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::The suspension of disbelief::

Watching grown men put giant socks and shoes on a giant girl puppet who gets a shower from an elephant, licks icecreams with a giant tongue and whose arms can be used to swing small girls captivated me for the full 5:07 mins. So beautifully creepy, in such a “City of Lost Children” way. It even allowed my nipponophilic soul to fall in love with the european aesthetic once more. This post is for my bestest Francophile friend… you know who you are.

Illustration by Darin Bendall.

I first met Mr. Darin Bendall at a Halloween party our mutual friend Martine organized late in 2005, at least that is when I think it was. We chatted about all things creative and illustrative over beers and alongside another guest dressed as a cowboy with a horse head for a crotch.

Darin lives in Japan with his lovely wife Kat and their two guinea pigs. He is very prolific and has an individual and honest style, honest in that it draws from who he is as a person especially his sense of humour and his life experiences. Basically what I am trying to say is there is nothing obviously derivative in his work, mind boggling when you think about how much illustration he is being exposed to on a daily basis in Japan. He is ‘living the (my) dream’ as a full time artist/illustrator/all round up for any project dude in Japan and I hope the ‘awesomeness’ never stops!

I love keeping happy secrets! … but only when I know I can tell them eventually!

My little brother came over for 10 days a couple of weeks ago and I was the only one to know he was coming. We managed to scare the bejezus out of our mother outside the gallery the day he arrived. I think partly due to his highly funkified state, hat, sunglasses, nice choice of denim even his own mother didn’t recognize him until he was right in her face. Twas excellent fun!

I noticed something about my bro this time that I really liked. I noticed that he lives for fun, that he is as nerdy as I am about trivia and that he doesn’t really waste time holding grudges or complaining about peeps, but I didn’t notice these things because they were things he used to do, far from it, I think I just looked at him from some obtuse angle that allowed me to see more of who he is.

In turn I realized that this is my best explanation of ‘Reverse Culture Shock’ I have to date, you return seeing the world from angles whose vantage points you have not previously peeked from. A different reality, like seeing your hometown on TV, or hearing your voice on the radio. This can be both a blessing and a curse. (eg: Blessing: prior to living overseas I never noticed how wonderful the sky in Melbourne is and how quickly it can change in one day, now it makes my heart sing. Curse: prior to living overseas I tolerated ‘The Footy Show’ now, it makes physically ill). Anyway you get the picture.

He may be eternally crap at returning emails and he works the hours of a salaryman but he is all there when you need him and for that I am always grateful.
Ganbarre Little Big Brother!!! I miss you and your Tomochan!

I am looking for freelance illustration work, have been for 8 months.
Just one thing ….”Will work for Money!”

Felt the urge to pass on a brilliant piece of writing I found on no.spec.com it applies not only to illustrators but to any artist so read on and laugh and give little nods of understanding as I did but then promise me never to take a ‘free’ job ever again!

“To those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world
Every day, there are more and more CL posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.
But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.
To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?
More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.
And this is not really a surprise.
In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.
So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?
Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)
Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?
If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.
But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?”

…. and there is more!

So I lied about posting more regularly! I have a good excuse though…..
Thursday night was the opening of “Rat Daughter, Chocolate Geisha; contemporary expressions of Japan by two Australian artists” (the other being Benedict Ernst) it was a brilliant opening night with a nice size crowd and quite a few sales too

Jo Maindonald (one of the director’s of Kazari Collector) made a wonderful speech and I would like to send big thanks to all involved; Alex, Robert, Tarun and of course the girls in the ‘oishii’ Cafe Kazari. Thanks must also go to my printer Brian Gilkes at Pharos Editions and the guys at Omnus Framing for completing everything so well and so quickly.

Days before the opening I went through my usual harrowing feelings of self doubt and stressing over the ’small stuff’ as I am want to do but this was very much the exhibition I HAD to have (these works have been itching to get out since early last year). And again I have to thank the staff at Kazari Collector for giving me this wonderful opportunity to showcase my work. The gallery itself is a wonderful open space and the manifesto behind it coincides nicely with my own ideas on display, design and, of course, Nipponophilic tendencies. The opening night was so busy (I nursed the same glass of wine all night) due to the constant barrage of lovely peeps curious to speak to me about my work, which I find surprising easy to do I left on a high and eager to get drawing again.

If you are in Melbourne, or will be between now and March 27th head on down to 450 Malvern Rd, Prahran for a look, if not I have uploaded some photos on my Flickr page and all the works can also be found on the Kazari website and my own very, very soon (slaps self on wrist).

Thanks everyone for coming down and showing your support, it means so much to me………
next stop is Art Melbourne ‘07 and then Design Festa in Japan!!!