Notes to myself…he writes with a grin.
It’s that time again. The electoral sausage is in the making after our institutions undermined, trust in government muddied, media sullied and civil conventions trashed by coalition governments over the past decade.
As these dark days run out and we head towards the polls, hopefully, to change the government on May 21st 2022. The risk of the political grifters surviving is always real, but then I have faith in our civil society overcoming the world views promoted by corporate media.
I have a slight ache in both shoulders-The right side has a covid booster shot and the left, a flu shot. Now equipped to venture into the world with a prudent use of a P2 mask.
Working in the studio is usually time out from politics, but then all art is political. Now that I’m older there is less seepage of it into my work, well less anger, and the meanings more obscure.
I keep finding older unfinished work calling out for completion. The challenge to explore and complete these lost moments gives purpose, or is it the result of a stubbornness not to let go. Dog forbid it is not hanging onto remnants of a work, protecting the one good bit that satisfies my eye. Oh bugger, that’s it. On the other hand I might just be squirrelling away for the big winter. My winter is finally here.
No, that is not all the story. A decade or so of drawing with hand held iDevices was in response to my peripatetic working life. The art practice of layering, cutting and pasting with liquid light has its natural counterpart in the analogue world using glue, paper, canvas and acetate. I do miss the digital erasure and ‘duplicate’ button.
There it is: I enjoy finding parts of existing drawings to make something fresh and new to me. Resurrecting old moments and seeing if to see if I can make sense of the marks before delegating the work to the studio floor or bin or scanning into an iDevice for recycling.
Photo set: Making ‘The summer of 2019-2021’. Collage: Ripped drawings, ink, acrylic, iPad drawing printed on acetate, all assembled on mounting card.
EDIT 24 May 2022: The federal election is over, the sun shines across a crisp autumn blue sky as our new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese and our new foreign Minister, the honourable Penny Wong arrive in Tokyo to talk about the Pacific region, climate change and improved relations towards the world. Reform of government is underway by a Labor government and hopefully with assistance from a progressive cross bench. And I hope our corporate media will be put on the rack by the people as for sure they won’t do it to themselves.