Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
breakfast for awesome turds
two cups of coffee
two fresh figs
two white nectarines
one red papaya
one mango
two fresh figs
two white nectarines
one red papaya
one mango
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
blood dream
in hospital
i am resting
i am standing up
the iv that goes into my neck
is caught on my sleeve
i am trying not to pull it out
i am trying to get myself uncaught
it doesn't work out
the iv gets ripped out
and blood pisses
everywhere
it covers me
blood stains the white hospital sheets
but does not show on
my black shorts
a very personal grief
floods this dream sequence
someone comforts me
but i don't know them
or
i can't
remember them
i am resting
i am standing up
the iv that goes into my neck
is caught on my sleeve
i am trying not to pull it out
i am trying to get myself uncaught
it doesn't work out
the iv gets ripped out
and blood pisses
everywhere
it covers me
blood stains the white hospital sheets
but does not show on
my black shorts
a very personal grief
floods this dream sequence
someone comforts me
but i don't know them
or
i can't
remember them
dead friends
i had a sequence of dreams
last week
in it all of my friends died
it was awful
all of you
who are close
to me
were killed
one after another
you were all killed
it made my cry in my sleep
it sucked upped
the moisture of my days
and has gutted me
consistently
since
i am so glad
you are all not dead
last week
in it all of my friends died
it was awful
all of you
who are close
to me
were killed
one after another
you were all killed
it made my cry in my sleep
it sucked upped
the moisture of my days
and has gutted me
consistently
since
i am so glad
you are all not dead
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
unknown unknown
believing in a god and an afterlife
serves a persons self interest
not believing in a god and an afterlife does not
serve a persons self interest
it is this difference
that gives force
to my personal belief
in the latter
serves a persons self interest
not believing in a god and an afterlife does not
serve a persons self interest
it is this difference
that gives force
to my personal belief
in the latter
unknown unknown
it is better to get crying done whilst asleep
better than crying whilst awake
better than crying in public
better than crying whilst awake
better than crying in public
Friday, October 9, 2009
unknown unknown
i have
cut open old scars before
but they
never felt like this
this time
the hurt is slower
it is more numb
it is a permanent
silent loss
and
there is nothing
i
can
do
about
it
cut open old scars before
but they
never felt like this
this time
the hurt is slower
it is more numb
it is a permanent
silent loss
and
there is nothing
i
can
do
about
it
Thursday, October 8, 2009
storm dream
dream
a storm approaches
i am in the house i grew up in
i rush to slide shut the big glass doors
it is hard but i manage to do it
the wind rushes around the house
it is chaotic
i take refuge in the kitchen
in the arched doorway to the lounge
out the window i see people and houses
they are being blown away
i cant remember if i was scared or not
the word maelstrom comes to mind
maelstrom
a storm approaches
i am in the house i grew up in
i rush to slide shut the big glass doors
it is hard but i manage to do it
the wind rushes around the house
it is chaotic
i take refuge in the kitchen
in the arched doorway to the lounge
out the window i see people and houses
they are being blown away
i cant remember if i was scared or not
the word maelstrom comes to mind
maelstrom
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
It was
it is a privileged modern need
but
to simply exist is not enough
to lead a quiet life
is
not enough.
not after
love
passion
lust
and
satisfaction.
but
to simply exist is not enough
to lead a quiet life
is
not enough.
not after
love
passion
lust
and
satisfaction.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Trouble? Trubble?
tropical
moist exotic places
i've always yearned to go
that i went
now i'm down to earth
looks like you've eaten already
you don't even believe in god
lick the blood off my hands
it mixes with my wine
despair on my lonesome
oh shut up
that too much work for you
such a noisy dinner table
ask her to marry you anyway
its just so complicated
harbor a fantasy
she asked me to marry her
i must have nodded off
maybe i'll just forget it
you won't
so i'll just shoot you
point blank
moist exotic places
i've always yearned to go
that i went
now i'm down to earth
looks like you've eaten already
you don't even believe in god
lick the blood off my hands
it mixes with my wine
despair on my lonesome
oh shut up
that too much work for you
such a noisy dinner table
ask her to marry you anyway
its just so complicated
harbor a fantasy
she asked me to marry her
i must have nodded off
maybe i'll just forget it
you won't
so i'll just shoot you
point blank
Thoughts on a show of mine by a friend of mine
Perfect From Now On - 22nd May to 24th June 2009
Brisbane based painter and sculptural artist Christian Flynn has made some big promises in his first Sydney solo show. The space his eclectic and monstrous works occupy in Evan Hughes Gallery both confirm and deny perfection in their frantic negotiation of 2D and 3D space. Perfect From Now On sees Flynn’s aesthetic sensitivity walk the line between beauty and grotesque in a resolute manner that refuses to make assumptions about either. It is this refusal to contextualise which situates his new work, as his artist statement claims, between two conflicting yet equal forces. Flynn believes due to the ambivalence of these visual forces, they are incapable of producing a dominant meaning, rendering any overarching concern muted.
Entering the exhibition, one can see this muted state at work. Every piece is strikingly beautiful and penetrates the gallery space in a fashion which demonstrates Flynn’s balanced aesthetic consideration. These works drive back the viewer by means of protruding planks and board whilst consuming them through a network of neon string that link in an almost cartographic system of connection between these massively scaled constructions. These protrusions are fastened to paintings featuring non-descript geometric and gestural marks in clusters of conflicting colours. Areas of texture are set against areas of block colour. Perfectly ruled diagrams are set against areas of action painting. White space is set against clusters of random symbols. Works mounted on gallery walls are set against other pieces that seem to completely defy gravity. In this way, one can see these conflicting ideas playing out through visual elements. They work both together and against each other to create impressively aesthetic pieces.
