I just reread a rambling account of my art year 2005. Back then it was all a great adventure as I strode the highways of Australia in my sandaled feet showing wherever and whenever I could. That was the year I threw-out my back and didn’t think I’d be able to get out of my ute at the motel in East Maitland. A couple of panadols later and a good night sleep and I was ready to install my show the next day at the TAP Gallery in Sydney.
These days I do a routine of exercises so I don’t have to resort to drugs and I try to show less and sculpt more. I have so many great ideas and try to get into the studio as much as I can, but ... Life intervenes! People die and you get older and work hard to keep current and to stay relevant. You open a sculpture park and manage and maintain it. You look for signs to affirm that you haven’t lost your way…
Where am I?
Since 2005, I’ve been showing overseas in Italy, Japan, Shanghai, London, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Texas, Colorado and Arizona. I feel I’m spreading myself very thin, but I win a contest every once in a while and sell sculpture. I wouldn’t say I’m making much money, but I’m having a good time and meeting interesting people and seeing the world. The offshoot is that going to so many diverse places, I get great new ideas. I’ve sowed a lot of seed and there’s potential for big payouts in the future if the world economy doesn’t collapse. At the top of my CV it reads Hopelessly optimistic with a sincere desire to do something genteel and I’ll still go along with that.
Maintenance is a challenge. Ceramic Break Sculpture Park is looking great. We’ve had good rains since the last drought and the trees have grown big enough to cool things down. The buildings still have that new look to them, but there have been problems. White ants in Gallery 1, water damage in Gallery 3, fading paint on outdoor infrastructure and sculptures. Nothing about maintenance is easy.
We’ve had consistently interesting art exhibitions at the park. Currently we’re showing a lead light artist and a nature photographer and we’ve maintained a “tradition” of having an aboriginal art exhibition over the June long weekend. The aboriginals are still talking to me so maybe I’m doing something right. This year (2015) Brian Irving is showing his paintings here again.
This year my commitment is Ceramic Break Sculpture Park. Somewhere I feel I lost my way and left the sculpture park on the back burner for a while. Now I’m ready to renew my commitment to the park and what it stands for and get back on track. I’ve made a lot of new sculptures and I’m ready to install them.
In The Proletariat Garden, I’m installing the 5 Coup d’état series. These sculptures include Salvador Allende, Sukarno, 2 Fiji coups and The Dismissal 1975 here in Australia. I’m currently sculpting ‘The Dismissal’ and all the others are cast.
| I’m starting a new area at the park called the Crisis Corner and I’m installing ‘Crisis’ a sculpture of a filing cabinet with a drawer falling out. Crisis Corner is for whatever ails you at the moment. Originally, the sculpture ‘Crisis’ was never finished properly. We crashed into the instalment date deadline for the 2012 Swell exhibition in Queensland. It was manufactured in Castlemaine, Victoria and the frantic run up to Swell on the Gold Coast was a trip from Hell. The sculpture looked pretty crap and I attribute this terrifying trip to the premature greying of my hair. ‘Crisis’ is currently being refinished and should be ready to install soon. |  |
| The composition ‘Moondance’ is destined for The Sculpture Walk. The composition is based on ‘Failure! Again Failure!’ from The Alchemy series. 2 large crows are currently cast at the foundry with a fabricated steel moon in the background. |  |
| Staying relevant in the art world is a second priority. I’m currently showing ‘The Gooney Bird’ at the Jewish Community Centre in Tucson, Arizona and the irreverent ‘Australian Gothic’ at the Toorak show in Melbourne. I’m going to participate in an art meat market in Brisbane later in the year and try to get back into Sydney. All in all I’m hoping to participate in 10 exhibitions in 2015. This is down from 22 exhibitions in 2005, just lazy I guess. |  |