Wednesday 8 December 2010

abstractrionala...ode to D-town

as i have been thinking about paint and its application
across the canvas of this old, red, sandstone country...
and as I try to extract a shard of Darwin glass from deep within my foot,
some friends and I will be having a show next year...
3 non-indigenous, abstract, Darwin, local (me for 2 more weeks), painters...

it will be interesting to bring this kind of work to the Darwin audience...
to see if the average punter can understand crazy, marks on a canvas
that are perhaps not totemic, ancestral or connected to country...
maybe this is a good way to understand something

not sure...despite being in leaving zone, it becomes weirdly apparent
that this place inspires me, you, them, us...
even in its gritty bloodthirsty, intensity...there is on this edge of the world
a glory, a splendor and untamed harshness
that keeps it all in check...

have to say, this edginess has kept me here for a dozen years...
two six-packs if we count
in local stubbie-curreny...not even a bloody carton  mate!

but now, this glass in me foot is really painfull,
all things change....
am glad to have sailed here, made work here
and this upcoming show is like a beautiful ending...
or new beginning...it's all the same book anyway....

want to thank the cranky lightning man and Darwin edge
for teaching me about thrashing it out in loud, unrepentant
brush killing strokes
think it will take a while to put it in perspective...

but for now
i sit with a needle
and try to
un-stick
this razor sharp shard that has itself
firmly embedded in my left soul....

d-town....damn....

3 comments:

  1. I doubt you'll get that shard out of your soul...
    Even if you do the wound will always ache for you to return.

    Great image... Hasn't it changed in 12 years.

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  2. was just thinking this pic is couple of years old...there's way more tall stuff in the frame now...thanks.

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  3. Nice to meet you imbi
    My work comes from the ten years living at Ubirr, KAKADU, that wet must be coming
    Like your work
    take care sister

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