Art Insights - John Dahlsen

The Artist’s Must-Read Guide for Success
ART INSIGHTS
ART INSIGHTS
Art/Business
$34.95
Creating Wealth as a Successful Artist
ART INSIGHTS
Creating Wealth as a
Successful Artist
John Dahlsen
John Dahlsen is a leader in his field of environmental art throughout
Australia and in the US, Europe and Asia. His art is considerd highly
collectible, and as a public speaker Dahlsen has spoken about his
work, his career and business strategies for artists at national and
international engagements for over a decade.
Part I
Alchemy: My Career in Environmental Art
Part II
Business Strategies for Artists: The Artist as Business Person
Part III Career Insights: Reflections, Reviews and Q&A
ISBN: 978-0-9806926-0-0
Contact John Dahlsen at www.johndahlsen.com
JOHN DAHLSEN
ART INSIGHTS provides specific advice for artists seeking success and
wealth creation. This easy to understand guideto success includes:
John Dahlsen
ART
INSIGHTS
Creating Wealth as a Successful Artist
A journey into a successful art career,
providing specific advice for artists seeking
success and wealth creation.
JOHN DAHLSEN
All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this
work beyond that permitted by the Laws of
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the permission of the Copyright Owner is
unlawful. Request for permission or further
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Creation Publishing.
No part of this book may be reproduced,
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prior written permission of the One Creation
Publishers.
Copyright ©2009 by One Creation
ISBN: 978-0-9806926-0-0
www.johndahlsen.com
Dedication
For my beautiful wife Rago, for without her
constant support and love, there simply would
be no “Art Insights” book. Thank you for your
light and for the oneness we share. A huge
thank you to Bryan, my Dad since I was a year
and a half old, for his massive support over
the years and to my brother Andrew, who has
helped me cart around so much of the stuff
that makes the artwork described in these
pages. Also, a big thank you to my editor,
D’lynne Plummer, for her tireless commitment
to helping me get this book on the road.
Table of Contents
Part I (page 7)
Alchemy: My Career in Environmental Art
My Influences
11
Shedding of Identity
15
Alchemy
23
Variety of Expression: Recycled Plastic
Bag Art
27
Driftwood Art
31
Digital Prints & Paintings
33
The Purge Series
39
New Directions
41
Reviewer Commentary
45
Central Concerns
49
Part II (page 53)
Business Strategies: The Artist as
Business Person
Approaching Galleries
83
Competitions
87
Creating Wealth
89
The Parthenon Principle
93
Responsible Financial Management
95
Separating the Artist from Entrepreneur
99
Part III (page 101)
Career Insights: Reflections, Reviews, and
Questions and Answers
Reflections on Vision
83
Reflections on Obstacles
109
Reflections on Direction
113
Articles and Reviews
127
References
166
Part I
Alchemy: My Career in Environmental Art
My work as an environmental artist began
by accident.
In the mid-‘90s I was collecting driftwood
in Victoria on the southern Australian
coastline. I had intended to make furniture
out of my finds, as I had done as a student
at the Victorian College of the Arts in
Melbourne in the late ‘70s and throughout
the subsequent years.
During these trips to remote beaches, I
stumbled across vast amounts of plastic
debris that were washing up on the
7
shoreline, and I felt compelled to collect it.
During my initial collection I had amassed
80 jumbo garbage bags full of these found
plastics, all of which I had intended to take
to the recycling section of the local tip. The
more items I collected, however, the more
intrigued I grew about their form, their
colour, and I began to absorb deeply the
degree to which these plastics had become
a scourge to our environment.
The objects I collected were of many
different varieties. Some were ropes and
string, very colourful and obviously from
boats or ships; some were Styrofoam
rounded off by the rocks in the sun on
the ocean; some were plastic drinking
bottles. There were, of course, a myriad
of plastics that were chipped and broken,
and sometimes these found objects were
unrecognizable as the consumer items they
once were. There were also buoys and flipflops in dozens of colours. The objects cast
from the sea and deposited to the shore
were endless in amount, shape, color, and
content.
8
This new medium, it occurred to me, could
supply an endless array of possibilities.
After shipping all the materials back to my
studio, I slowly spread the items along the
floor, where a giant painter’s palette began
to assemble. In an uncanny way these
plastics, as they were sorted and arranged
in my studio, took on an unspeakable,
indefinable and quite magical beauty.
Exposed on the floor, they continued to
fascinate me. For approximately 12 years
I scoured Australian beaches for found
objects – the ocean litter that affects our
waters and beaches on a global scale.
Sorting all of these objects became a natural
extension of my process of collecting, in a
way. Collecting on the beach was a type of
performance art all its own. The new colors
and shapes – hues and forms I had never
seen before - revealed themselves to me
again as they accumulated in my studio,
asking to be recollected but this time in
the form of environmental artwork.
9
In a gallery space
devoted to Mark Rothko,
the American abstract
expressionist, I experienced
the depth of and
commitment in his work.
