Portia Geach Memorial Award, finalist exhibition talk , S.H. Irwin Gallery, 2013
Thank you to the organisers of the exhibition and to everyone attending today.
It is an honour to be able to talk with you as well as show ideas through my painting.
As David Hockney said, “art is about sharing, you wouldn’t be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought.”
His quote comes from a large catalogue of his portraits. The portrait typifies the sharing of experiences because it depends on the collaboration between three people: the artist, the subject and the viewer. The subject must captivate the interest of both the artist and the viewer and the artist must portray him or her in a way that increases this attention. The viewer will then spend time in suspended disbelief, regarding the myriad of brush strokes that recreate the painter’s three-dimensional impression of both the appearance and inner qualities of the subject. Portraits have been described as “deposits of specific social relationships”. They take time to formulate, time to make and time to take in. It is these qualities that differentiate them from a snap shot or a fleeting impression. To begin the artist needs to be inspired with enough feeling to spend this time in both observing and making.
I first saw young Maxine on the television set in my parents’ sitting room in Brisbane in the 1970’s. My parents would have sat as if glued to the set. My father, a wise and experienced man who had studied both arts and medicine and served in army education in World War 11, commanded absolute silence during the hour of ABC news and current affairs. His weakness was for articulate and attractive women and so the atmosphere was electric with Maxine’s appearance on the screen. You have to remember it was deepest, darkest Queensland where Joh Bjelke-Petersen ruled a corrupt government for 19 years with only 19% of the vote. This hour on the ABC represented debate, ideas from the rest of the world and a questioning of presumed authority. It made sense to me, a student, for whom most of Bjelke-Petersen’s sentences began with “You, You, You …..”. Maxine had become an inspirational figure to me and remained so long after I left Brisbane, together with many of my generation.
Her successful career in television journalism kept her in the limelight. Decades later her hard work in the campaign for Bennelong brought her to the nation’s attention again. Later still I heard she’d moved to Melbourne and good old Google put me in touch with her. She responded warmly to the portrait request and over coffee generously entered into the spirit of it. She agreed to meeting at her home with several sittings on the veranda where there was good light, a beautiful jasmine vine and an elegant Budda statue. We took long coffee breaks and talked about books, politics and current affairs. She even let me look through her wardrobe to finally decide with her on this elegant chinoise dress, which I think is appropriate to her interest in multiculturalism and her political campaign after the “children overboard” scandal.
Later she came to my studio where I continued to paint her. Six meetings in total and a lifetime of television viewing in the making! During this time she even published a book full of photographs and personal memories, great background information and a reboot to her public profile. She really put in!
From our first meeting, Maxine was charming, warm, and animated with a ready smile. I noticed she always wore stylish shoes and had painted toenails and for somebody who had spent most of her professional life behind a desk, I thought these were worth including. We worked on this turning pose to include her shoes without the distortion and enlargement that occurs when the legs come forward closer to the viewer. This is a classical pose that creates dynamism and liveliness. It also adds visual complexity with twists and turns which mimic political life.
I always begin with drawing to absorb the rhythm of line and shape. It is important to use direct sensing of how the subjects body sits in space in relation to mine, and this sensation also has to be appealing. Sometimes it can help to mimick the pose yourself. You don’t just see with your eye. You see with your mind, your heart, your hand and your body. Later photographs are used as an aide de memoire. Colours are very important and they need to be captured with painted sketches. The expression is important, Maxine had to quieten her generous smile because it doesn’t work in a painting that reflects more than a passing moment. However her facial expression still has to demonstrate her liveliness and intelligence and so breaks and constant refreshing help keep this present.
Back in the studio, the composition is studied from the drawings and photographs. The canvas size is worked out and prepared. Colour balance is determined. I still use a colour wheel to ensure that warmth and coolness harmonise in the composition. I changed the dress colour to make this combination richer. The layering of paint begins thin and loose at first to thicker and more defined. It is a very physical process, hard on the neck and right shoulder, and a good physio is helpful.
Further sittings were needed to finalise facial expression. We continued to talk profusely with a complex interaction and exchange to and fro. We agreed to disagree on some matters. My overall focus was to show as much of this depth and complexity as possible whilst maintaining respect and the responsibility entrusted with me to do a good job. To show the “inside of the outside and the outside of the inside.”
Like at least two of the other finalists, I work as a doctor as well as a painter. These professions have the same patron saint, St Luke, both cast light on people by using the power of observation. Perhaps knowledge of anatomy is helpful but I think more importantly it helps to be exposed to a wide range of human experience and allows a confident exchange between painter and subject.
And finally I come to you the viewer and am so thankful that you have spent the time looking at my work and that of the other artists because without you it is worth nothing and would be an often lonely and isolated experience. Any comments you have would be very welcome
Thank you to the organisers of the exhibition and to everyone attending today.
