WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.140 --> 00:00:03.270 I'd had the influence from my grandmother 2 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:04.103 who was an artist. 3 00:00:04.103 --> 00:00:07.860 She always gave us activities to do, so. 4 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:10.290 From a very early age, I was making art. 5 00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:13.350 And I think that sort of carried on into my teens. 6 00:00:13.350 --> 00:00:14.550 It was always a hobby, 7 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:17.523 something I did in my spare time. 8 00:00:18.510 --> 00:00:21.210 And I think when I got to my twenties, maybe, 9 00:00:21.210 --> 00:00:22.960 I started making art more and more. 10 00:00:24.136 --> 00:00:26.190 And eventually, it just kind of got to the point 11 00:00:26.190 --> 00:00:28.320 where I didn't have to go into work anymore 12 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.903 'cause I was making enough money from my paintings. 13 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:37.530 Growing up in Canberra and being politically motivated, 14 00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:40.650 I started doing single land political stencils 15 00:00:40.650 --> 00:00:41.553 on the street. 16 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:45.420 And, which became a bit frustrating over time 17 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:48.690 because you put all this effort into an artwork 18 00:00:48.690 --> 00:00:51.690 to have it painted over by the council the next day. 19 00:00:51.690 --> 00:00:53.570 And I think that really... 20 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:57.570 really made me decide 21 00:00:57.570 --> 00:01:00.180 to have more of a studio-based practise 22 00:01:00.180 --> 00:01:01.890 where I could refine my craft 23 00:01:01.890 --> 00:01:04.530 and evolve my technique, 24 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:07.680 and sort of push the limits of stencil art 25 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.640 further than just a one layered stencil and something 26 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.820 to a photo realistic image. 27 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:19.263 So that was kind of the motivation behind that. 28 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:27.720 Bob Hawke was the first portrait I painted after Father Bob. 29 00:01:27.720 --> 00:01:28.820 I think I'd sort of... 30 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:34.203 Tried very hard to make it as perfect as possible. 31 00:01:36.360 --> 00:01:38.820 There's about eight layers in it, 32 00:01:38.820 --> 00:01:40.290 done in three sections. 33 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:42.630 So the top, the middle, and the bottom, 34 00:01:42.630 --> 00:01:44.583 sort of put together like a jigsaw. 35 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:50.250 I picked Bob Hawke. 36 00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:51.933 It's my grandfather, actually. 37 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:55.390 They were born on the same day 38 00:01:56.340 --> 00:02:00.960 and my grandfather had a copy of the Bob Hawke biography 39 00:02:00.960 --> 00:02:04.297 that was signed to him from Bob Hawke like, 40 00:02:04.297 --> 00:02:06.750 "Happy Birthday for the day." 41 00:02:06.750 --> 00:02:08.550 And I took it back to Bob 42 00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:10.680 30 years after when I had a sitting with him 43 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:13.080 and got him to sign it for me too. 44 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:14.880 'Cause that's the only thing I've gotten 45 00:02:14.880 --> 00:02:17.103 from my grandfather after he passed away. 46 00:02:19.890 --> 00:02:21.030 It was a strange experience 47 00:02:21.030 --> 00:02:24.600 'cause I kind of got this sense from him when I was there. 48 00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:25.433 It was like, 49 00:02:26.310 --> 00:02:27.660 hurry up and get the fuck out. 50 00:02:27.660 --> 00:02:30.720 Like I didn't, I did not have time for this. 51 00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:32.190 But when I'd sort of taken the time 52 00:02:32.190 --> 00:02:35.160 to explain why it meant so much for me 53 00:02:35.160 --> 00:02:37.860 to be there and to be painting his portrait, 54 00:02:37.860 --> 00:02:40.470 he really kind of warmed to me after that. 55 00:02:40.470 --> 00:02:42.630 It was really nice after that. 56 00:02:42.630 --> 00:02:45.630 So yeah, it's kind of, it's got a huge sense 57 00:02:45.630 --> 00:02:47.853 of mental attachment to that portrait. 58 00:02:52.050 --> 00:02:55.410 I didn't wanna go for the Aussie larrikin 59 00:02:55.410 --> 00:02:57.947 'cause I didn't feel like that's who he was. 60 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:04.140 When I moved to Sydney, I moved into a studio in Summer Hill 61 00:03:04.140 --> 00:03:05.400 and this guy was running 62 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.310 and sort of had him into the studio. 63 00:03:08.310 --> 00:03:10.699 I was telling him about my portrait of Bob Hawke 64 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:14.370 and he was saying, "Oh, what's Bob Hawke like?" 65 00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:16.170 I can't remember what I said, 66 00:03:16.170 --> 00:03:19.480 but this guy turns out to be Bob Hawke's stepson 67 00:03:20.640 --> 00:03:23.210 and we're still very good friends 10 years later. 68 00:03:23.210 --> 00:03:24.930 So I must have said something good. 69 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:25.980 Obviously I would've. 70 00:03:30.151 --> 00:03:30.984 The portrait of Bob Hawke took about three to four weeks. 71 00:03:33.540 --> 00:03:36.420 And that wasn't, like, three to four weeks 72 00:03:36.420 --> 00:03:38.280 of working every little bit here and there. 73 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:43.280 That was a solid 12 hours a day, seven days a week doing it 74 00:03:43.530 --> 00:03:46.833 I think to a deadline to enter it into the Moran. 75 00:03:48.510 --> 00:03:50.790 Yeah, I think I burnt myself out on that one. 76 00:03:50.790 --> 00:03:51.753 It was a big job. 77 00:03:56.474 --> 00:03:57.930 And the first time I ever even entered 78 00:03:57.930 --> 00:03:59.703 the Archibald, I got in. 79 00:04:00.690 --> 00:04:02.060 But it wasn't so much getting in, 80 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:05.550 it was just the field day that the media had. 81 00:04:05.550 --> 00:04:06.750 It was crazy. 82 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:10.800 Like it was the front page of every newspaper in the country 83 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.150 and like, it was the, my face was the header 84 00:04:15.150 --> 00:04:17.160 of news.com for 24 hours. 85 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:19.803 Like, it was just literally trending. 86 00:04:21.150 --> 00:04:23.460 And it was really overwhelming. 87 00:04:23.460 --> 00:04:27.910 Like sort of having gone from no exposure whatsoever 88 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.530 to just this massive amount of exposure. 89 00:04:31.530 --> 00:04:35.310 It was quite, yeah, it was quite terrifying actually. 90 00:04:35.310 --> 00:04:36.420 I wasn't ready for that. 91 00:04:36.420 --> 00:04:38.010 I think I had success long before 92 00:04:38.010 --> 00:04:40.380 I was actually ready for success. 93 00:04:40.380 --> 00:04:44.790 But you kind of roll with it, especially in the Salon. 94 00:04:44.790 --> 00:04:48.990 Like, I love getting into the Salon as a street artist 95 00:04:48.990 --> 00:04:52.110 because the whole ethos of that award 96 00:04:52.110 --> 00:04:56.610 is the refused, the rejected paintings coming, 97 00:04:56.610 --> 00:05:00.513 dating back from the 1900s with the Impressionists. 98 00:05:02.640 --> 00:05:04.050 Yeah, it's... 99 00:05:04.050 --> 00:05:06.270 I think I just entered the Archibald 100 00:05:06.270 --> 00:05:07.620 just to get into the Salon. 101 00:05:08.853 --> 00:05:11.223 I'm always happy to get into that award.