The exhibition drew an
intense emotional response
from me, moving me to
tears, and provided a level
of inspiration that I had not
experienced until that point.
My Influences
As a young artist, I was fortunate enough
to interact with many people who played
a significant role in shaping the Australian
contemporary art world. During the late
‘70s, I studied at the Victorian College of
the Arts in Melbourne Australia. It was
there that I had the opportunity to meet
people like Fred Williams, Roger Kemp,
and my drawing teacher Noel Counihan.
These and other lecturing artists, including
Gareth Sansom, Paul Partos and Allan
Mittelman, demonstrated to me what it
meant to have an energetic response to
the creative process.
Exposure to international art in London and
Europe, in the early eighties, encouraged
me to pursue my career as an artist.
One defining moment was experienced
at the Tate Gallery in London, 1981. In
a gallery space devoted to Mark Rothko,
the American abstract expressionist, I
experienced the depth of and commitment
in his work. The exhibition drew an intense
11
emotional response from me, moving me
to tears, and provided a level of inspiration
that I had not experienced until that point.
Another Rothko piece (from a different
period), seen several years later while
visiting the National Gallery of Victoria,
Australia, filled me with the same feeling
of understanding. Looking back, with the
benefit of experience, I can say that it was
the sincerity and purity from within his
paintings that moved me.
Upon returning to Australia, after residing
some years in the United States, I took up
a position as artist in residence at Editions
Gallery, Western Australia. Living and
working with other artists is an education in
itself. Fellow painter Keith Looby prompted
me to explore more painterly qualities in
my work, while John Beard would help
deepen my exploration into abstraction.
The vitality and intensity with which both
of these artists approached their work
left quite an impact on me, subsequently
affecting the way I approached my own
art practice. Significant support in the
12
form of both patronage and exhibition
opportunities by Alan Delaney from Delaney
Galleries in Perth also assisted greatly to
my uncompromising dedication to my art.
Pat Corrigan in later years was another
figure to emulate this support.
Some of the great masters, of course,
provided me with great inspiration. I
must mention 17th century Spanish artist
Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez for his
monumental figurative paintings which
reveal, upon closer inspection, the most
amazing abstract painterly qualities. The
later post-impressionist movement was
highly inspirational, particularly artists like
Van Gogh, who’s work was explosive and
brilliant. A more complete list should also
include American Abstract Expressionist
Jackson Pollock and later Roy Lichtenstein,
and more recently Jeff Koons, Keith Haring
and Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was influenced
as well by the Australian artists Tony
Tuckson and Ian Fairweather, primarily due
to the energy that their work conveys.
13
It is what lies beyond the
boundaries of abstraction
and figuration that intrigues
John Dahlsen, and he has
developed a unique visual
language to articulate this.
Dahlsen has only arrived at
this crucial stage in his work
after a course of exploration,
both in a personal and artistic
sense.
- Sandra Murray 1
Shedding of Identity
My entrée into environmental artwork was
not my first shift in media and style. I began my artistic life as a figurative painter,
attracted to that form of expression for its
narrative qualities. During art school I had
moved from figurative paintings to more
abstract work. This evolving abstraction
and change in identity became an open,
abundant field to explore. Free from the
confines of structured figurative elements,
I was able to work the canvas and paper,
sometimes with paint stripper. After many
years of painting, I found myself becoming more courageous and open to the
exploration
of
new
materials
and
technology, thereby able to stretch myself beyond the realms of paint-brush
and canvas. In addition to the conscious
exploration of new materials and technology, I have found that being alert and open
to the benefit of accidents occurring in my
art-making processes have lead to some
of the most profound breakthroughs in my
work.
15
I was further assisted in discarding
lingering habits and identities by a serious
fire in my Melbourne studio in 1983. The
fire completely destroyed my studio and
seven years of work within it, including
paintings, drawings and prints. It was a
devastating time for me, forcing me to turn
my attention inward. This event caused me
to take a sabbatical from art. The fire was
the catalyst for a reassessment of my life’s
priorities.
After completion of a teachers training
degree at the Melbourne College of
Advanced Education and some extensive
travel in the United States, I felt better
prepared to return to my career as a
professional practicing artist. The accident,
which had deeply impacted both my
personal and professional life, had
enabled me to mature overall as a person.
Artistically, I acquired the ability to face
truths about my work, making radical,
necessary changes.
16
Sandra Murray, the then director of the
Lawrence Wilson Gallery at the University
of Western Australia, eloquently described
the changes in my work in a University
catalogue essay, “Dahlsen - Painting and
Drawing, in 1991.”
The successful artistic expression of an
abstruse concept such as universality is
difficult to achieve, but ultimately rewards
both artist and viewer. It is what lies
beyond the boundaries of abstraction and
figuration that intrigues John Dahlsen, and
he has developed a unique visual language
to articulate this. Dahlsen has only arrived
at this crucial stage in his work after a
course of exploration, both in a personal
and artistic sense. 2
The culmination of this maturation and
epiphanies around my work sent me looking
for driftwood on a shoreline in Victoria,
which then directed me to yet this exciting
new medium of found objects.
