Tracey Levett's CURRENT EXHIBITION - LUMINESSENCE
An Exhibition of paintings at the Australian Consulate New York Opening Night ~ WEDNESDAY 2ND MAY 2012 ~ 6-8pm 150 East 42nd Street 34th Floor NEW YORK NY

I met Tracey Levett in my late teens, our families became friendly through our Irish heritage and the love of Irish Music. Many years passed without contact and when we finally reconnected about 5 years ago we were both surprised and happy to learn that we had both followed our passion for painting.

Artist Interview

I had the following conversation with Tracey about her paintings and what inspires her on her creative journey.

Sean: What inspires you as an artist

Tracey:  I'm inspired by beauty, by courage, by generosity. By people. Often people who have no idea that they are inspirational because they quietly go about doing what they do in such a natural and generous fashion. Nature also inspires me, the diversity and the abundance. When I'm thinking does the world really need another painting I think about the Artist that creates millions of the same flowers year in year out which gives me permission to be creative.

Sean:  Why do you love painting

Tracey:  I love painting because it's such a direct way to translate feelings into something physical and in a much more subtle way than I can with words ( even though I love words. I love the openess of interpretation that each person brings when they view the painting. I also love the solitaryness of painting and that after a period of time in the studio you have a record of that experience, unlike music which can be so ephemeral.

I also love the unpredictability of it and that you often start out with no idea what your going to create. Then I love the juicyness of paint I think it's delicious. I hope I live for a very long time as there are so many aspects I want to explore. Charcoal, sculpture, photography anything creative excites me.

Sean:  What can you share for anyone wanting to tap into their creativity

Tracey:  Just start, don't worry about being unable to draw or sing or whatever, just find something that makes your heart sing and go for it. Follow your bliss everytime!  

Also most importantly don't give a toss what anyone thinks ( not always easy!!

Sean:  What type of  art has inspired you over life

Tracey:  I love Cy Twombly because it's so free and it looks so spontaneous. I also love Lloyd Rees and the late Turner paintings because they feel connected to creation itself: I love anything with great feeling I love your work Sean for that very reason.

Sean:  How does music play a part in your creativity

Tracey:  I use music to get in the zone to tap into a certain mood which gets my creative juices flowing. There are also times when I feel I need silence to paint. 

Visit Tracey website and artist blog

www.traceylevettart.com

I was up early on Saturday to drive my partner from Byron Bay to Coolangatta Airport to catch a flight to Sydney for family and business meetings. It was a perfect sunny day in the Northern Rivers and as we drove down the highway we caught an intriguing discussion on ABC radio called "Design" which featured some of the world's best designers talking about the age old art of storytelling. On returning to Byron, I detoured to the Tweed River Art Gallery for an early morning sneak preview of Pressing Currents: a selection of new work by Hobie Porter.

The display features Hobie's new sea-scape oil paintings, meticulously painted in a manner reminiscent of the old masters. The collection suggests a certain precariousness regarding the relationship between our civilisation and its surrounding environment. Pressing Currents is scheduled to coincide with World Environment Day on Sunday 5th of June, 2011 and is one of the Global initiative programs stimulating community awareness for a greener and positive future.  

What struck me as I stood in front of his beautiful large painting, Resorption, is his gift for combining action and repose while retaining the overwhelming strength of the ocean. The painting’s sky is filled with a large helix of rope, continuously winding to form an enclosed torus, suspended above a powerful barrage of waves. I was left with the feeling that this rope had been twisted by the currents of the sea over a very long time to create its own vortex of energy.

I loved the use of unexpected objects in other paintings, such as an old barnacle-encrusted bottle in one, an old cricket ball in another, all set against the expansive beauty of the ocean.  It was tempting to ask about the history and meaning of these objects to the artist.

I had the opportunity to ask my own questions about his new work and take a photograph of him to remember this occasion.

Artist Interview with Hobie Porter

Sean: How did you go about realizing your current works?

Hobie: A fundamental question for me is: how does one go about transcribing a sense of energy from the ocean to the painting satisfactorily? My technique has grown to accommodate a layering of paint in an indefinite manner. Somehow the synthesis of these layers aggregate into something that can be recognised. How I realise the paintings remains something of a mystery even to myself. That’s part of what fuels my practice. A person can work in the studio all day knowing they aren’t getting far. Sometimes it all comes together by refocusing or trying a different approach. Those are the moments I wait for- they can’t be conjured or predetermined.

Sean: Can you tell me about the studio space where you work and did it inspire you to create these works?

Hobie: The studio is a solitary space, unencumbered by neighbours, a kind of arcadia, close to the elements. No human noise, apart from occasional air traffic. It’s close to the rainforest, which I find helps me concentrate.

Sean:  How does working with environmental themes nourish your creative practice?

