Paintings from the Flaming Hot Summer Just Past (pt 1)
I had meant to do a rundown of these about 3 months ago but then the winter gloom got me and I’m only now shaking it off, two weeks out from Spring and the onset of a new painting season.
Well better late then never. So here we go:
I think the first thing to say about them is I definitely took a turn for the more abstract.
They are landscapes, but seem less defined and stable. Though I think people who’ve seen my early work will be able to identify the connecting themes.
I don’t think abstract is a dirty word in art and it has its place. It’s just that it was abused and pushed too hard by the tastemakers, schools, artists, galleries and buying public. I guess all parties should accept a share of the guilt but at the same time it is what people wanted.
One thing that an artist can leverage with the level of abstraction in their painting is how people behave in its presence. Will they look deeply or will they be content to have it as a mood-setter to the general space, so that it plays a subliminal role to other things like human conversation or whatever the space is used for. The good thing about a more abstract painting is less to have to talk about…. usually.
Think of it like jazz or some light background music vs an all-immersive that through its lyrics or instrumentals demands your full attention. One might be okay for a public shop or office, one might not be. One might be want you want to read or doze off on the couch to, the other you want to dance or work on the tools or fight or cook or whatever.
And another from the 2025-26 summer patch which was banged out start to finish in a couple of weeks. The title for this one is: Watch where you’re going.
Another semi-conscious effort. I’ve done towers before, i’ll probably do more. This one was done in the past summer.
More towers. But these were done over several years in stop-start fashion. Probably 2023 to 2026 are the years? Gesso was very smoothly applied.
Mike’s pagoda. 1st design
This one’s pretty dark. I was in a pretty shitty mood throughout the summer so that’s my excuse. Painted pretty quickly in the summer of 2025-26, maybe over the course of 2-3 weeks max?
It’s called: I hate what this country has become.
Also painted in Summer 2025-26 over the space of a mere few weeks. A lot of the texture is from the gesso itself so in effect this painting really was “begun” at that stage.
This one is called: Surfs Up Broseph.
Or maybe a better title is: Caving in.
I dunno….
See this one is interesting:
I began it… who knows how long ago. Several years maybe? Could be 10 years ago, I’m not kidding. And it’s really not that big. Maybe 30×40cm. SO here’s what happened:
The background sky part was definitely done in the old place. And I was kindof afraid to touch it after that because I was so mesmerized by my own trippy effects.
… But that niggled at me. It just sat for year stacked in the unfinished pile.
And I thought “I really really should do something with it. This is becoming a lost opportunity. Becaus as crazy as the sky effect was, it really was only ever meant to be a starting point. I flipped through a sketchbook and found a foreground theme I liked and just went for it. If I spoiled the supreme cosmic trippiness of the background so be it.
…well, disaster didn’t strike. But it was a stop-start affair for another … i dunno… 2-3 years? WHo the fuck knows now.
At some point this past summer I threw on a couple of last splashed and just decided to call it done.
As you can see its a marauding skeleton chasing a speeding hovercar armed with a shield and sabre/machete. The hovercar was a design adapted from a six-part comic book series I embarked upon once in my earl/mid 20s but later abandoned, partially because the scope of the project was too big, and partially because the themes related to urban life in Melbourne before Daniel Andrews so obliterated it. Infact you are never gonna believe me because I was drafting this comic during the very start of his 1st term, but I had him as the inspiration for the main bad guy and he was gonna be called ”Safety Sam” and the comic’s theme was meant to be an attack on Victoria’s nanny-state culture. It was meant to be a darkly-comic comic that still had some brevity in it but, In light of what he subsequently did and how he and all his supporters behaved, I just didn’t see the funny side of it all anymore. He was just that much of a cunt, as was everyone who ever supported him….. And there will be no forgiveness.
Let’s call this one:
Time To Get Outta Dodge: Skeleton chasing a speeding hovercar out of town.
Title: The wog-mansion and the crocodile. AKA This is where the fun happens.
More city turmoil. Painted across 2024-2026 in various stop-start increments.
Name: Misery Guts
TO BE CONTINUED….