An equality of forces cannot be explored without addressing notions of symmetry, symmetry cannot be explored without addressing beauty and beauty cannot be explored without addressing perfection. If we take this exhibition as Flynn’s personal benchmark of his exploration into perfection, how do notions of beauty and symmetry carry when his work is so obviously influenced by Art Povera and a self-consciously grungy aesthetic? Although demonstrations of equilibrium can be seen in his work, these are still aggressive and confrontational pieces.
Believe it or not, the piece titled Portrait of the Artist as a Young Francis Bacon Wannabe/ 30 Year Old Fully Rad Art Knob Guy To The Power of Sick Suffering Erectile Dysfunction may be able to shed light on an answer. This piece seems to have started off as a framed abstract painting which has split into fragments and been impaled on two supporting planks of wood with equally haphazard media nailed to them. The work uneasily contextualises itself into the sculptural- battered with paint, stung by string and supported by the corner of the gallery space. Like his previous works, Portrait of the Artist… is unashamedly and honestly an act of self-portraiture. The exploration of self through the process of art making articulates ideas of perfection as not purely aesthetic ambitions but as personal affirmations. Through utilising a self-consciously disheveled method, Flynn attempts to comment on the human condition using himself as subject. The aesthetic conflicts of his work become personal conflicts. If Flynn’s artworks can encompass human qualities, they themselves become more human and counter intuitively, more perfect. The more precisely Flynn can visually articulate these personal bouts of anger, apathy, dependence, doubt, anxiety and joy, the closer he and his artwork comes to perfection. In this way, the act of balancing out these qualities to a mutable state proves perfection is possible.
Perfect From Now On is an innovative exploration into the tension between contemporary sculpture and painting through the metaphor of personal conflict. It is though these conflicts that Flynn articulates what it is to be human, and it is through these inherit contradictions he is able to negotiate balance in order to discover an enduring sense of perfection. Perhaps the most important testament to the success of Flynn’s practice will depend on where this perfectionism will take him to next.
Brisbane based painter and sculptural artist Christian Flynn has made some big promises in his first Sydney solo show. The space his eclectic and monstrous works occupy in Evan Hughes Gallery both confirm and deny perfection in their frantic negotiation of 2D and 3D space. Perfect From Now On sees Flynn’s aesthetic sensitivity walk the line between beauty and grotesque in a resolute manner that refuses to make assumptions about either. It is this refusal to contextualise which situates his new work, as his artist statement claims, between two conflicting yet equal forces. Flynn believes due to the ambivalence of these visual forces, they are incapable of producing a dominant meaning, rendering any overarching concern muted.
Entering the exhibition, one can see this muted state at work. Every piece is strikingly beautiful and penetrates the gallery space in a fashion which demonstrates Flynn’s balanced aesthetic consideration. These works drive back the viewer by means of protruding planks and board whilst consuming them through a network of neon string that link in an almost cartographic system of connection between these massively scaled constructions. These protrusions are fastened to paintings featuring non-descript geometric and gestural marks in clusters of conflicting colours. Areas of texture are set against areas of block colour. Perfectly ruled diagrams are set against areas of action painting. White space is set against clusters of random symbols. Works mounted on gallery walls are set against other pieces that seem to completely defy gravity. In this way, one can see these conflicting ideas playing out through visual elements. They work both together and against each other to create impressively aesthetic pieces.
An equality of forces cannot be explored without addressing notions of symmetry, symmetry cannot be explored without addressing beauty and beauty cannot be explored without addressing perfection. If we take this exhibition as Flynn’s personal benchmark of his exploration into perfection, how do notions of beauty and symmetry carry when his work is so obviously influenced by Art Povera and a self-consciously grungy aesthetic? Although demonstrations of equilibrium can be seen in his work, these are still aggressive and confrontational pieces.
Believe it or not, the piece titled Portrait of the Artist as a Young Francis Bacon Wannabe/ 30 Year Old Fully Rad Art Knob Guy To The Power of Sick Suffering Erectile Dysfunction may be able to shed light on an answer. This piece seems to have started off as a framed abstract painting which has split into fragments and been impaled on two supporting planks of wood with equally haphazard media nailed to them. The work uneasily contextualises itself into the sculptural- battered with paint, stung by string and supported by the corner of the gallery space. Like his previous works, Portrait of the Artist… is unashamedly and honestly an act of self-portraiture. The exploration of self through the process of art making articulates ideas of perfection as not purely aesthetic ambitions but as personal affirmations. Through utilising a self-consciously disheveled method, Flynn attempts to comment on the human condition using himself as subject. The aesthetic conflicts of his work become personal conflicts. If Flynn’s artworks can encompass human qualities, they themselves become more human and counter intuitively, more perfect. The more precisely Flynn can visually articulate these personal bouts of anger, apathy, dependence, doubt, anxiety and joy, the closer he and his artwork comes to perfection. In this way, the act of balancing out these qualities to a mutable state proves perfection is possible.
Perfect From Now On is an innovative exploration into the tension between contemporary sculpture and painting through the metaphor of personal conflict. It is though these conflicts that Flynn articulates what it is to be human, and it is through these inherit contradictions he is able to negotiate balance in order to discover an enduring sense of perfection. Perhaps the most important testament to the success of Flynn’s practice will depend on where this perfectionism will take him to next.
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