It is an honour to be able to talk with you as well as show ideas through my painting.
As David Hockney said, “art is about sharing, you wouldn’t be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought.”
His quote comes from a large catalogue of his portraits. The portrait typifies the sharing of experiences because it depends on the collaboration between three people: the artist, the subject and the viewer. The subject must captivate the interest of both the artist and the viewer and the artist must portray him or her in a way that increases this attention. The viewer will then spend time in suspended disbelief, regarding the myriad of brush strokes that recreate the painter’s three-dimensional impression of both the appearance and inner qualities of the subject. Portraits have been described as “deposits of specific social relationships”. They take time to formulate, time to make and time to take in. It is these qualities that differentiate them from a snap shot or a fleeting impression. To begin the artist needs to be inspired with enough feeling to spend this time in both observing and making.
I first saw young Maxine on the television set in my parents’ sitting room in Brisbane in the 1970’s. My parents would have sat as if glued to the set. My father, a wise and experienced man who had studied both arts and medicine and served in army education in World War 11, commanded absolute silence during the hour of ABC news and current affairs. His weakness was for articulate and attractive women and so the atmosphere was electric with Maxine’s appearance on the screen. You have to remember it was deepest, darkest Queensland where Joh Bjelke-Petersen ruled a corrupt government for 19 years with only 19% of the vote. This hour on the ABC represented debate, ideas from the rest of the world and a questioning of presumed authority. It made sense to me, a student, for whom most of Bjelke-Petersen’s sentences began with “You, You, You …..”. Maxine had become an inspirational figure to me and remained so long after I left Brisbane, together with many of my generation.
Her successful career in television journalism kept her in the limelight. Decades later her hard work in the campaign for Bennelong brought her to the nation’s attention again. Later still I heard she’d moved to Melbourne and good old Google put me in touch with her. She responded warmly to the portrait request and over coffee generously entered into the spirit of it. She agreed to meeting at her home with several sittings on the veranda where there was good light, a beautiful jasmine vine and an elegant Budda statue. We took long coffee breaks and talked about books, politics and current affairs. She even let me look through her wardrobe to finally decide with her on this elegant chinoise dress, which I think is appropriate to her interest in multiculturalism and her political campaign after the “children overboard” scandal.
Later she came to my studio where I continued to paint her. Six meetings in total and a lifetime of television viewing in the making! During this time she even published a book full of photographs and personal memories, great background information and a reboot to her public profile. She really put in!
From our first meeting, Maxine was charming, warm, and animated with a ready smile. I noticed she always wore stylish shoes and had painted toenails and for somebody who had spent most of her professional life behind a desk, I thought these were worth including. We worked on this turning pose to include her shoes without the distortion and enlargement that occurs when the legs come forward closer to the viewer. This is a classical pose that creates dynamism and liveliness. It also adds visual complexity with twists and turns which mimic political life.
I always begin with drawing to absorb the rhythm of line and shape. It is important to use direct sensing of how the subjects body sits in space in relation to mine, and this sensation also has to be appealing. Sometimes it can help to mimick the pose yourself. You don’t just see with your eye. You see with your mind, your heart, your hand and your body. Later photographs are used as an aide de memoire. Colours are very important and they need to be captured with painted sketches. The expression is important, Maxine had to quieten her generous smile because it doesn’t work in a painting that reflects more than a passing moment. However her facial expression still has to demonstrate her liveliness and intelligence and so breaks and constant refreshing help keep this present.
Back in the studio, the composition is studied from the drawings and photographs. The canvas size is worked out and prepared. Colour balance is determined. I still use a colour wheel to ensure that warmth and coolness harmonise in the composition. I changed the dress colour to make this combination richer. The layering of paint begins thin and loose at first to thicker and more defined. It is a very physical process, hard on the neck and right shoulder, and a good physio is helpful.
Further sittings were needed to finalise facial expression. We continued to talk profusely with a complex interaction and exchange to and fro. We agreed to disagree on some matters. My overall focus was to show as much of this depth and complexity as possible whilst maintaining respect and the responsibility entrusted with me to do a good job. To show the “inside of the outside and the outside of the inside.”
Like at least two of the other finalists, I work as a doctor as well as a painter. These professions have the same patron saint, St Luke, both cast light on people by using the power of observation. Perhaps knowledge of anatomy is helpful but I think more importantly it helps to be exposed to a wide range of human experience and allows a confident exchange between painter and subject.
And finally I come to you the viewer and am so thankful that you have spent the time looking at my work and that of the other artists because without you it is worth nothing and would be an often lonely and isolated experience. Any comments you have would be very welcome