Sketches

Australia INfront - Woman

I spent the last few weekends [and week nights] making this piece for a visual response competition at Australian INfront.

I wanted a woman that was strong, self assured and wearing a silly helmet. It seems to be a recurring theme lately, drawing all sorts of people in strange hats. Sigmund Freud would probably have something to say about that, but he'd probably say it in German and I'd have to figure it out from his gestures. Although the gestures would presumably also be in German.

Don't judge a cover by its book.

Titles are something that fascinates me. Perhaps it's a sign of laziness but I sometimes prefer to name art and projects rather than produce them. So although I am not a member of any band or currently perform or record music, I've already given my second album the title 'God sleeps better naked'. My next novel [which I have no intention to write] is entitled 'The hand that strokes the kidney'. I also tend to like the titles of books and films based only on their titles, 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension' being a case in point.

So with that I mind, recently I've using books and their titles as the starting point for a series of drawings. Using books from op-shops and second hand bookstores I make drawings on their covers based on their titles. Below are 'The Snow People' and The Black Spectacles'. I've got a whole stack that I'm working through so look forward to 'Approaching Priests', 'BABIES NEED BOOKS' and my favorite 'Future Youth: How to reverse the aging process'.

Little Shop

Poster I finished recently for the Altona City theatre. Looks like its going to be a great show, check it out here.

Together and Alone

Long ago in the swirling mists of time, back in a era that the ancients would later call February, my girlfriend and I put on an exhibitionat Arthur Gallery in Ballarat. It was a great success, we had a lot of fun and people asked us many questions about our collaborative pieces, I also ate my weight in cheese and wine. Now all these years later I've finally put together a record of those heady days here, enjoy.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Over the last few months I've between working on a duo exhibition I've also been making posters for a few very talented individuals.

Undistinguished. Jokes, stories, first hand research. Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall has had an interesting year. Having quit his job, owned a car for eight days and invested heavily in uranium mining, Al took the next logical step and started recording people laughing.

A man emerges from an endless desert. Clutched in his hand, a map. It charts a world of monsters, fear and wonder. You ask the name of this fantastical otherland but he has already slipped away. Nonplussed, you go see a sketch show about toner shortages and embarrassing relatives... that show isn't Wing Attack! with Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall and Andy Matthews.

Archibald Wheeler knows two things: He famously dacked Adolf Hitler in '42, and his son is a muppet. In Whets the Whistle, Archie spins his finest stories, some of which even he believes. A character-laden, song-fuelled sketch of the modern world through the eyes of a slightly deluded digger.

Sketch