Paris Hilton Getting Grilled on Letterman

Another Cool FilmClip

Dance, by French group Justice…

Pine Street Talk on Fine Arts – Part 3

Simon Banks from the MCA runs a scheme called Generation Next – which basically makes art more accessible and less pretentious for teens.

He says the good things working in a Museum are the networking capabilities for one, and obviously the massive exposure to the arts scene.

His tips to get into the lucrative industry is:

• Travel – having had travelled and worked overseas is always appealing in the arts industry. Having canoed down the Conga may not impress an Accounting firm (probably frighten them more than anything) but it is bound to interest artists and curators alike.
• Volunteer – it not only looks great on your CV but gives you great hands on experiences and the opportunity to make good contacts. He suggests approaching smaller galleries as with the big museums such as MCA you mostly end up just photocopying in a dark little room somewhere.

Pine Street Talk on Fine Arts – Part 2

Next on the agenda to speak was Jane Gillings, an art teacher with a very dry and self deprecating humour. A mother of a 15 year old girl she stands with a slight hunch, as though she is embarrassed to be talking in-front of us and I wonder if her high school students stampede over her gentle nature. She is what my high school art teacher would have called a found artist, somewhat of a DuChamp you might say, finding everyday items and turning them into art.

 

Her 11 (she doesn’t know why there were 11) tips to being an artist:

 

1. Why?

   Analyse what it is that you want to achieve from art, and why you feel the need to do it? Perhaps you won’t know for many years but it’s important to start asking yourself the question, and it’s definitely the wrong profession to get into if you are looking for fame and riches!

   “The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don’t go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.” Banksy

   Quote

2. Enjoy

   Speaks for itself really.

3. Support and Share
   Network when and wherever you can. Give your artworks as presents. Exhibit with other artists. Cling on to the contacts you already have for dear life.

4. Experiment and Explore
   Don’t stick to the styles and mediums that you know you are good at. It’s a good idea to take up basic photography as it is a fast way to practice composition.

5. Exhibit
   Try and exhibit your works as much as you can, and Jane points out it helps if you have a cool name but is realistic that it’s too late for most of us.

6. GET OUT!
   Go to exhibitions, analyse other people’s works, try to know about the new artists.

7. Present Well
   When applying for grants, job, exhibition spaces etc follow their rules and guidelines to the detail, write neatly and be prepared.

8. Finish Stuff

9. Record Stuff
   Keep records of your works. Is a good idea to photograph paintings, sculptures, performances etc that you do so you have a visual record of that work that you can show people or remind yourself.

10. Write Stuff
    Keep a blog, and refer people to it.

11. Relax

 

She also recommended a book called ‘Art and Fear‘ by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

Picture/s:
Vincent by Jane Gillings (http://thisbowermyprison.blogspot.com/2007/02/this-bower-my-prison.html)

silverchair’s ‘Reflections of a Sound’ video

I am not, and have never been much of a silverchair fan, although the boys are undoubtley talented, but I love their new film clip for ‘Reflections of a Sound’. See the youtube (I love youtube) clip below. The song itself is a little whatever…

How many modern art references can you pack into four minutes worth of footage?! My favourite is when the lead singer, Daniel Johns, is transformed into a newer, hairer Mona Lisa.

R.I.P Charles Wang

Dear Charles,

Where ever you are right now – we miss you and love you. You had always offered me life experiences that I would never have dreamed of  – Tibet, China, multimedia to name a few – and I will forever be grateful for that. You were a loving ‘Uncle’ to me and TaiTai and you leave a huge void that will be forever noticeable.

I hope you knew just how much I appreciated everything you have done and all the love you gave us. I am so sorry that I didn’t send the card in time to let you know I was thinking of you. That is something I will have to carry with me until we meet again.

 

Pine Street Talk on Fine Arts – Part 1

Last night I went to Creative Pros - a monthly talk at Circular Quay for young artists in Sydney. Last night’s topic was fine art but get in touch with Pine Street Galleries Chippendale if you want to know what other forums are coming up as there have been talks on music, mixed media and more! Best bit is that it’s FREE!!!

The first speaker was Liam Kennedy, an ex-actor who basically decided to open his own gallery – New View Gallery -where his struggling artsy friends could exhibit their works and said a big up-yours to a Hollywood that probably wasn’t paying attention anyway. He was young, scruffy and hairy in the cool Newtown way, wore torn jeans with trendy patches revealed underneath and had an even trendier Newtown looking fiance manning the PowerPoint aspect of things.

The most striking tips, pointers, verbal communication I got out of the talk personally was as follows:

1. If you cannot bear the thought of accumulating a HELP debt, but fancy the idea of tertiary education, you can always do what Liam describes as “…attend University illegally…” which consists of finding out when/where lectures of interest are on. Then you turn up, choose a seat, plant your ass down and start taking notes. Voila – you’re an anarchist intellectual. Viva la learning, or sumfin.

2. William Coles (and his concrete televisions) is an artist to keep an eye out for. C’mon Google! Give me some love here! Where is this guy in the wide world of web?

3. Smaller works will sell better, as there is only so much room for feature pieces in people’s homes, particularly in the small terrace houses typical to inner west Sydney.

4. Works need to be able to stand alone because it’s not really fair to expect that Nanna and Pop will want to fork out all their pension to buy a 7 piece ’story’. People want to be able to buy one thing that will look good in the toilet… Themes are ok though (this is now my opinion) as luck might have it that the guest toilet needs something to spice up it’s life.

Picture/s:
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/customshouse/venues/

Grandstand Series

This grandstand doesn’t exist anymore. It was part of Redfern park – land of the Rabbitohs – and has since been demolished.

Works were based off Nikki’s photos.

The Mares – A Sydney Band

I’m going to see these guys perform on Thursday at The Metro (Sydney) for an MTV thing. Should be well wicked.

See interview with band member Nick Milner (below)

John Stamos Drunk

Check out the initial interview in Sydney that started it all!

Then he continued on with it on Kerri-Anne’s show (you tube clip below).

My favourite moment is when he says his career is dead after he leaves Australia, and then pashes Kerri on the neck. Priceless. It really renews the crush I had on ‘Uncle Jesse’ as a pre-pubescant girl. Why did I ever take down his posters?