My Swan Song to MIFF 2019

Swan Song, ink and gouache on Khadi paper, 21 x 15 cm

As recent visitors to this blog will be aware, recently I balanced a particularly busy MIFF 2019 schedule with drawing in my Melbourne hotel room, AKA, pop-up studio, every chance I got. Completed on the last day of MIFF, the drawing pictured above was my swan song. Given the number of films I saw (52, at last count) I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work I achieved, when not travelling the world on my Festival Passport. It was a pleasure to share parts of the journey with Gracia Haby, Louise Jennison, Shane Jones, Elaine Haby, Gaye Paterson, Des Cowley, Kirsty and Sue. 

The final day’s fare comprised a talk at the Wheeler Centre by Australian born film director Bruce Beresford, in conversation with Philippa Hawker (the restored print of his Black Robe, 1991, screened on the penultimate day of the festival, was a revelation). I believe the talk was filmed, hopefully in its entirety. In a festival that presented so many fine films, this event was one of the standouts. To learn more about Beresford and his extraordinary achievements (including Breaker Morant, 1980, one of my longtime favourite films, go HERE.

My last two MIFF films were Beanpole (dir. Kantemir Balagov, Russia, 2019), followed by an encore screening of The Nightingale (dir. Jennifer Kent, Australia, 2018), an extremely powerful note to end on.

Progress views of the work I undertook during the Melbourne International Film Festival, peppered with selected highlights from my stay, most, but not entirely film-related, will follow shortly.

Then and now

According to a recent ‘Facebook Memory’, it’s just over two years since my last residency at The Art Vault. It was such a happy and productive time - but then, it always is. The work bench in my Art Vault studio on 18 July 2017 is pictured above.

On 27 July, another memory popped up in my Facebook feed. Directly following is the final work from my fortnight at the Art Vault, completed on the last day of the residency.

Coincidentally, I’d been considering revisiting the series only moments before Facebook reprised the second post. The upcoming Melbourne International Film Festival runs from 1 - 18 August and I’ve booked myself into a hotel for its duration. I figured I could work on the small-scale drawings in between sessions. I’ll be seeing an inordinately large number of films this year, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to draw. But I’ll do what I can. At the very least, it will enable me to maintain a connection with my work.

I packed a bag of drawing materials yesterday, a major challenge in its own right. Pending our move, my former studio is so tightly packed with our furniture and other belongings, entry to the building is now virtually impossible. I took one look and promptly closed the door. Later, Shane gamely climbed in and managed to retrieve some sheets of drawing paper. My drawing inks were nowhere be seen. In the end, it was easier to drive into town and buy replacements.

Pictured below: my studio as it was on 29 July 2014 

- and as it is now.

More progress views

Pictured above and below: an as yet untitled work in various stages of progress.

The Other

Another painting that's nearing the finishing line, although it seems to me that the works in this series will never be quite finished. There's always a hair out of place somewhere.

Top: The Other, acrylic on linen, 40.5 x 30.5 cm. (Progress view).

Soothsayer - a work in progress

Featured on this International Women’s Day are selected developmental stages of Soothsayer, acrylic on linen, 40.5 x 30.5 cm, flanked (in the top and bottom views) by corresponding works from the steadily growing Back Story suite.

Bride of the Revolution

It can be frustrating when a work in progress remains in limbo for too long. Sometimes, however, it can be a blessing, as in the case of my linocut, The Bride. Aside from the Title and Colophon pages, it’s the final work intended for the artist book Frankenstein’s Women, which centres on the women in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The delay has enabled me to rethink the work a little (see below) before too much was cut away. I’ve reworked part of the drawing and added a thin choker (see above) which, in the finished work will be coloured red.

The choker was in particular vogue during the French Revolution, although it was hardly a fashion accessory. Female French ex-patriots wore red ribbon chokers as coded testaments to their own close escapes from the guillotine, and as a tribute to those who were not so fortunate. The colour red signified droplets of blood around a severed head.

