November – Fremantle Biennali, messing around on boats, back to Geraldton

Most of November was taken over by the Fremantle Biennale. I wasn’t exhibiting this year (cough,cough Hey Tom!) but I was helping out my good friend, and fantastic Art guy Bennet Miller. His project was called Behavioural Ecologies and took over all of Freo with interventions and installations undertaken by a rotating cast of characters all dressed in red. This was probably the most enjoyable project I’ve ever been involved with!

I also went back toGeraldton with Betty for Trevor Richards show at Geraldton Regional Art Gallery. The work was fantastic and the show has been picked up by Art on the Move so it could be coming to a gallery near you soon!

October – Firstdraft show, Next Wave Intensive, Joondalup Invitation Art Award

October was excellent! I got to show my work at Firstdraft in Sydney, which was a bit of a dream come true for me tbh. Everyone there was/is and will continue to be amazing. I highly recommend apply to one of their open calls, their love and support is fantastic and you get to hang with a bunch of really nice folk, what’s not to love hey.

I also got to spend a week in Sydney for the second Next Wave intensive. We speed dated, we went to fancy events with fancy people and we hung out in parks/bars and talked about art, life and how we all try and make these two things work together.

Finally, I was selected for the Joondalup Invitation Art Prize and used my residency at Tje Fremantle Arts Centre to makes new, shapes canvas painting for the show. I didn’t win 😢 but I met some great people and got some really nice feedback on my work. I’ll definitely be giving it another shot next year.

January – Site vist for Next Wave, New Studio, shows incoming

Blasted off to Naarm for a quick hoop jumping mission at University of Melbourne for Next Wave festival. Weird as fuck, I’ve never flown anywhere for a meeting before and it made me feel a bit like a dirty business man. Should have packed the suit, that would have clinched the merger.

In more fun news I scored myself a sweet new studio space. It’s 50 square m of concrete freedom 10 minutes from home. Proper result.

Also shows. Big shows, small shows, group shows and solo shows all coming soon. Shiiiiiiiit.

December – Thanks DLGSCI!, Some Collages, Dwellingup fam time

Had some fantastic news this month, I was fortunate enough to to receive a 15+ grant from the DLGSC for my project dead ends and detours to be presented next year as part of Next Wave festival in Naarm!

I also spent some time working through a few ideas for collages, not sure 🤔 f they’ll lead to anything but they were fun to do.

Me and Betty also went down to Dwellingup for some recharge time in the forest!

September – Studio residency at FAC, Interview at Nyzistor Gallery and work for Push it, push it (real good) at Firstdraft

I’ve started a residency at FAC. Was in studio 1 for a bit but I got bumped down to studio 2, which is actually good because there’s a secret door in the floor that opens on an underground swimming pool. I’ve not had a proper studio since February so it’s really great to have a space in which to make work. So I did, make some work that is.

I was asked to make a work for Interview, a group show curated by Carla Adams at Nyistor Gallery. We were told to produce an expanded self-portrait, in any medium. I found some asphalt and draped some fake banana skins on them. Life is like a banana peel; it's slippery, melts away before your eyes and is often wasted.

My show at Firstdraft in Sydney is coming up pretty soon. I’ve made a two-channel video work called The struggle is real which I filmed where I grew up in Lancashire with the help of my partner Betty and my brother Randolph. I’m making some paintings on asphalt and an expanded asphalt drawing on wallpaper as well and plan on hosting a participatory performance on opening night.

Keeping on.

August – Project wildflower for Trevor Richards in Geraldton

This month I was lucky enough to work for the OG Trevor Richards on his Wildflower Project (codename: Project Wildflower) in Geraldton, a coastal city halway-ish between Perth and Broome. Myself, Trevor, Betty Richards, Max Richards, George Howlett and Claire Munro spent a month marking out and painting a meta-graphic that ran from Geraldton Regional Art Gallery all the way through the centre of town ending up at the promenade. All up it was approximately 1800 square metres of painting across walls, floors, pavements and roads on some very challenging surfaces. We did some real long days and worked super hard but it was all worth it as the work is amazing! Check out Trevor’s website for some more shots.

I didn’t get to do much of my own work this month but it’s nice to have a break and even nicer to work with such great people!

July – Casting my feet, photoshoot for Bennett Miller and a painting for Lions & Tigers

I’ve had an idea for a while about using my •cough• interestingly shaped feet to make a body of work. To that end I got myself some alginate and went to town. The results were pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. I made some plugs from hydrocal and then used some food grade silicone to make some moulds from the plugs. There’s a hint in there about what the final work will be but I don’t want to spoil the surprise so you’ll have to wait and see!

