What is Environmental Art # 3?
Sustainable art might be an alternative term to environmental or green art, in recognition of the challenges that sustainability brings for contemporary art as a whole.
Donating your art for fundraising auction events # 2
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.
Donating your art for fundraising auction events # 1
While charity events can be great marketing opportunities for you, the mix of people who attend include people with no interest in art as well as potentially, the serious collector. Anything is possible, just be sure to manage your expectations.
Competitions and Prizes # 2
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.
Competitions and Prizes # 1
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.
Business cards and post cards
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.
Artists exhibiting in a commercial art gallery # 2
Now it’s not a case of all bad stories. Of course there are exceptions and this is why I mention these cases. In my experience I have had some of the most amazing connections and experiences with certain art galleries and their directors. I remember one art gallery director who had a premium gallery in Western Australia and I was a member of his stable. He knew I had a certain amount of debt at the time and wanted to see how I would make my art being completely free of debt and certain of a regular income. So he cleared my debts for me and put me on a retainer, which lasted for well over a year. During this time I ended up producing some work, which to this day I am still very proud of. It was critically acclaimed and helped to establish me at the time. I will always be grateful to this particular person for his kindness and generosity.
Artists exhibiting in a commercial art gallery # 1
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.
Artist’s statements
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.
Artist statement: The Inner Artist
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.
Artist statement: The Inner Artist 3
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?
Artist statement: The Inner Artist 2
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.
Artist statement: The Inner Artist 1.
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.
Art Review on John Dahlsen’s work in New York
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.
Interviews about John Dahlsen’s Environmental Artwork 13b
Dahlsen has collected his “found” material all along the northern NSW coastline, a latter-day beachcomber. “I’ve even been to South Stradbroke Island, where I was artist in residence at Couran Cove at one stage,” he says.
“I walked up and down the 17km of beach there, and over a couple of weeks collected 70 or 80 jumbo garbage bags full of things that had washed up on the shore.”
Interviews about John Dahlsen’s Environmental Artwork 12c
These artworks exemplify my commitment as an artist to express contemporary social and environmental concerns.
By presenting this art to the public it will hopefully have people thinking about the deeper meaning of the work, in particular the environmental issues we currently face.
Interviews about John Dahlsen’s Environmental Artwork 12b
I knew that an unseen intelligence was at work and soon realized the potential of a giant palate. Then I began the selections of yellow coloured plastics to make up its own pile in the studio, then the red, then the blues, the rope & strings, the plastic coke bottles, the thongs, etc. Soon the floor of the studio did resemble a giant painters palate.?
Interviews about John Dahlsen’s Environmental Artwork 12a
During the latter part of 2005 and into 2006, I created a new body of environmental artwork, a series of Synthetic Polymer paintings on Belgian linen, based on the subject matter of plastic “purges” – plastic fabricator machine end waste. ??This work, considers cycles and recycling. I began re-presenting paintings of sculptures that are inherently plastic fabricator machine end waste. The use of plastic materials and their place in the evolutionary motions of recycling are important to me in constructing these images.
I see the real need for the massive social transformations that are essential, to adequately deal with such crises as the depletion of fossil fuels and climate change. I hope this work can be a timely reminder to us all of the limited supply of these petroleum based materials, which is a direct result of our current collective global mass consumerism.
Interviews about John Dahlsen’s Environmental Artwork 11c
By presenting this art, to the public it will hopefully have people thinking about the deeper meaning of the work, in particular the environmental issues we currently face. I hope these works will act as a constant reminder to people about awareness.
I would like them to find enjoyment the work on many levels and find themselves becoming identified in various ways with each of the artworks they see. I also look forward to the possible discussion that these works may generate as a result.
I say these things as being possibilities, bearing in mind as well that comments are regularly made to me about people’s consciousness, while walking the beach, being awakened after seeing my found plastic object artworks, similarly with seeing my recycled plastic bag series, people have marveled at the creative way I am presenting the recycling theme in an aesthetic way.
Interviews about John Dahlsen’s Environmental Artwork 11b
I’m constantly surprised to see the variations in these plastics, very much like how I am intrigued by the beach found objects I have collected over the years.
I imagine these plastic bags, which mostly have a lifespan of many years, are in fact on the verge of extinction, as it is only a matter of time before governments impose such strict deterrents to people using them that they become a thing of the past. A fitting end to what has become such a scourge to our environment on a worldwide scale.
See John Dahlsen’s Recent Works
