Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Narcissism lies buried in the heart of all artists

Narcissism is a term that originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water








Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I Wonder Why


creative choice

 “ Cheralyn ( http://cheralynlim.blogspot.com.au ) is one of the only few people in this industry that I consider a friend. I’ll probably talk to her once a week . We both have a love for art and we hate a lot of the same stuff." 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

"You're Not Dead"


masterpiece

"I've known Georgina Glanville for a long time, she's super cool, super grounded, super smart and super talented, I've always had the deepest respect for her, and her Art. I was thrilled to work with her, it's a really great honour."





golden era

It's cool to be aware. It's cool to know who was popping back then.



Sunday, July 7, 2013

Lydia Delectorskaya – Matisse’s Last Muse

A nude woman, one who stirs creative inspiration, locked in a studio with a male artist, growing closer and more intimate each day, is a recipe for a sexual affair. It’s happened countless times. So it’s logical to assume that a model-dependent artist like Henri Matisse spent equal time seducing his models as he did painting them. Seems to come with the territory. But unlike many of his peers (namely the predatory Picasso), Matisse abstained from sexual affairs and kept his relationships with his models largely platonic. This is not to say that Matisse was an angel or devoid of a sex drive. He just wasn’t particularly lascivious and exercised comparatively more self-control than you-know-who

;-)This was not, however, any comfort to Madame Matisse, who was still threatened by her husband’s close relationship with Lydia Delectorskaya. A golden-haired beauty from Siberia, Lydia was orphaned at a young age, and managed on her own wits and mettle to flee Russia in its tumultuous post-Revolution years. Somehow she ended up in Nice, France, broke, with no job or connections. As luck would have it, Lydia found employment in the Matisse household as both a studio assistant and domestic.

lydia-with-dress

Matisse’s gentle and civilized manner was a welcome tonic to Lydia’s rootless and itinerant early life. She had met many unkind and untrustworthy people along her journey and endured some hard times, but in the company of Matisse, she found solace and a beneficial, positive influence. Hilary Spurling’s acclaimed and exhaustively researched biography on Matisse, contains great insights into the relationship between Lydia and Matisse. Here’s an excerpt:

It was not for another three years that the painter asked her to sit for him. Lydia was 25, Matisse was 65. She thought of him as a kindly and polite old gentleman because (unlike previous artists, who had taught her to detest modeling) he never pawed at her or tried to take off her clothes. “Gradually I began to adapt and feel less ‘shackled,’ ” she wrote, “ . . . in the end, I even began to take an interest in his work.” . . . Matisse said he came eventually to know her face and body by heart, like the alphabet. The collaboration they established together gave Lydia a new sense of power and purpose.

Matisse’s famous 1947 portrait of Lydia:

matisse-lydia

Although Lydia insisted that the relationship was strictly platonic, Matisse’s wife was jealous nevertheless. A spouse’s intimate bond with another, even if purely professional or emotional, is often greater cause of jealousy than sex. And the already rocky marriage of Matisse and Amelie was put to the test. Given an ultimatum, “It’s me or her”, Matisse chose his wife over Lydia. The issue was settled, right? Wrong. Madame Matisse still could not get over her feelings of betrayal, and in 1939 she left her husband after 40 years of marriage.

Lydia in the studio:

mpm_112

Lydia returned to her role as Matisse’s studio assistant, and the two friends together braved the turmoil of World War II, and the German invasion of France. They were the closest companions for the rest of Matisse’s life, with Lydia acting as both caretaker and assistant, doting on Henri, seeing to his comfort, keeping him vital, and supporting his later artwork, notably his historic paper cutouts.

Toward the end, the faithful Lydia tends to the frail, aging Matisse:

yq

The bond between Lydia and Matisse proved to be unbreakable. Steadfast, she stayed by his side until his last breath. Again from Spurling’s excellent book, this quote describes their last tender moment, the artist’s final sketch of his trusted and devoted muse:

Matisse died on November 3, 1954. He was 84. The day before, Lydia had come to his bedside with her newly washed hair wound in a towel turban, accentuating the classical severity and purity of the profile Matisse had so often drawn and painted. He sketched her with a ballpoint pen, holding the last drawing he ever made out at arm’s length to assess its quality before pronouncing gravely, “It will do."

I got to say it was a good day (shit!)




Drunk as hell but no throwin up


Friday, July 5, 2013

Newrules by Phoebe

Our first meeting was overdue. We had coffee at Alimentari on Brunswick St one morning. I see Louis as sitting up at a high wooden bench eating fruit salad inscribing a notebook with visions. Louis thinks and walks and when he talks his purposeful almost choreographed gestures. At this point he hadn't lost his maroon cap and wore it everywhere. That lies next to the notebook.

Louis and I rambling through plateaus of imagination. Then there's Minna crossing Brunswick Street in heart shaped glasses looking glamourous despite having partying all night with Gonzalo Ceballos. It had been Minna & Georgie Glanville's opening at Rearview the previous evening and we'd all been there dispersed among many.

Gonzalo is late and keeps his sunglasses on. I can feel a head fracturing like glass the aftermorning of cheap champagne. We all say Hi order coffee and are going to talk about the show. Ofcourse first we all talk about dancing.

My works aren't realised. I think I don't know these people. I think of how art possibly inheres. It is as if only feeling inheres and swings. Sometimes one is feeling thinking. This is so unplanned. How will the show come together when something is said about camouflaged wallpaper. Sometimes it's just best to do whatever you want.

Of installation I remember the newly dark psychology of Minna's Tie Dye dropped off in Louis room. I liked it. I thought of Dustin Hoffman floating his family pool in The Graduate.

Louis decides all KSAS openings are on the last day of the first month. Is that easy or difficult to organise. Something on wheels a trolley or a suitcase picks up the drinks from the Thirsty Camel.

Many friends and others sitting in Louis garden out back laughing and smoking drinking and sharing speaking. Dark foliage. Evening. Lotte and Rowans bedroom.

I drank some sake. Sometimes I get overexcited and forget all the people I forget how to be respectably excited. Such immanent fun the bright gallery.

I must thank Alice Mathieu for an everready support and counsel and bankrolling silk number from Opening Ceremony. Alice strongly encouraged me to wear the ensemble to my opening. As I descended into the gallery via a staircase Sam Fagan asked me if I what I was wearing were pajamas. Camouflé descendant un escalier.

No Soda We are Not Receptacles. The spirit level can make for an excellent hang.