Architecture and the Cliche

Even before I was in my first year of architecture I studied drafting and in this class we had to design a building for a ‘client’ who happened to be a fellow classmate. Our brief was a house for a musician, so of course the first thing we did was design a house that looked like a piano, with a guitar shaped swimming pool out the back.

As I entered architecture school we studied design subjects which challenged us to avoid the clichéd and design structures which accommodated the brief as well as made an architectural statement and took account off the context and surrounding community. It seemed that this form of design thought permeated all forms of architectural ideals, ideals that formed a sense of social and community responsibility with quality design and avoiding the clichéd. Or so I thought.

I recently was reading design boom and saw 3D design images for a new residential development in china which attempts to be environmentally conscious and make a comment on the local environment. However it appears that it only does this by imitating it. The structure is made to look like hills in the distance with apartments forced in the shapes to suit the form.

The design images are probably the best thing about this project indicating a ribbon of green with landscape elements and show some thought into incorporating environmental elements into an architectural design. However, in my opinion this ideal has been lost with the forest, and I use the term loosely, of units and balconies. It seems to me to be a very clichéd approach in a nation which is desperately building high density apartment blocks for a rapidly expanding population.

For the full story and all the images go to the design boom story: www.designboom.com

High School art portfolio

The cleaning continues and now its time to decide what to do with the old high school art projects. To be honest I am surprised it lasted this long, and sadly alot of it, due to general neglect, is a little worse for wear. After throwing alot of it in the bin there are a few pieces which I still have a hard time throwing out, even with its dubious content and skill.

It is funny looking back at the old pieces and seeing some of the early attempts at 'politically motivated' art work. I used to be interested in politics and world affairs. My simple approaches seem childlike with comments such as chemicals in our meat and global warming. In my defence I was a teeanger at the time with lofty thoughts of attempting to change the world. I assumed for the best.

So this is my artist legacy as it stands, and whilst these pieces won;t make it to any art gallery walls modern technology allows me to record it for prosperity. Forever in a blog.

So I never really like my face much - get a new nose haha yeah funny

red shirt blue tie, classic

I must have liked basketball at some stage

Ok so it goes a little something like this, hormones are eaten by the cow delivered courtesy of the multnational drug companies, we get addicted ergo more money for the big boys...get it? hmmmm

Planes falling appart, perhaps I foresaw the collins class submarines debarcle, i knew i must have been ahead of my time

So I actually like this one, my very first stencil and 4 colours! supposedly an advert for a fictional guitar manufacturer - Fever guitars! get the fever!!!

ummmm...i never played dungeons and dragons, I suppose a prt of me always wanted to

A competition entry for a softdrink company, first time I had used an airbrush, and spent so much time on it, but it still looked ordinary. At least I learnt about how to overwork a project and to leave well enough alone.

So theres a bit of a snapshot of my high school art career, naieve but colourful.

An Homage to a Mirage

Recently my beloved car - the little red rocket - found itself in a car dealers yard as part of a trade in deal for a new vehicle. It has been 10 fantastic years of trustworthy and reliable service from the little car, and the rocket will never be forgotten.

A few last photos before it heads into the unknown, hopefully with a new and good owner and home...with the door, clutch and timing belt fixed p of course. There comes a time when all the strange rattles and noises add up to $$$$$ and its time to move on. So after 253,000 kms it was tme to say good bye.

God's speed little rocket

public art

on one of my recent journeys around the city of brisbane had a walk over the new kurilpa bridge and around Donovan Hills Santos Place. Having always been a fan of public art I was happy to see the new piece in the public access.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

ONCE, AGAIN, Lincoln Austin, Northbridge Building, North Quarter Lane, Santos Place, 2009

Stencils on Paper

These are a collection of the lastest stencil artworks I have produced over the past week or so. A collection of pop culture icons painted with different techniques. Have discovered some interesting images can be produced with spray paint allowing for different textures by allowing more or less paint from the can. Have attempted to combine stencils with interesting backgrounds and textures. These were all done by cutting my stencil images from paper and spraying with aerosol paint. I have started to experiment with 2 layers with varing degrees of success, over spray is a problem. This is where paint creeps under the stencil not leaving a defined edge, and because i am somewhat of a perfectionist about these things it tends to bother me a little. The johnny cash ones I like and the SS Chavelle, however I am hoping to include some australian cars in the future. These originals and some prints will be available for purchase for a modest price at the Darra Fair coming up this sunday from 2pm onwards. Come down and check it out, even if its only to watch Bolt on the bigscreen, I haven't seen it yet so i might be in the crowd pushing small children out of the way. As always comments and suggestions welcome.

sushi

I Enjoy Painting and I enjoy eating, so theres the ultimate combination. pop art for arts sake.

