Thumbs up for Peats Ridge 2010!

My musically gifted pal, Dee, and I recently put together a sound and sculpture installation proposal for Peats Ridge Festival 2010. Surprisingly, they actually approved the idea. So in the lead up to New Years, Dee and I will be constructing a giant paper mache thumb garden complete with original sound recordings designed especially to get Peats Ridge punters feeling all warm and fuzzy about the environment. Optimistically dubbed, 'Thumbs up for the Environment!,' here's hoping the realisation of the project is as positive as the title.  

Rat Race Installation

Here are some pics of the finished rats in transportation, and after installation on a garage wall in Eliza St, Newtown for FBi's Changing Lanes Festival. Trussing up the flimsy chicken wire bodies was a fiddly process but the end result was worth all the trickery with fishing line and cable ties.

Changing Lanes Festival

Footage and interview from Changing Lanes Festival, courtesy of Unseen TV.

http://www.unseentv.tv/video/fbi-radio-changing-lanes-festival

Doggfather

Doggfather portrait commission for a friend who loves all things Snoop.

Rat Race Sculptures

Have been slaving away on a couple of large-scale rat sculptures for Newtown's Changing Lanes Festival coming up on the 19th September. The concept is that these corporate rat-race characters will be fleeing from the invasion of youth in the Eliza Street laneway. They might even have speech bubbles saying something along the lines of... "Ah! Young People!" and  "Quick, back to the CBD!" 

Chicken wire and paper mache is an absolute nightmare to work with and I am covered in cuts and dried glue. Hopefully the finished rats will be worth all the scabs and hair removal by PVA. Fingers crossed some punter doesn't destroy the rats on the day!

A Space Christmas

'A Space Christmas' series of cards I'm selling at markets, or to anyone who wants an alternative to cheesy pictures of wreaths and pink-cheeked cherubs in the snow. 

Pig Faced Lady

Fold-out triptych portraying the true story of the Pig-faced Lady. This porcine mistress was an infamous Victorian sideshow act. Billed as the amazing Pig-faced Lady, with the head of a sow but the body of a woman, the lady in question was actually a shaved bear! Carnies would find a bear, ply it with copious amounts of alcohol, and then, once it was sufficiently tanked, would shave its head and clothe it in ladies' dress. Bizarre!

Tree Wrestling

Stop animation tribute to Walt Whitman who spent the summer of 1876 wrestling saplings.

'After I wrestle with a tree awhile, I can feel its sap and virtue welling out of the ground and tingling through me from head to toe, like health's wine...'

Woman's Day Commercial Shoot

Recently helped out with in the costumes and art department of a Woman's Day commercial shoot. The props were amazing: giant hair dryers, pencils, a huge bull and a cupcake monster.

Emu Aaron

High Steaks

Currently exhibiting at Polymorph Gallery, Enmore.

Photographic series focusing on the relationship between advertising and the meat/dairy/leather industry. Central to these sewn steaks is the concept of a ‘sacred cow’, i.e. something which cannot be tampered with, or criticised, for fear of public outcry. As a recently converted vegetarian, I decided to explore my concerns regarding industry practices through stitching ironic slogans into raw meat.  These images are intended to encourage the viewer to consider the link between their daily consumer choices and the source of these products.

Does the end product justify the means?

Pop Art Cons

Pair of Hi-tops painted with Lichtenstein bomber jets. Regular coats of Scotchguard have kept out the elements so far.

Mash Face Killer

Pen drawing inspired by a recurring nightmare I have. In the dream it’s past midnight and I’m walking alone through a suburban street when I spot a tall figure in a suit standing on the other side of the road. The figure has long arms and talons with a head formed from sculpted mashed potato. The head is featureless apart from the furrowed ridges of pulverized root vegetable which emanate downwards from a swirl at the crown. The creature is silent, head lowered, slightly quivering. I continue walking, uneasy and wary of this stranger. All of a sudden, the creature’s head snaps up, he raises his arms and with claws outstretched runs towards me. I am frozen on the spot, legs like lead posts. He catches me easily and tears into my flesh with his claws until I am left in pieces on the sidewalk. Not sure what the psychoanalytical significance of a mash face killer is but I know I always wake up rattled.

Seahorse Assassins

Series of works portraying the lamentable tale of the mother whale and her calf who strayed into seahorse rebel territory whilst foraging for plankton. Fortunately, the orphaned calf finds a dinghy udder to suckle on.

Tissue Damage

Chlorine allergies and competitive pool swimming don’t mix. This didn’t stop me devoting most of my high school years to swim training. To all my friends who put up with foghorn noseblows and constant sniffles from years 7 to 12, apologies!

Modern Man

Bridezilla

Maneater, watch out boys, she’ll eat you up…

FBi Mural - On the Road

Early this year a good friend of mine, Julian Henderson, and I painted a mural for local Sydney radio station FBi. The theme of the mural was ‘On the Road’. Check out our write up on the FBi Flogsite!

http://flog.fbiradio.com/2010/06/17/pirates-paint-our-wall/

http://www.paintpirates.com/

Here’s a taste of the mural making process.

Octobaby

The joys of bathtime with a cephalopod mollusk.

Badger, be mine?

Woodland romance, who wouldn’t love a bashful badger?