My good buddy and mentor Bennett Miller asked myself George Howlett, Alex Tandy and Bjoern Rainer Adamson to help him produce some promo images for his major project for the Fremantle Biennale in November. He dressed us all up in red dungarees, took us to a field behind his house, gave us some props (and beer) and told us to start mucking about. We had a fun afternoon and took about a billion photos!

This month I got a nice email from Gabrielle Scott asking me to produce a commission for a dardy new restaurant in Fremantle called Lions & Tigers. Of course I said yes! We all settled on a revamp of a work called Broken views I made for my show at Blankspace in 2017. When I dropped off the work I was happily surprised to find that my old mate Alia Glorie was the head chef! Fun times in Freo…

June - Video editing, starting a hip-hop project, model making and some news

I started to work properly on my Broadcast video for Next Wave festival this month and it’s looking fucking bananas. So a win. We filmed about an hours worth of footage of me banging on and I managed to edit it down to around two minutes. Nobody likes speeches.

I used to make a lot of music. It was a big part of my life for years but when I started making art I stopped playing. I’ve started again recently and I’ve given myself the goal of making a rap album coz I always wanted to be in the Wu-Tang. Let’s see how that goes hey.

I began to make some models for my Next Wave project. I can’t tell you much coz an embargo but it’s gonna be BIG!

Pat me on the back. I’ve been invited to produce a work for the Joondalup Prize. It’s the first art prize I’ve even been involved with and there’s 25k up for grabs! Obviously I’m not in it for the money but, you know, it would be nice.

May - Next Wave Artist lab, Mural Painting, Pivot journal launch and short movie making

I went back to Melbourne this month (no I’m not planning on moving there) for the first Artist lab for Next Wave festival. It was a pretty wild and interesting week. I got to meet all the other artists involved in the festival, meet the producers and festival staff and have a generally great time! It seems weird to be starting a work so far in advance, the festival is this time next year, but you do what you have to right! I also found out that I’m a Next Wave X artist which means I get to bring my work back to Perth for a show at PICA!

I was asked by Next Wave if I wanted to make a short film as the first in a series called Broadcast that they’re producing to showcase the artists for the festival. Of course I said yes, with the condition that we could use a green screen as I always wanted to be in a Space Movie and this seemed like a good opportunity to do something fucked up. Big thanks to Anita and Ella for being super patient with me and making this thing happen.

When I got back I was straight onto the tools painting a mural in Vic Park. A fun few days with a bunch of spray paint and some nice people, I was knackered though!

April - Exhibition opening, mural concepts and some news

Hostile Infrastructure is all done, wrapped, packed and ready for its next adventure. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but also the most rewarding. I met some great people in Melbourne and made some new friends so I’d call that a win. Now all I have to do is write my grant acquittal, is thanks for the cash City of Melbourne, couldn’t have done it without you.

I was asked to dust off my mural skills this month and come up with some concepts for a new painting on the side of a community centre in Vic Park. I’m not sure what I’ll be painting yet but I do know it’ll be big and I’ll be sleep deprived!

Big news — I’ve been accepted to exhibit with Firstdraft in Sydney in October! I’ll be showing a brand new video work, a small painting and creating an installation. The show will be called Push it, push it (real good) coz who doesn’t like a bit of 90’s boom-bap mixed in with their conceptual art.

Going back to Melbourne next week for the first Next Wave intensive, I’ve no idea what to expect but I’m very excited. Watch this space!

March – Hostile Infrastructure, Interviews, more applications and an illustration for North Street Store

March was all about Hostile Infrastructure at Testing Grounds. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been working on this project on and off for about 6 months and now it’s actually done. I flew into Melbourne a day before beginning the build and then it was all go for the next 2 weeks. The first day there I watched 140 first year, interior design students from RMIT put up the frame work that was going to become my installation. I then painted all the panels for the walls at Success studios in Brunswick, which happened to be a home away from home as there were a number of artists I knew from Perth renting studios there. Next myself Max Richards and Joe Norster clad the structure, then I painted the outside with a bunch of willing assistants (big thanks to Allesandri, Liv, Shannon, James, Arie and Betty). After all the painting was done my excellent lighting sponsors from ARUP and Light Project came down to drop off the lights and talk us through the installation.

In between working I was rolling all over town doing interviews and talking up the project. I was featured in Broadsheet, Art Guide and Arts Hub and gave interviews on ABC and triple R! I’ll share some more project photos after the de-install in April.

We had a soft opening on the 14th of March for industry ahead of the offical opening on the 5th of April. I flew back to Fremantle and had two weeks of proposal writing and pitching, I put in an application for Sydney Festival and for the Australia Council for the Arts Disability Mentoring Initiative, again cross your fingers for me! I also managed to squeeze in a little illustration job for the most excellent North Street Store in Cottesloe, best bread in the West.

