rubik 7 + Streamer Monster

James Lynch, Andrew McQualter, Ricky Swallow and I started rubik in 1998.We wanted to try a different kind of operation to the quasi-institutional model of the artist run space.

We made photocopied books of artists' drawings, and also had a few shows in different places, with ourselves and other people we liked. We were all interested in drawing, and we felt they were an aspect of artists' practice that didn't get shown enough. There were some people we felt were very rubik  and others we thought were totally not rubik.

In 1999 when Ricky, James and I had studios at Gertrude Street, and Andrew lived down the street, we had this party.

I don't know if there are any photos around from the actual party. It wasn't super crowded, but it was fun.  I was supposed to hand out invitations at the VCA, where I was working, but I felt really shy and ended up just leaving them on the students' desks at about 4.30 on the afternoon of the event.

We hung streamers all across the big  windows, and I took these photos at the clean  up.

I showed them in this format at the Gertrude Street studio artists's show that year.

I did some paintings of the pile of streamers as well, and I almost put them in the show, but decided on the photos instead. There were 5 of these paintings and they hung in a horizontal line.

All photos Kenneth Pleban

Years later Blair Trethowan told me he really loved these photos, and that he wished  I'd show more of this kind of spontaneous photography.

For the show at Uplands organised as a tribute/fundraiser for Blair in 2008 I made a short video on my phone of Sam and the kids playing mini golf at Inverloch. I liked it because the kids keep walking and jumping through the course as Sam is trying to take his shot so he can't see what he's doing and they are oblivious. The idea was to text it to whoever wanted it. I don't have a copy any more - it was on my phone which got wet going through the George River at Lorne a couple of years ago.

I am heading to market!

I am taking my brooches to the Blackbird Market,  this Sunday the 18th November,
from 12-5, at the Perseverance Hotel in Brunswick St, Fitzroy. Are you are on the lookout for a unique and very reasonably priced Christmas gift?

Let x=x

Geoff Newton curated this show at  Rearview a couple of years ago. My work is adhesive vinyl on banner vinyl. They were one metre square. The other  artists are Pat Larter (the glitter painting on the end wall), Liang Luscombe had a painting but she had to take it out before the photos got taken, and the jewellery is by Diedre Hoban.

Photos courtesy of Geoff Newton

Remember this from a few months ago?

Does anyone want it?

I had it up at Arc 1 but now it's back.

 I can come round and install it if you like.

I've been making some brooches

Deep Secrets

I did this show at Uplands in 2003. This is the only photo I have, I think Jarrod took it. 

These drawings are vinyl on water colour paper. There were four of them in the show. They were really hard to do, because I had this big roll of heavy paper, which I cut into  large sheets, but the paper desperately wanted  to stay rolled. I had to put all my books and boxes and hammers and any heavy things I had to hand on the ends to keep them flat enough so I could apply the vinyl. Also, if I made a mistake with the placement and had to pull the vinyl up it tore the surface of the paper, so it was stressful to do. I was pregnant with Charlie at the time, and the huge stomach contributed a lot to the difficulty.

One of these got sold, but because the paper never really flattened out, the vinyl ended up pressing against the perspex of the frame, leading to a bad plastic + plastic encounter. I had to make another one for the collector, which I dreaded, but by that stage I wasn't pregnant any more so it was quite easy. All the other ones got wrecked in the frames too, but I didn't bother remaking them.

The moral of this story is...? I don't know.

Julia

This was a show above the Carlton Hotel, in Bourke St. Mark Feary was the curator. There was me, Damiano Bertoli, Rob McHaffie, Matt Griffin, James Lynch, Tony Garifilakis, Sue Dodd, Pat Foster and Jen Berean. It was February, 2007.

Each artist got a room in what had recently been a  boarding house. The spaces were really dirty. I had planned to clean mine up, do a floor/wall drawing and hang a cardboard sculpture from the ceiling, basically, my usual work, but after a few hours in there, I felt silly about it. It  felt like the art was sitting very precariously on top of the unhappiness of the space.  The idea of writing my name on the door in children's painted wooden letters just came to me as a way to represent the absurdity and bravery of trying to  name a space your own  in that situation.

I put the bits of cardboard and the rolls of vinyl in the cupboard.
Some people told me they'd looked for my work but it had been stolen. Not sure if they were joking or not. Other people thought I had battered the walls and smashed up sink myself as part of the work.

James Lynch's work "Chinese Laundry' was a particular highlight for me. So was Rob McHaffie's "Machine not working" which now hangs above my computer. 

I'm not sure who took the photos - let me know if you do!