News

The "art establishment" once again shows how inane and conceited it is by awarding £25,000 to Mark Wallinger for a shaky 154 minute long video of a man walking around a gallery in a bear costume. He is prize winner of the 2007 Turner Prize, Britain’s foremost contemporary art award.

Lauding their lack of perspective, the Tate said that there were parallels between Wallinger and the Berlin gallery, and Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel: “Both artists were interested in transforming spaces.”

This month, Anja Brinkmann and I went to the Dalí Museum in Figueres, Spain. We hired a car and drove north from Barcelona. We were both excited to see the museum. Having wound our way through the tiny streets of the old town center, there were the unmistakable eggs sitting atop the museum.

Having seen many photos of the museum, there were many moments of aha, so that's where that feature belongs. Entering the museum, you are greeted by Dalí's raining car, however it is not raining. To my disappointment, I discovered that you have to put money in a coin slot. This was the first of several instances in the museum where things are coin operated, "Avida Dollars!".

Mounted on the bonnet of the car is a grandeouse sculpture that Ernst Fuchs cheekily gifted Dalí for his museum. But Dalí was the master and had a surprise install for Fuchs. At the grand opening of the museum, there was his sculpture perched on bonnet like an ornament.

Scattered throughout the museum are a number of his famous works, but also many others that I found of little interest. As a painter I guess I'm biased. As a lover fine painting, I guess I'm biased again. So it was with great interest that both Anja and I studied his most famous paintings. What surprised me, was how small these paintings are. A few years ago in Berlin, I saw Dalí's famous melting clocks, "The Persistence of Memory". It was tiny! So I've come to realize that finer works are usually small and the larger somewhat more rough or simple.

His Sterogram paintings were fascinating to look at, and did create a great sense of depth. There were numerous examples of these about the museum. I was wondering how he chose the colours to created the depth illusion.

At the end of it all, I felt like there was something missing. After being so privileged to have meet so many superb and talented artists in the recent years, and then visit them in their studio, I realized that this was not possible with Dalí. But on our last round of the gallery we did find his tomb in the basement of the museum. So he was there, but not there.

After a very late lunch, we then drove to Port Lligat (Cadaques) to see his home. After travelling on the "senic route" to Port Lligat along winding hillside roads, we arrived rather late, just as his home, now a museum was being closed. The only residents to be seen were the multitudes of cats. I could instantly see what attracted Dalí to Port Lligat. Beautiful clear water in a protected bay, and very secluded.

And so ended our Dalian journey, from the outside of his house we looked at the garden walls and could only wonder and imagine at the parties and visitors that came to see the grand surrealist.

On Lines and Colors I found a post about Roy Lichtenstein by Charlie Parker. Now I did a small amount of study on Lichtenstein for my high school art, and of course have seen him reproduced in numerous modern art books. I never gave a thought to where Lichtenstein sourced his images from. I had assumed that he created them. Rather it is the opposite. Apparently he plagiarised the images from existing artworks with out even crediting the original artists. Now here comes the insult. Because the original art was "comic book" (ahem, graphic novel as we call it today) it was never considered artwork by the art snobs anyway, Lichtenstein then "elevates" it to the level of art, all with out due credit.

The original article points out that there is now a book which shows you all of the original sources that Lichtenstein lifted "his" artwork from.

I must say I view Lichtenstein in another light now, and that being rather dim.

The world is a small place, certainly for me. How I came into contact with Shoji Tanka and his International Fantastic Art Association is one of those twists of fate, six degrees, or what ever you please.

In 2002 I was contacted by the graphic designer Laetitia Hoffman. Before the days of professional networking websites such LinkedIn or Xing, she like many of use were searching the internet for other people that she could freelance for. Unfortunately at the time, I myself was looking for projects and so could not help her. Time moves on some five years later and I recieve an email, again from Latetita. Not having any contact with her since our brief exchange of emails, I had to dig through my archived emails to verify who she was. It was a surprise to hear from her again after so long, but more surprising was the story she had to tell.

Laetitia related to me that she was recently in Japan studying woodblock printing. While attending the course, she met the Japanese artist, Shoji Tanaka. In the course of getting to know each other she was showing him her website and they happened to visit one the links she has, which led them to me. I am very grateful to Laetita that she keep the link to my website, because Shoji indicated to her that he would like to contact me. Thus began a few months exchanges of emails with Laetita translating between Shoji and myself.

Shoji is the director of the International Fantastic Art Association. His group is dedicated to creating opportunities for Japanese fantastic artists and ultimately bringing them to the wider world. To date he has organize two exhibitions and printed accompanying catalogs for the IFAA.

It was while looking at some of the images from the last exhibition on the IFAA website, I saw some artwork that looked very familiar. Sure enough upon further investigation, it was the artwork of my friend Luigi La Speranza. Again the degrees of separation lessened, as I recalled Luigi had previously made mention of a Japanese exhibition. Now, suddenly, I knew exactly what he was referring to.

