Get ready. Get set.

Painting, This is Interesting

I hope you all are ready for the artwork I’m creating for a theatre SET! See what I did there? GO ahead and kill me that was the weakest pun in internet history.

Dave Collins (that dude I painted for that portraiture prize that time) is showing off his skills in comedy for the Sydney Comedy Festival!

The play is called In The Air Tonight and is showing at Sidetrack Theatre in Sydney’s Inner West From May 1st. I am lending my artistic skills to help fill the set by creating the scrawlings of two astronauts bored out of their brains on a space ship for 20 years. The set may even feature a few of the studies from my Archibald portraits.

 

Spock and Lock

Design

What I love more than Spock is a good Spock pun. What I love more than Popping and Locking is almost anything – Only because when I try to do it people call ambulances. Popping and locking is a kind of dance Mum, it’s very popular with the kids… it is. No it’s not a chiropractic thing. Gosh! Jeez Mum why aren’t you cooler! Jimmy Neighbourman’s mum is really cool she plays Skyrim!… HOW DO KNOW WHAT THAT IS?!
You can buy this design as a T-shirt here.

comMISSION IMPOSSIBLE! (turns out it’s quite possible)

Painting

My aim today was to finish my commissioned painting and like cheezles on a nerd – I was all over it. This is the second commissioned painting I’ve done this year. Using ink over acrylic is becoming a habit of mine and is yielding good results. This method was used in my Archibald entry where I also had to think about drapery in a very minimal sense, only using two tones whilst emphasising movement of the body and tension of the clothing. It was great to revisit this image and create a painting 3x bigger than it’s older brother.

Work in progress.

Painting

  The studio has had a very thorough tidy after the whirlwind that was the Archibald. I found that Subway cookie that almost drove me mad trying to find last November. It wasn’t the reunion I imagined.

So since the studio is in full swing I am working on a commission of Bruce Lee legs, I’ll be using a very 1970’s palette and incorporating the style of ink-work used on my portraits of Dave Collins.

The sideways portrait of Dave seen in the background will be soon making its way to the Moran Prize. I’ll keep you updated on that one as well.

Sooooo They Released the List of Finalists aaaaaaand…

Painting

So Thursday came and the Archibald Prize list of finalists was released. I didn’t get selected this year and as you can see I didn’t take it too bad.

My aim was to enter this year and I was very pleased with my entry. I’ve never spent so long trying to develop one image and it should put me in good stead for entering next year when I paint Shane from the Umbilical Brothers (a bald head is easier to paint)… Just kidding! I’m going to dig up the bones of J.F. Archibald and paint him as a king!

The Archibald opens at the end of the month and will be touring afterwards. Click here for touring dates.

…And I’ll Show You Mine.

Painting

In two days the finalists for the Archibald Prize will be announced. I’ve been working on my portrait of Dave since last October. I wanted to paint up ’til the due date to exhaust all artistic possibilities, where I didn’t want to just settle for a painting I was happy with, and I am very aware of the potential magic that 5am brings. It just so happens that my final painting spread it’s wings and ‘became Dave’ somewhere between 3 and 5 in the morning two days before it’s submission. The photograph featured below is my final portrait of Dave on it’s way to meet the packers. It is titled “So Tired!” as it was painted during the last 2 months of Dave’s insomnia and every sitting was organised between trips overseas to perform with Shane for the Umbilical Brothers. It represents the exhaustion of performing in such a physical performance while suffering from insomnia. It also maintains Dave’s sense of humor.

This photo (below) was taken in my studio just before leaving for the gallery. The final decision was between these two works. The other is (also 1m x 2m) titled “Dave Amuck”. It is a reference to the Chuck Jones short “Duck Amuck”  where the animator edits the cartoon as it rolls. It seemed to typify so many of Dave’s characters but in the end we picked “So Tired!” which is coincidentally how I felt at the end of the process.

I’m looking forward to seeing who/what get’s selected. It’s been an eye opening process and what ever happens on Thursday I’m very proud of the work I’ve produced. The play that started it all is having a second run at the Sidetrack Theatre in Marrickville. Tickets are on sale.

Tough Competition for Prestigious Fan Art Competition.

Painting, This is Interesting

As I nervously troll though the internet to look for any other Archibald Prize entries (with the hope that I find 500 shit ones) I came across two really quite interesting approaches to the prestigious portrait prize. This brilliant portrait by Vincent Fantauzzo of Kiwi-born Melbourne-based musician Kimbra who I totally don’t have a crush on, shut up that ‘effigy’ of her I made from my baby teeth, seaweed and those pumpkins is just how I display my pumpkins okay!… The portrait by Vincent Fantauzzo is accompanied by a music video he made and it is all very, very cool.

Speaking of cool people I have a crush on, Father Bob McGuire was painted by stencil artist Luke Cornish. It uses over 100 stencil layers and it will be an interesting contender this year. Street-art is getting recognised in the fine arts more and more and Cornish proves that it is a legitimate art-form with this detailed, striking portrait of Fr Bob. Cornish talks about the process in This video article from the ABC website.

The list of finalists will be released THIS THURSDAY!

Archibald Entry Submitted…

Painting

Two bottles of Irish Whiskey, half a bottle of rum, two cases of beer, an insufficient amount of sleep and three months later… My Archibald entry is complete. Dave Collins came around to my studio today, I made a shortlist of portraits and we decided together which one was to be submitted. I was very proud of the shortlist and was delighted with my final submission. More importantly Dave has given it his tick of approval.

Dave was a dynamic person to paint. It’s rare to get a subject who holds so much character in his entire body. The painting is life-size and quite bold. I decided not to feature it in the photo above because it’s a full on nude it’s best displayed on a gallery wall… an art gallery wall… an Art Gallery of New South Wales wall… eh eh. Come on Edmund Capon we have the same name!

You will all find out by the end of the month if I’m in the shower crying.

I now have a studio full of David Collins portraits, it looked a little obsessive for a while there. I was told that I should take a break right after I made a portrait of Dave out of mashed potato.

Fingers crossed.

So… Ya like roller-skatin’ ?

Painting

It was O – week this week at UNSW. Fellow artist and comedian Nick Capper joined me to offend as many fresh faced first year students as we could. I’ve been hired as a caricaturist for charity events and functions before, it’s great fun and I get to show people how ugly they really are combine portraiture and cartooning.

Here you go kid – Enjoy… Your nose does look like that. It’s an interesting nose man – congratulations. Hey look you’ll grow in to it. At least you don’t look like Adrian Brody over there OHMANTHAT’SYOURDAD?! YOUNEEDTOBUYMOREDISTRACTINGNECKTIES!