Mary Shelley's political views were inherited from her parents Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, whose politics leaned to the far left. Frankenstein may have its roots in Romanticism, but it is equally an allegory for the Reign of Terror, a commentary on mass revolution and social injustice. Frankenstein’s monster personifies the revolutionaries in terms of the dehumanising, brutalising affect of cruelty, poverty and neglect. Frankenstein and his family represent the bourgeoisie. 

For further reading, go HERE. 

The linocuts from Frankenstein's Women will be exhibited in a solo show at HipCat Printery, opening on October 12.

Current work in progress

Following directly from where my previous post left off, here are further progress views of my current painting, the latest in the ongoing Back Story series. As yet untitled, the work is acrylic on linen and measures 40.5 x 30.5 cm.

The following view was snapped in my Ballarat studio early this morning.

As previously mentioned, of late I've been revisiting the work of the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, whose paintings I studied firsthand during a trip to Berlin in 2011, primarily at the Alte Nationalgalerie. In what has been a longish period of gestation, it has taken until now for something of his influence to permeate my own work.

Goodbye 2018

There are several #bestnine apps designed for Instagram wherein your most popular nine posts for the year are gathered together and displayed in grid form. I decided to give it a try, and, as this is the last day of the year, thought I’d share the results here.

My nine for 2018 were not chosen by a robot, however, but by me. Whether these are actually my best nine is subjective, but they’re fairly indicative of where the work is right now and where it’s potentially heading from here. 

Enjoy the final hours of 2018, everyone. I have a feeling that 2019 is going to be a fantastic year!

Prelude and Lookout

Prelude, acrylic on linen 40.5 x 30.5 cm (progress view). Photo credit: Tim Gresham

Prelude, pictured above, is part of a growing body of work, collectively titled Back Story. This and Lookout, also featured in this post, were started back in April, and were the first and second paintings undertaken for the new series. In this year's avalanche of activities, however, I never got around to posting them here, and have barely managed to squeeze them in now, just as 2018 is nearing its end.

Prelude was also the basis for the eponymous linocut I created for IMPRESSIONS 2018, the Australian Print Workshop's biennial fundraiser, and Lookout appears on my 2018 Christmas card.

The painting component of Back Story was placed on hold when I undertook a term as Artist-in Residence at Melbourne Athenaeum Library as part of Melbourne Rare Book Week in July. During the residency I worked on several projects, including a suite of linocuts inspired by the women in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, and continued to develop them after the residency had ended. These too are part of Back Story.

Now that carving of the linocuts is near completion, my energies are predominantly concentrated on the paintings that are the backbone of Back Story. A series of 20 is initially planned, each measuring 40.5 x 30.5 cm. These will be the forerunners of larger works.

Directly below are selected progress views of Prelude. (Note the transition from warm to cool greys).

Directly below: Lookout, followed by earlier developmental views.

Lookout, acrylic on linen 40.5 x 30.5 cm (progress view). Photo credit: Tim Gresham

Guide

Guide (work in progress), acrylic on linen 40.5 x 30.5 cm. Photo credit: Tim Gresham

A recent work, near completion, followed by a series of progress views.

In the background (above centre) is Sybil, another work in this ongoing series. For a closer look at Sybil, go HERE.

Sybil

Sybil, acrylic on linen, 40.5 x 30.5 cm (work in progress). Photo credit: Tim Gresham 

With so much happening in recent weeks, I've been somewhat remiss about posting updates from my own studio.

Pictured top is Sybil, one of several works currently in development for an expansive project with the umbrella title Back Story.

The initial studies for Back Story were created in 2017, many of them during a residency at The Art Vault. The subsequent intrusion of other projects, however, made it virtually impossible to develop the imagery with any real consistency. The series, which will comprise paintings, prints, drawings and artist books, is now well and truly underway and will be my primary focus for the foreseeable future.

The following photos, snapped in my Ballarat studio, show Sybil in key stages of its development.