Through Laetitia's wonderful assistance interpretting or communications, she informed me that Shoji was again planning an exhibition for 2008, and that for this exhibition he would invite two foreign artists to exhibit and attend. One of them being Luigi and the other, myself. How surprised I was when I learnt of this. Laetitia also informed me that Shoji would be traveling to Europe later in the year, and that he would like to meet me.

And so it came to pass that Shoji and his wife Seiko came to visit me along with a translator. I had understood that some Japanese could be very formal, and so I phone my friends Peter and Leanne who had lived in Japan for a year for advice on etiquette. This proved unnecessary as they stepped from the car it was all smiles and handshakes. With the translator communicating for us, I had my first inkling of just how lost I might be when in Japan, not being able to speak the language or read the writing.

Shoji stayed for a few hours, and we discussed the exhibition, much about Fantastic art and artists, and what other opportunities there were for us all. We both agreed that there should be more co-operation between the various Fantastic groups around the world, and that we would do what we could to help that. We also discussed the possibility of future world Fantastic exhibition and how this might begin.

I learnt that in Japan, just as in other countries, we artists are similar, being closeted away in our studios and having little contact with others. However there are a growing number of us who are turning to the internet to connect and organize, such as that happened with us.

Finally after taking a some photos in the studio, they all left to continue their journey, and leaving me to contemplate mine next year to Japan.

The future is very exciting.

Ok, so it's not so new, I've been here for four months now, but it still feels new to me. After being practically homeless for the past year since I left Berlin, I finally have settled down to paint again, in a run down old factory building in the east of London. I'm in good company here as there other creatives closeted away here. Look out for a new body of work, its also time for me to catch up on those unfinished canvases that I brought over from Berlin.

The work space has street access and is large enough that I intend to periodically use it as a gallery space.

My artwork makes an appearance in a new publication:

THE CRYPTOPEDIA: A Dictionary of the Weird, Strange, and Downright Bizarre
by Bram Stoker Award winner Jonathan Maberry and David F. Kramer

Citadel Press, $16.95 / 320 pages / ISBN-13: 978-0806528199

At the edge of the known world, demons, monsters, and baffling phenomena abound. To help you navigate this mystery-shrouded realm where the supernatural mingles with the paranormal, fright-guides Jonathan Maberry and David Kramer present their indispensable follow-up to Vampire Universe. Witty and comprehensive, The Cryptopedia divides the otherworldly into chapters that explain the inexplicable, from angels to poltergeists to UFOs and more. Leaving no Philosopher's Stone unturned, the authors decode occult symbols, demystify the art of fortune telling, and discuss the myriad strange and bizarre forces at work in the universe. Illustrated throughout, this is an invaluable guide to the Larger World. Don't leave this plane of existence without it!

Available everywhere books are sold
Author website: www.jonathanmaberry.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/cryptopedia

This week I travelled with my girlfriend Anja Brinkmann to the Panorama Museum in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany. I had discovered the museum on the internet, and became interested when I noted some of the artists that had been exhibited there. I was rather excited because the museum seemed to be dedicated to modern painters working in Old Masters techniques. We didn't know what to expect, and had some friends in Weimar try and talk us out of going, and rather go to a contemporary art fair.

To say we were surprised, is an understatement. We were astounded, not by the temporary exhibition, but by the panorama painting that the museum was especially built for.

In in 1976 Werner Tübke was commissioned by the East German Government to create a panoramic painting to commemorate a peasants uprising in 1525. The painting is a gob smacking 14m high by 123m long and an unbroken ring around the circular room. The lighting also heightens the effect of the painting as it towers above you.

On my first casual inspection, it appeared to be only a historical depiction, but then as I proceeded around the room, its detailed splendour unfolded. Tübke spent several years researching woodblock prints from the era of the uprising, and styled the painting after that. He also took inspiration from Hieronymus Bosch and wove fantastical themes and creatures into the extensive work.

We spent four hours at the museum, and most of that time, just looking at the painting. I tried in vain to soak all of the detail. It is a truly overwhelming experience. I've never encountered a painting like it before.

I posted more details about the museum on beinArt.org.

This is my latest work in progress. I have already begun the oil glazes. The painting is 60 x 90cm.

The underpainting has been done in casein. Casein paint is derived from milk, and is a fast-drying, water-soluble medium used by artists. Casein paint has been used since ancient Egyptian times as a form of tempera paint, and is still used today.

A short explanation of the painting subject: 

Sophia, a feminine figure, analogous to the human soul but also simultaneously one of the Feminine aspects of God and the Bride of Christ. The Sophia resides in all of us as the Divine Spark. In Gnostic tradition, the term Sophia (Σoφíα, Greek for "wisdom" refers to the final and lowest emanation of God.

Katie Noonan, old friend of mine from my home town Brisbane, is soon to be releasing her new album, "Skin". It's been truly wonderful to watch her career grow. And her voice…

My good friend Steven Bowerman has recenly had some great opportunities come his way. I've writen an article for beinart.org about how he came to be now working on the movie production "Nim's Island ".