The answer to this would have to involve my public art projects.
In terms of their success, I would most likely look towards two larger ones as being standouts. In this regard the ‘Absolut Dahlsen’ commission alongside the ‘Guardian’ commission are the two of my most favourite projects.
My creative medium shifted from abstract painting to working as an environmental artist, as a result of an artistic accident during the mid 1990’s. I was collecting driftwood, on a remote Victorian Coastline, with the intention of making furniture and stumbled upon vast amounts of plastic ocean debris.
We don’t need to revert to becoming cavemen again, however we do need to safeguard our future by planning to become more natural in every way. This will be the future of our cities, where all of our freshwater is captured from the buildings and our electricity will be generated from renewable sources such as solar and wind.
There is a fine line between pestering and simply being professional and following up. In my experience some of the best media coverage that I have had has come about through my providing a professional and detailed media release. That’s the first step. Following up on this is crucial, even just to find out whether the editor has received the press release that you have prepared.
There were some events where I noticed my works were being bundled together with far too many other auction items, resulting in my work not achieving the kind of price that I was comfortable with. I think what happened with some of these events, was that people just became too focused on quantity and not quality and as a result some really good pieces of art were compromised.
I ended up consulting the local regional Gallery director for his opinion about how I should handle this matter and was advised to just simply stop putting my art up for auction in these local events. This was not easy for me to do because these events were being run by very good friends and many of my contemporaries continued to work up for auction at these events, so in some ways I felt like I separated myself, but it was necessary for me to protect the integrity of pricing scale of my work.
I have found it a great thing to see an artist who I have recommended to enter for a major competition, being actually hung. Sometimes it can be the launch pad for their whole career by being seen in a prominent museum or nationally recognized gallery as part of one of these prizes. The fact is you have to enter in order to have the possibility of being hung all of even possibly winning.
Read through the entry form and conditions thoroughly and ask around to see if the particular prize is reputable and recognized.
If the prize is an international one, check the details very clearly. Many young artists have fallen prey to paying large fees and attending exhibitions and competitions internationally because of the perceived boost for their career and recognition, only to later discover that the particular exhibition was not what they expected.
Sometimes you may wonder whether it’s worth the expense especially if you are producing 1000 or more postcards, in my experience it’s worth the expense simply because it becomes a postcard that people are more likely to hold onto or pass on.
You need to prove yourself over time and build your resume one line at a time, establishing consistent track records of successful shows. You need to convince gallery directors that you’re committed to making art. You must impress curators and critics. And you must demonstrate you’re capable of doing what’s expected – selling well and selling consistently. Galleries don’t establish artists’ reputations – they only enhance them.
I remember in one of my first exhibitions after I got out of art school, I made work with complicated theory, which was reflected in the work in a number of ways that was not very clear to the viewing public. For example many of the artworks were hanging off the wall in very strange angles. They were very odd shapes for canvases and works on paper, however it was not explained in any way that the public could fully understand it.
Whatever it is you do, you need to discover the inner nourishment that brings fulfilment to your life.
One time an interviewer asked the Australian painter Brett Whiteley, “What is more important for you art or life?” He responded by saying: “Life is”. I couldn’t agree more.
On a deep level, creating wealth for example, is adding value. A state of not being divided internally, will automatically attract a state of prosperity, you could call this a state of oneness.
From time to time it’s important to identify the state you are in and how much of you is in conflict with yourself and how much of you is in a state of completeness within yourself.
How is your health?
How is your state of prosperity?
How are your relationships?
Which part of your consciousness are you aligned to – the higher or the lower?
I’m mentioning my own personal experience here, simply because I see that through using some of the above principles, including expanding to higher consciousness, it has helped me come to terms with my life and its challenges.
I believe we have tremendous growth occurring through our activities in the studio as artists. It’s not the intention in this last chapter to go into these particular transformative possibilities, as each of us has experiences in our studios, which form our own individual transformation as artists and form our own transformation with the work. This can happen in the way of making spectacular jumps in perception, simply through being alert to the accident occurring in your work.
Dahlsen, by comparison, is an optimist. To begin with, he’s already made a positive statement by clearing off the unsightly stuff that is lethal to fish and fowl. (Australia’s wildlife conservancies adore Dahlsen’s work, which was hardly his intention, but so be it.)
He wanted to impart a kind of Minimalist stability to his jumbles of deep true colours. One early assemblage of coffee lids, cooler fragments and bottle tops shared the ethereal white-on-white aura of a Robert Ryman abstraction or a William Bailey still life—only much more energetically. Piling up black combs, disposable razors and pieces of rope yielded a Louise Nevelson-like sculpture with attitude.
Immediately I received the sponsorship to the value of $10,000.00. I am amazed how quickly businesses respond to sponsorship requests, when they can see a tangible return. This may give some ideas to those artists who had difficulty raising the money to participate.
Upon arriving at the Biennial, I saw that there was a mixture of professionalism and enthusiasm during the set up days and there was a fair amount of complaining by some artists, who became largely preoccupied with their complaints for the entire length of the Biennial.
I want to explain here, that expense and complication doesn’t have to be the case. I’m now going to teach you in the following explanation, how to set up what is known as a blog.
A blog is essentially a website. On the Internet these days, it is very easy to find blog sites that are free. One such site, which is owned by Google is called blogger.com.
There is also another one called WordPress.com, which is also a great blog facility. Follow these easy steps to set up your own site. Simply follow the prompts, which are as follows:
Speakers need to be able to sell what it is they’re speaking about. This can range from information about modern art, or about sculpture for example.
You need to understand that when you are standing in front of an audience delivering a lecture, making a public speaking engagement, you are selling whatever it is you’re speaking about.
In one sense your topic is already defined. How do you make yourself unique given that the above is true? It is important to remember that whether you’re an artist, a student, a bureaucrat in the arts industry, everyone has their own unique story to tell, this is simply because everyone is different and has had different life experiences that brings them to the point where they are in their lives.
John Dahlsen has been painting and sculpting in his native Australia for the past 20 years. In that time his work has evolved from the formal training he received in art school to incorporating new elements also native to Australia – ocean litter: plastic bags, driftwood, rope and any other detritus washed up on the beach.