I also had a meeting with a new Arts journal that want me to write an article for their inaugural issue, which is exciting. They’e bought my work in the past so I got to visit an old friend in it’s new home in Freo!

February – Photoshoot, Next Wave proposal, Dancehall Poster, new video work and some more camping!

In late 2017 I did a residency at the Perth Institute for Contemporary art. At the time I was making large, shaped canvas paintings. They were finished with fine gradients and played with notions of perspective and space. I liked making these paintings; the challenge of producing something slick and almost machined that was actually hand crafted appealed to me. However, during my residency, I was away from my workshop and familiar tools so it was impossible for me to make any new paintings. I had to find a way to use the space and time afforded to me by PICA productively. For a while I had wanted to explore how people perceive the experience of physical disability but I couldn’t think of a way to do this that didn’t seem trite or esoteric. I wanted to make something visceral, something that people had to feel to truly understand. I started googling disability statistics from around the world, I looked closely at the percentage of Australians that identify as disabled (more than I thought) and how this community is represented by new and old media. I did a bunch of research, read a lot of statistics and made copious amounts of notes. Then I put all the information I’d found into a folder, closed it and put it away. I started to draw and sketch, ideas for sculptures and experiences that would engage people with humour, have elements of surprise and require some degree of participation. A few models of ramps and obstacles came out of this process as well but most importantly I’d identified an idea that I wanted to pursue.

This idea was stowed away for over a year until recently when I dusted it off, polished the rough edges and sent it off to NextWave 2020. I’ll find out if it’s a diamond or a lump of coal in late March, fingers crossed.

Also this month a poster for new freo Afrobeat/Dancehall club night Skylarkin Sundays, a photoshoot for images to promote Hostile Infrastructure, an exhibition proposal for First Draft in Sydney (with a video shot by Betty Richards and Randolph Booth, edited by Shane Corry) and another camping trip coz, why not?

January - Time off, time on and prep for Hostile Infrastructure

We went camping over New Years. Headed down south through Denmark and a bunch of National Parks ending up in Esperance at a massive farm (thanks to the Chillwells for making us feel so Welcome). We’ve got a Suzuki Jimmy (a tiny 4x4). It’s white, has a bullbar, roof-rack and no back seats. Some people call it a toy car. We just call it a car that will drive literally anywhere, has a low impact and doesn’t cost a fortune to run.

When we got back I had to get straight back to work. I made a series of images to promote my installation, Hostile Infrastructure that opens in April at Testing Grounds. I turned my tiny, dirty studio into a little set, threw some paint around and took some self timers. The marketing company, gallery and my Mum thought they were weird so I think I did a good job.

My friend Sam asked me to help out on a little sign-writing job at a new Fish & Chip shop in Como called Tankk. We smashed it out in half a day, ate some free chips and met some nice people. Better yet I still had enough time to go to the beach when I got home!

Finally, I managed to squeeze in a little album design job for The Justin Walshe Folk Machine. Two 1890’s Australian Convicts (painted, off-brand, Gi-Joes) escape from a never ending party in Miami/Brisvegas/The Crown Casino. Yep.

Thanks for reading x

December - Solo Show, Documentation and more Documentation

Chriiiiiistmaaaas tiiiime, miseltoooooooe aaaaand wiiiiiine!

I’m not a christmas person. I don’t like getting presents, I don’t like Santa and roast dinners in the Australian summer don’t really do it for me. Fortunately my friends and family feel the same way (mostly) so i was still able to get a bunch of work done in the run up to the dreaded yuletide festivities.

My solo show at Smart Casual was a trip! I was humbled by the amount of people that came down to see the installation and showed a genuine interest in this new direction that my work seems to be taking. Much love to everyone involved, you know who you are.

I also got a chance to document a bunch of old paintings so I could finally apply to the art bank roadshow. Lets hope that they take the bait and buy some of my work.

Betty and I took a trip to Baldivis to see our sculptures finally installed and let me tell you they look great. It was a cool project and a great window into what it takes to make work in collaboration and to a fairly tight brief. Thats all for now, more news in January

Thanks for reading x

November - Studio work, spray workshops and sign writing

I spent the nearly the whole of November in a tin shed (my studio) with my arm hairs stuck to my skin, smelling like wet bread and swearing at little bits of newspaper. Thankfully I had the new Action Bronson album on repeat to help me stay motivated in such challenging conditions. It wasn’t a performance piece, I was busy making paper mâché sculptures for my show at Smart Casual. Now, in the aftermath, I can start to tidy the studio ready for the next project and try to get the yeasty smell out of the rug, joy. I did manage to get a DCA grant for the show so even though I probably won’t manage to sell a giant toilet I will be able to buy my girlfriend a Christmas present.