Fast Food

This is the first in a series of artworks based around ordinary objects in particular fast food. The new family meal is now made up of deals of fast food. The artwork is a combination of pop-art and illustration

Latest Paintings

A selection of my latest paintings trying to get ready for a few shows which are coming up.

Traffic Signal Box

Ok, so sometimes you have to stand back at what you have created and just say 'wow, that is really ordinary'. As is the case in question. Brisbane City Council allows for the traffic light boxes alongside intersections, to be painted with whatever creative idea a local artist come up with. Designs do have to be approved however local members of the community are encouraged to participate. The box I designed centred around the local East's rugby league football club and thecommunity links of sport. However this idea was just prior to all the problems with high ranking professional football players and I subsequesntly lost my passion for the design. However here it is in all its glory...the submitted design is included for reference...

And this is what they should probably look like: http://svc189.bne146v.server-web.com/artforce/search.asp?submitted=yes&title=painted

tattoo sketches

beginning draft sketches of tattoo...

Brisbane at night

Courtesy of my new tripod I am finally able to take all those night time photos without all the jittering. Opening the lense at night I felt always allowed for capturing movement within a static form like a photo such as the blur of car lights and people moving through the picture frame. However I am currently struck by the sombre stillness of man made objects standing in the built environment. These human made objects built to add convience to humans appear so void of life but still possess a strong beauty.

Latest Project: using the disused

The latest piece of furniture in my lounge room now holds up the television and DVD boxes. In a past life this cabinet held kitchen cups and crockery above the kitchen bench. After salvaging it from a renovation job, I added a top, and painted it a bright sun yellow. With the addition of some castors it now has a differnt purpose in life and we now stare at it all day and night whilst pretending to watch the black box. still have to add the glass doors back on and would like to put a frosted grahpic on these. So I suppose you could consider this a work in progress. The photos show the before and after, see if you can tell the difference.

The night of the mis-understood vegetation

This is one angry carrot, drawn during my angry jerk period. However owing to the fact that I am getting older the angry jerk period might rear its ugly head again and hang around for a bit longer.

But who can tell...

Its raining outside, and it has taken me quite by surprise. I can only hope that no more water comes in through the roof. Kind of ironic I suppose with the fact that I am supposed to be an architect. However I do live in an apartment block, so can hopefully be excused.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable evening and does not have to resort to the use of overly aggresive vegetables to sort out thier issues.

warning: do not try to feed this carrot to you guinea pig.

scribbles

sketch from the sketch book, very rough and more of a doodle, was fun to just let the pen run for a while and see what appears...

new stencil of oceans 11 - spray paint on canvas

latest stencils

doing some work for an upcoming fair and thought i should post the first few pieces to roll of the assembly line...

Reggie da guinea pig comic

prototype for reggie the guina pig comic

Stencil art

some older stencil paintings i have done, some personal some commissions...

this is something i really enjoy doing, and it all started with wonder woman, I love doing pop icons and cartoon. These were all done on canvas with spray paint.

traffic signal boxes

Have been doing some sketches for submission to paint a traffic signal box, which is located next to the traffic lights. This has been submitted to the council authority and i am currently waiting approval or otherwise. I tried to incoporate some local activities in coorparoo including the local football gound and the swimming pool.

black and white scan - in pen and ink

scan coloured in photoshop

As a bit of a side note I love playing computer games, and the latest addiction is Gordon Ramsays hell's kitchen. Now this is a horrible game that is stressfull and so very addictive, i have been playing it on Wii. Just so that someone else doesn't 'accidentially' erase all the high scores, the screen shot shows them all in arcade mode...yes thats right, 137 for executive che...thats more than double hot bastard...