What, when and how?

I have been accepted as artist in residence at Red Gate Residency in Beijing, China.

(January 2019 – March 2019)

Yay!

This is an opportunity for me to focus full-time on producing new work while experiencing the stimulation of a new culture in the supportive environment of Red Gate residency.

Red Gate residency is situated in the vibrant Beijing arts hub of 798 art district which makes it very easy to explore the contemporary art scene and attend events such as artist talks and openings. Red Gate is a well-established residency of 27 years and has been attended by a number of New Zealand artists in the past. I have met and spoken with many artists that have been to Red Gate as well as people who have worked there. Brian Wallace, an Australian and  the director of Red Gate, has a deep interest in painting.

Red Gate provides a living and studio space as well as nurturing supportive environment with practical help. There will be many events organised for me to connect with other residents and art professionals such as exhibitions, dinners and artist talks. Staff will provide ongoing support while I am in Beijing such as where to source art supplies and will help me to achieve my goals to produce new paintings, build new networks while experiencing Chinese art and culture.

Why China?

China has become such an important force in the economic and political life of Australasia. I have never been to China to experience the culture first hand. I have wanted to go to Beijing since seeing a lot of contemporary Chinese art that was exhibited in New York City when I lived there prior to the Olympic Games in 2008. Contemporary Chinese Figurative painters have such a fresh take on the Western Tradition of painting filtered through Russia and Communism then mixed with China’s own rich artistic history. The small amount contemporary figurative work that I have seen firsthand has a different aesthetic to the West. I get a sense of maverick from a lot of the images I look at in books with the way artists apply paint in the rapid (Alla Prima) style that comes from Impressionism but is perhaps also influenced by traditional ink painting that requires the artist to work quickly and without the chance of correction. This creates a real sense of urgency and rule breaking which I admire and would like to research and see in context.

This residency will be part of my preparation towards a solo exhibition in Australia and New Zealand in 2019.

 You can see examples of my previous work here.

The Rewards

Life drawing has always been a big part of my ongoing practice. I very rarely show people this work and I hardly ever offer them for sale but I wanted to offer something special as a reward. So I have selected a bunch of short poses 2 - 10 minutes, at the top, and some longer 60 - 80 minute sketches. All of them have been painted from direct observation.

Scroll down (see boxes on the right) and select something you like or even buy one for somebody you know who will enjoy it. 

They are all acrylic paint which is a new material for me. I decided I needed to learn and become more comfortable working with acrylic paint as I have been teaching with acrylics but never used it myself. Every week for the last 6 months I’ve taken myself to 2 local community life drawing classes. For those of you who don’t know, acrylic paint has both good and bad qualities. On one hand it dries fast but it also dries darker so it is almost impossible to colour match. The qualities of this material mean I have had to change the way I would normaly paint the figure. Its been a fun challenge and I look forward to taking what I have learnt to new projects.

To secure my place at Red Gate residency I need to pay a fee by the end of August 2018.

Residency fee  $9000

My new strech target will cover the additional residency costs listed below.

Return airfare $951

Insurance $474

Visa $110

Materials $1000

Stipend $3000

All pledges over the stretch target will go towards studio time - that is enable me to make paintings towards my solo exhibitions 2019  in Melbourne, Gore and Porirua.