I also had a few paid jobs this month so I won’t be killing and eating my chickens just yet. I got to dust off my old sign writing skills (thanks great grandad) and painted a window sign with Betty for a new bar called Madalenas which is gonna open in South Freo real soon. We were working during the Freo beer festival and were treated to an older couple dry humping against the window we were trying to paint, classy.

Using spray paint was something I used to do a lot of, now, not so much. Thanks to Dan Duggan for getting me to help out on one of his Phaze workshops. It’s always cool so see young people with a passion for painting and the culture that surrounds it, if you know, you know!

That’s it for now folks, more babble next month.

x

October - Laser Cutting, Paper Mâché and some great news!

October has been and gone, lots of projects have started, no projects have been finished!

This month myself and Betty got to see our designs laser cut into big bits of aluminium by HD Plasma and Laser and then fixed to some frames by the superstar Daniel at CSM as part of a public art job that we’re working on for a park in Baldivis. We have been going backwards and forwards to fabricators and trying to get everything done on time. To be honest it’s bee a great experience and we’ve both learned so much.

I’ve started making a new body of work for a solo show at Smart Casual in December. The work is all about the under representation of disabled people in popular culture and the taboos that still exist surrounding physical disabilities. The show will take the form of an installation and I plan on transforming the entire gallery. Watch this space for updates and the eventual install pics.

I also got some absolutely amazing news this month. Recently I applied for a City of Melbourne Arts Grant for a project with Testing Grounds next year and I found out that is was successful! This is a massive deal for me as it’s the first project in a major institution and one that will hopefully lead to bigger things in the future. I spent a few weeks pinching myself and still can’t believe it!

That’s it for now, I’ll update again in November,

Thanks for reading x

September - An Animation, Painting Benches, Tattoos and serious studio time

September has been and gone and again I felt like I barely stood still.

I was fortunate enough to brush up on my old animation skills and made a cool little video for an awesome organisation called ClimateClever. They do a lot of work with kids in schools with the aim of creating thoughtful, conscientious ambassadors for reducing our impact on the planet. I got to make a cool Super Hero girl and made her fly!

I was back at Fiona Stanley Hospital again to work on a project for CORD. I was asked to design artwork and paint it onto a bunch of concrete benches to brighten up the courtyard in the Spinal Injury Unit. Unfortunately (for me) I used the wrong primer and all the paint that I’d lovingly applied peeled off after a week! I’ll be going back in December to repaint using the correct primer. It was an expensive and time consuming lesson but one that I have now learned from.

In other news I’ve been going to see my good buddy Painless Luke Robinson at Beyond the Illusion in Secret Harbour. Recent additions to my skin (sorry Mum!) include two David Shigley skulls, a Saturday Jazz worm and a Space Dolphin. If you want to get some cool ink then Painless is the man to see!

Myself and Betty have done a couple of sight visits to a park in Baldivis which is going to be the location of our first major public art job as a team. It was hot, sunny and sandy but we got to mark out where our sculptures would go. All the designs have now been approved so next step is fabrication, roll on October...

August – A Mural, A Group Show & Some Public Art

August has been a busy month so far and like the rain it doesn't seem to be abating. I painted a big mural in the courtyard of the youth Mental health ward for Fiona Stanley Hospital. It took six days to paint but about a year and a half to organise! Thanks to Mel Midenhall for getting the ball rolling and Richard and Brian from the engineering department at FSH for moving the scaffolding for me and letting me go home early without too many jibes at my work ethic. Also thanks to George Howlett for the assist, couldn't have done it without ya man. 

Things are moving along nicely with a little (biggest one I've ever done) public art job for a new development in Baldivis. Betty Richards and myself have designed a series of ten aluminium sculptures that will sit in sweet little groups around a park. We've had some fun visiting fabricators and powder coaters in our new (second-hand) Suzuki Jimny. We've also sent hundreds of emails and had a few meetings at fancy offices with some nice people in clean shirts who were very impressed with our last minute paper models. Result. 

I've been in the studio a little bit finishing off some work and also planning a bunch of new ones. I've got some shaped canvas paintings in the Scene 2018 show at Nyisiztor Gallery in Melville and it's bittersweet as I think this will be the last of this type of work that I'll do for a while. Painting is fun but I want to try something else. With that in mind I found out that my proposal for Smart Casual (a great little gallery space in the centre of Freo) has been accepted. I'm going to be producing an installation there and conducting a series of artist talks/performances throughout December.

I've also had a very exciting talk with Bennet Millar from Artsource about producing a large scale installation at Customs House in 2019. I'm not going to tell you any more about it just yet but I will say that it's going to be a lot of fun. Still waiting to hear back about my funding application for a big installation at Testing Grounds early next year, so keep your fingers crossed for me.