-I-S-T-O-R-Y". I love losing myself in a
Personally I find that the hardest balancing act is that of motivation and reward. Sometimes I can find art making as being a completely selfish act, locking myself away from the world mentally for weeks on end. While the process of creating art is a rewarding one for me personally I cannot survive on this alone (at least not yet). I create art for the love of art, but somewhere along the line you have to be able to sustain the practice by way of making money from it somehow. Sometimes my motivation wanes because there are more pressing things to attend to before I can afford to really lose myself in the process again. There is an art to money, and for me it is a matter of marketing and being business wise about it all. The challenge for me is being professional about the profession and learning how to spruik louder
A
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Johan Marais Piper - An Adlay’s Ode
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Johan Marais Piper - A Handsome Man Never Smiles
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Johan Marais Piper - Hey Chip
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Johan Marais Piper - Loose Ends # 2
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Q
Q What are your upcoming plans for your artist career?
I have a couple of other exhibitions hopefully lined up for the second half of the year. One more illustration/paints based and the other leaning towards video art. Beyond 2011 I plan to market my art and illustration much better so that I can continue a steady flow of income and in return more exhibitions and art.
If there was a time machine where would you travel to? The past or the future?
Five words to describe yourself...
The past, I am too excited about making my future to want to know how it ends! Plus, to be a fly on the wall during my childhood... I would only be stalking myself, that's not creepy right?
1. Curious 2. Ambitious 3. Introverted 4. Caffeine-addicted 5. Seeker
Johan Marais Piper
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Johan Marais Piper - Gecko [Video]
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Johan Marais Piper - By God What Is Left
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Johan Marais Piper - Clumsy Hands Make A Clumsy Man
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Jennifer Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke
presents:
min
15 by
ns OF
FAME
Illustration: all rights reserved by Julia Goerke www.io-home.de
In 1968 Andy Warhol’s catalog exhibit read; ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’.This statement sparked a lot of questions, so Warhol amended his statement several times because he became bored being asked about it, as well as wanting to confuse interviewers. However, I believe his original statement, which was on exhibit at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm from February to March of 1968, is very much evident in modern day society.
you’re on a plane to Los Angeles to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show, and you’re signing a record deal with Jay Z.
I think we have almost reached the point where we all have had our claim to fame. I know I have. The back of my head appeared in a Dolly magazine many years ago. The fact I couldn’t possibly be identified as the person in the magazine, made not one bit of difference to me. I was one step closer to fame!
If we’re not on our computers, BlackBerrys, iPhones or iPads, we’re in line auditioning for the next reality TV show.
Blogging has become an epidemic! Everyone is rushing home these days to update their blogs. We have to tell everyone the intimate details of our lives and what we’re doing every second of the day via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
I have two questions, and the answer for both is probably yes, but I’ll ask the questions nonetheless. Are we all desperate to be famous? And has it become too easy to be famous?
But it didn’t stop there! Along with my friend Sarah, I appeared in the studio audience of ‘Australia’s Funniest Home Video’s’.This time Australia would be exposed to my face, I would finally be recognised.And that I was! My phone beeped twice, the night our episode aired, with text messages from friends saying that they had seen me on the telly. It didn’t quite add up to 15 minutes, but I had reached fame! With the ever changing, forever growing and dynamic evolution of technology, it doesn’t seem that hard to get noticed anymore. Nothing is shocking, surprising, unattainable or impossible in this day and age. All you really need to be on your way to your 15 minutes of fame is an Internet connection.
‘In the future,everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’
YouTube is a guarantee to instant fame. All you have to do is get your video on the ‘most viewed’ list and the next thing you know,
-Warhols
Jennifer O’Rourke - 15 Minutes of Fame
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Let me elaborate on these questions for you… Firstly, is it true? Are we all desperate for fame? Is that where this drive of modern technology has come from? Are we all yearning to be seen and heard? It’s fair to say that we all want attention from time to time, we all want to be noticed, and we all want to be appreciated and acknowledged for our talents. But we can’t all be famous. If we’re all famous, who’s putting out the bins? And my second question; has it become too easy to be famous? Are we advertising Fame? Every year we’re globally producing more singers, chefs, dancers, models, and fashion designers through shows such as ‘Australian Idol’, ‘MKR’, ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, ‘Australia’s Next Top Model’ and ‘Project Runway’. I do think it’s great that people are given the opportunity to break out into the industry of their dreams. But are we making it too easy for them? Whatever happened to working hard to get what you want out of life? And are we all turning into, as Lady Gaga would say, Fame Monsters? The word fame means: widespread reputation, especially of a favourable character; renown; public eminence: to seek fame as a <insert occupation of your desire here>. This meaning has sparked another question for me, what kind of fame is modern day society wanting to attain? Is it Paris Hilton fame? Which is fame for doing nothing. Or is it to be renown for something that we’re actually good at? Benjamin H.D. Buchloh suggests Warhol’s philosophy of art basically
Jennifer O’Rourke - 15 Minutes of Fame
stipulates that the ‘“hierarchy of subjects worthy to be represented will someday be abolished,” hence anybody, and therefore “everybody,” can be famous once that hierarchy dissipates, “in the future,” and by logical extension of that, “in the future, everybody will be famous,” and not merely those individuals worthy of fame’ In this formulation, Warhol’s quote has been taken to mean: “At the present, because there are so many channels by which an individual might attain fame, albeit not enduring fame, virtually anyone can become famous for a brief period of time.” So what is next for the world? We have reached that point where we are all going to get our 15 minutes of fame. What happens after that? What does the future hold for us post glory? Will our brush with fame make us unsatisfied by the average lives we currently lead? If you’re a one hit wonder and resume a normal life after your brief super stardom, what happens to you then? Will you forever wallow in your dried out fame? Will you spend your life trying to claim it back? Will everything else in your life appear mediocre compared to the glitz and glamour? If that prediction wasn’t enough, British artist Banksy made a sculpture of a TV that has, written on its screen, “In the future, everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes.” What did Banksy mean by this statement? Due to the advancement in technology, will we no longer have privacy? Will all our cards be out on the table? Will our lives turn into the set of Big Brother or Jim Carrey’s ‘Truman Show’? We already live in a world where calls
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and computer key strokes can be traced and monitored. Will we soon live in a world where we will not be entitled to anonymity? I don’t know the answers to all of these questions. I don’t know what the future holds. However, I do believe both Andy Warhol and Banksy were onto something. So if you want your 15 minutes of fame, the world provides many avenues for you to find it, and it’s only just beginning!! - Jennifer O’Rourke
Our New Writer: Jennifer O’Rouke Jennifer O’Rourke is an aspiring writer. She was born in England and migrated to Australia as a toddler in the late 80s. Whilst her primary school life was filled with reading novels and writing short stories, it wasn’t until three years ago that she realised her true passion was writing. Since then she has slowly, but surely, started to make this dream a reality. In view of this revelation, she has enrolled at University to study the art of writing. Her writing reflects what she loves and is passionate about. She loves travelling, photography, spontaneity, giving unto others, and witnessing the beauty that unfolds everyday. Once described as a ‘deep thinker’ by her Father, Jennifer has turned her thoughts into words, and hopes to inspire and enlighten anyone who reads them. Combined with her love of art, Jennifer has decided to put pen to paper and contribute her writing to this magazine.
Jennifer O’Rourke - 15 Minutes of Fame
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ISSUE VIII