Hobie: Creativity for me is about being open to environmental influence. So many things cascade into our minds from our surrounds, the trick is to take it all in, and then construct a visual semblance out of the forms and ideas that resonate with particular gravity. There is so much in the environment that is ignored, which stands to reason. The environment is not an attention seeker, doesn’t participate in today’s rampant consumer culture.

Sean:  Is science or maths a motivating factor in your paintings?

Hobie: Not always. My recent interest in hypothetical pathways of electrical energy has provided me with some intriguing information regarding the passage of least resistance. It turns out that electrical fields find a frictionless expression twisting helically along the path of a torus. It’s a phenomenon determined by the void around which the energy spins. But that information isn’t necessary to be inspired to paint. The painting must function first on an intuitive level for me. I have engaged with mathematics to achieve a visual end in the past. Sacred geometry is a topic normally associated with manifestations in the natural world, which becomes interesting to me when applied to manufactured objects.

Sean:  How did you come up with the idea for your current exhibition Pressing Currents?

Hobie: I have been reading texts concerning the sublime and thinking about the sea for a long time. Subliminally speaking, the beach could be described as a threshold, beyond it lays the ocean’s unknowable depths- an abyss of sorts. The sea has also been in the minds of many with the advent of global warming and the effect that may have on sea-levels. I have long been intrigued by artefacts left behind from collapsed civilisations, and fascinated by our current civilisation’s persistent belief in its own immunity. It occurred to me that I could set out on a body of work in the spirit of science fiction and imagine a future beyond our civilisation, when the only things that mark our existence are everyday items, lost, abandoned or jettisoned.

Sean: Resorption is the first painting I saw as I walked into the Tweed River Art Gallery.  It acts like a magnet drawing me in. Can you tell me more about the painting?

Hobie: Resorption refers to cyclical occurrences and continuity. There’s something mesmerising about watching waves constantly rolling in. The rope winds into a continuous circular form to structurally reinforce that idea. As a child, I remember visually following M.C. Escher’s Mobius Strip II, simply delighted and beguiled by the idea that there was no beginning and no end for Escher’s ants crawling along its thread. This notion of continuity helps me access the marvellous within the ordinary, which is really quite miraculous when one is prompted to look at it from a different view.

Sean: How did you find, or what prompted your imagination to include the objects in the seascapes?

Hobie: The seascapes were never divorced from the objects in my mind. My challenge may well be to paint a seascape without an object.

Sean:  For someone who has lived his whole life in the cradle of Mt Warning, what is your experience on seeing the epic oil painting by artist Elioth Gruner created in 1921 titled Valley of the Tweed which is on loan from the Art Gallery of NSW?

Hobie: It’s a pleasure to see it again. I think about the painting often. It’s interesting to note that Gruner was after the “perfect” picture when AGNSW commissioned him to paint it. That work needs to be read in its historical context. Most of the land is depicted cleared. In those times, cleared land really signified society’s achievements in terms of a shared, idyllic, pastoral settlement. There were also a series of droughts that sparked a number of bushfires leading up to Gruner’s depiction of it. However the painting looks surprisingly verdant. Most of the people of the Tweed today place a much greater emphasis upon biodiversity, ecology and regenerative values, so cleared land now signifies destruction and violation; so a hillside of ringbarked eucalypts evokes very different connotations.

Sean: Is there any one painting, or artist, or artists who have inspired you?

Hobie:. There are too many to discuss. I have been concerned with Lucien Freud over the last year, how he achieves such a sense of space in his works to the point where you physically feel the vertigo. I am attracted to works that have survived through time, that remain relevant regardless of their era of origin.

To learn more about Hobie's art you can visit his website here: http://www.hobieporter.com/

Introduction

In 2008, I embarked on a journey to create a gallery  that would not only be good but do good. In October of that same year, with the help of some creative friends, I launched the LA Art House in West Hollywood, California. Our first show was the culmination of research and love and we filled it with emerging artists from near and far, including the musical and spirited work of Sean O’Shea. Somehow, the internet had brought us together and over the course of several weeks, we kindled a wonderful friendship. Sean’s work is lively, colorful and warm - the very qualities that define the LA Art House.

