Sayonara 2010 & hello 2011.....

Well 2010 was a busy year with a whole heap of group shows and other happenings going on. The new year is already shaping up to be just as busy with some exciting exhibitions in the pipeline, a couple of new limited edition print releases, some commissioned street pieces and some great news regarding Sydney representation in a unique new gallery space opening shortly...I'll keep you posted.

Thank you all for following this blog in 2010 and
wishing you all the best for this new year! :)

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Cept nothing less.....

Some fantastic pop influenced pieces by Cept
via the esp visuals blog.

Oldskool Charm.....

Found a nice antique frame at a garage sale for a coupla bucks and thought it lent itself to our Micheal Hsiung print —"Portrait of Merman and his illegitimate Child?", with it's old-world charm & all (I think Merman's dapper bow-tie & eyeglass are the attributors to that charm!). I cleaned up the frame and along with the print dropped it down to the old chap at the local framing shop. Below is the result, very happy indeed!


click pic to enlarge.

The art of Michael C. Hsiung.....

I recently bought a little gocco print from a great artist from Los Angeles, Michael C. Hsiung. I really dig his approach to his illustrations. Simple, clean black line work is used to create his quirky characters which are often introduced to you via a dash of narrative, offering an insight into their world. Michael also writes for Headquarters, a blog type site packed with wholesome arty goodness, you should check it out right after you check my cool new print below,"Portrait of Merman and his illegitimate Child?". Then go check out more of his stuff and buy yourself a signed & numbered, limited edition gocco print at his site www.michaelchsiung.com

Ltd. edtn. prints for sale.....

I have 2 limited edition (of 25 only), signed & numbered gocco/screen prints now available..."Krilling for Scientific Porpoises" and "Bung Eye the Blue Bunny with a Pigs Nose". Both are printed on high quality 300gsm archival paper and are cheap at only fifteen smackeroonies each! (that's Australian dollars, under $10 U.S!) For more details and to purchase one, go to my online store here.


"Krilling for Scientific Porpoises"

"Bung Eye the Blue Bunny with a Pigs Nose"

Bateau Bay Rose.....

I pretty much did the most part of my growing up in a quaint (well,not so quaint now) little spot on the Central Coast called Bateau Bay, it's French for "Boat Harbour". It is situated about a one hour's drive north of Sydney. My grandparents bought a little fibro weekender about 30 odd years ago and for many years we would spend our family holidays down on the beach swimming, fishing, snorkelling and surfing. All this was set in amongst the most beautiful bushland and when you felt like you'd had enough of the beach you could always go exploring on the many bush tracks the area had to offer.

In 1985 we moved from Sydney to Bateau Bay, not so far from my grandparents place and only a five minute walk to the beach. At night you could hear the waves crashing and smell the ocean in the air. On that beach is where I would spend my teenage years surfing, fishing and partying. So I have a very strong connection with the place and although I do not live there anymore I still frequent the beach with my two little sons. They too shall hold fond memories of this special place.

All this leads me to yet another person who obviously had a huge connection with Bateau Bay. So, I must ask myself, how in all my years with such a closeness to "the Bay" and such a love for art, have I missed the work of David Rose?

He too, in his early years would regularly travel from the big smoke to to his weekender at Bateau Bay. The place had such an impact that it was the focus on much of his early, near abstract works in the late sixties and early seventies, (before I was actually born), to his much later almost photo-realistic landscape prints in the nineties.

How could I not know of this man I ask myself? Who knows? Ignorance? Yep. Most likely.....remember, all that surfing, partying as a teen and, at the time, good art to me was in the form of a clever Mambo t-shirt and Jim Phillips skate board graphics. (really hasn't changed much!)

Anyway, I was lucky enough recently to be collecting some of my own work from the Gosford Regional Gallery and took a peek at their current exhibition celebrating the print work of mentioned David Rose. Take a look at his brilliant screen prints ,which I have read, would sometimes take up to eight individual screens to just achieve the gradient in the skies!

Click the link below to view a very impressive biography and countless works that span over a 37 year career.
David Rose, 1936-2006.



www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/david-rose
www.gosfordregionalgallery.com/david-rose