Our opening night was a wild success and we attracted many buyers and admirers to our opening including museum directors, celebrities and dear friends. As per our mission, we donated all the profits to the Hammer Museum to support “Hammer Projects” which is an international exhibition forum that showcases emerging artists from around the world. It seemed perfect that Sean contributed his paintings to our grand opening as his intrepid commitment to painting is what we celebrate here at the LA Art House. I have been blessed with the opportunity to open a space dedicated to artists like Sean who live and breathe to make art and thus, make the world a far better place. It is my hope that you find yourself inspired by his buoyant style, his sincere love for his craft and his good nature, which shine through his pictures. – Margie Perenchio, Artist and Executive Producer "Frida"  Oct 2009

Group Exhibition. Emerging Artists of any age

In June 2008 I received an email enquiring about artwork for sale on my website. She wrote,"This is an enquiry to http://www.seanoshea.com.au from: Margaret Perenchio. I really like your dancers are they oil works or are some done in pastels? What is your price range? Do you sell through the internet or are you with a gallery exclusively? Write back to me. I live in Los Angeles". I emailed back and informed Margie that the art works she liked had been sold. Margie replied explaining was planning to open a Fine Art Gallery just west of Robertson on Beverly Boulevard with her business partner in the heart of an exclusive Los Angeles neighbourhood known for its elite galleries.

It turned out that Margie Perenchio was not only an accomplished artist but also a respected Hollywood film producer and philanthropist, best known as the executive producer of the film "Frida" staring Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderros, a fascinating biopic about the life of famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The many emails that followed between Margie and I were, from my perspective, both exciting and exhausting. Then Margie asked for my phone number and for almost an hour we talked. She invited me to be part of an exciting new exhibition for emerging artists  to be shown in L.A and how she had originally thought I was an American artist when she had first pulled up images from my website.

Margie sounded like Hollywood royalty and to cap it off her business partner was Ann Moss, the wife of Jerry Moss best known for founding A&M Records with Herb Alpert. Margie she said that Ann had looked at my work and really liked what she saw. Both agreed they hadn't thought about going outside the U.S. to give emerging artists a chance in their new gallery, alongside established American artists. Then came the crunch - could I do two original works and send them to the U.S. in time for their selected group exhibition. I had only two weeks to complete the assignment!

Looking back I realise those two weeks were a nerve wracking roller coaster ride, trying to get all the materials, paints, canvases stretched to complete the paintings and fulfill Margie's request. Emails came regularly reminding me that the exhibition was in just a few weeks and that my work would be exhibited with top American artists and in particular with eminent sculptor, Robert Graham the husband of actor Angelica Huston. While I painted, family and friends became very excited about Margie and her husband, Jerry Perenchio, the well respected businessman and film and television producer whose famous projects include the cult classic "Blade Runner" and who has been associated with many major projects.

The goal of Margie's gallery is to support the fine arts and she generously donates 100% of her profits to the "Hammer Museum" to support their various projects. The Hammer Museum is an internationally recognised exhibition program which supports emerging artists. The Exhibition took place with some of Hollywood's best known celebrities in attendance. It was an extraordinary experience,  and a great thrill to be part of the exhibition.

What started as a simple email enquiry from a website, lead to my art being exhibited and sold in a very special exhibition in L.A!

(w ) 99cm x (h) 130cm charcoal and pastel on paper 2009

The Byron Bay bowling club next week is about to undergo a transformation to a futuristic cabaret featuring the BlackTop Circus Theatre 's highly anticipated show "2011: a Space Oddity".

Dylan called by my studio this week to talk about the BlackTop circus and his upcoming show and he performed a skillful balancing act using a large broom which he balanced on his chin and forehead. According to Dylan the idea for the circus began on a rainy night in Tasmania. "The sky had opened up and the campsite was about to be inundated. Then as if from nowhere, the guys from 'Pog' ran over with their 5 x 5 metre black tarpaulin and covered most of our campsite using a king pole which turned the cover into a big black tent. All that was needed was for me to step in and host a rogue stage show and the BlackTop Circus was born. "

Dylan went on to explain that the subsequent shows that followed included well known performers who were encouraged to try new things or rediscover old acts. For example, aerial artists who lacked apparatus were encouraged to perform acrobatics or juggling and if the mood took them to incorporate comedy into their routines. This challenge to step outside their comfort zone and be innovative still applies to each circus performer in a show today. Dylan has been involved in both music and theatre in one way or another for most of his life and was introduced to the world of circus entertainment by none other than Circus Arts head coach (and long time love) Tanya Bilaniwskyj.

"Music, circus and theatre are such beautiful and often hilarious outlets for creativity. I am lucky to have become an active part of all three"  Since the first BlackTop cabaret he has set himself the challenge of writing live music plus a storyline that manages to tie in the seemingly random feature acts into a story relating to the theme of the Show. Most of Dyl E Bob and Chico's (the two main characters) humour is conveyed through storytelling and music. The Byron Bay Bowling Club is an unusual place for a production of this sort but it illustrates the innovative approach taken by the BlackTop circus theatre.

"We turn the middle of the club into a theatre," says Dylan. "Each show is generally based on the fictional experiences of Dyl E. Bob, Chico and Herbe the 3 legged pig. We also have our theatre designer and close friend Fiona Moon on board who has been a huge part of the process for the last few years. Fiona makes our curtains, props and is a kind of ear for my creative fallout.