17
The Garbage Patch
There is an area in the Pacific Ocean called
the “Garbage Patch” of a size greater
than the entirety of the United States. It
is like a giant washing machine, swirling
plastics around and around. A recent study
broadcast on ABC Television in Australia
revealed that these plastics are breaking
down to such a level where they're
becoming ingested by fish and other sea
life. In turn, humans are ingesting the fish
and seafood and developing a myriad of
chronic illnesses. In the Garbage Patch,
and elsewhere in our oceans, plastic is
passed through the food chain.
My work attests to the staggering global
problem of trash in our oceans, the majority
of which is plastic.
The following few paragraphs appeared
in the Asian Geographic, Issue 3, 2008,
feature article on my work. 3
19
In 2006, the United Nations Environment
Program estimated that every square mile
hosts some 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.
So vast is one area of concentrated trash
in the northern Pacific Ocean, confined
by slowly circulating currents, that it has
been named the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. A Greenpeace report that same year
estimated that 80 percent of the ocean’s
plastic garbage begins its long life on land.
Much of the remainder is spillage directly
from the plastics industry, which ships
plastic around the globe in the form of tiny
pellets, called nurdles, that eventually end
up on our supermarket shelves after being
coloured, melted and moulded into our
ubiquitous disposable products.
20
Not surprisingly, the ocean’s toxic stew
spells untold havoc for ecosystems. A
plastic bag is a dead ringer for a jellyfish –
if you’re a sea turtle. Multicoloured plastic
shards have been found to lace the innards
of marine birds. Most insidious of all, the
tiniest fragments of plastic are soaking
up the manmade toxins already widely
diffused in seawater, threatening the entire
food chain. We are already ingesting our
own trash. The plastic debris that washes
up on Dahlsen’s shores and finds its way
into his art is a poignant reminder of the
crucial part we all have to play.
21
"Thong Totems"
Found objects and Stainless Steel
2.2. m x 30 cm each totem.
Winner of the 2000 Wynne Prize: Art Gallery of
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Alchemy
Over the past 20 years I have tried
to maintain a pure commitment to
contemporary art practice. I have never
looked for a safe place to rest. What
happens with my art generally runs parallel
to my life; I learn from my art and apply
some of these insights to my life, and vice
versa. When I sense that I am becoming
too comfortable in what I am doing, I will
consciously move on to something new.
Challenges in my personal life keep me
on my toes and help me to extend myself
more as an artist. This is how my work is
in a constant state of evolution.
I see this evolution of my consciousness
as an alchemical one, which is also true
of my work, in a more literal sense. The
initial alchemy of a manmade object has
been redefined by nature’s elements
before it winds its way to the shore and
before I redefine it again. The vision for
my environmental work began with a deep
curiosity with evolution and transformation.
23
I toe the line between
fulfillment and frustration,
knowing that my creative
expression is only able to
provide a glimpse of the
greatness that is life, a
fragment of the ineffable.
The initial curiosity resulted in a critical first
step - transporting these plastics to my
studio. Then came the processing, sorting
and assembling of them. A vital alchemical
transformation takes place as intuition and
personal aesthetic judgment are applied to
rework the plastics into artworks, where
the objects truly began to speak. And the
final alchemy is in the eyes of the beholder,
as they process the work and render their
own thoughts, feelings and reactions and,
hopefully, experience perceptual shifts.
While my art practice changes, and evolves,
my underlying commitment as an artist
has never wavered. I have always been
motivated by a professional duty to be aware
of and express current social, spiritual and
environmental concerns through my art
practice. I toe the line between fulfillment
and frustration, knowing that my creative
expression is only able to provide a glimpse
of the greatness that is life, a fragment of
the ineffable.
25
“Blue River”
Recycled Plastic Bags behind Perspex
2m x 1.2m
Finalist in the 2003 Wynne Prize for
Australian Landscape at the Art Gallery of
New South Wales.
Variety of Expression:
Recycled Plastic Bag Art
It is important to me as an artist to continue
exploring of the full range of expression
so that I never feel limited by my creative
output. I want to avoid categorization and
confinement, by me or by others.
This ceaseless exploration led me to develop
new works using recycled plastic bags;
“Blue River” is perhaps one of my more
well known works using this medium. The
piece used thousands of recycled plastic
bags to form a contemporary landscape
behind Perspex.
Recycled
plastic
bag
environmental
artwork such as this was a departure
from the more recognizable assemblage
works in which I used plastics and other
found detritus collected Australia's eastern
seaboard, such “Thong Totems”, which won
the Wynne prize in 2000. The most recent
example of my work with recycled plastic
bags was in 2005, when I was artist in
27
residence at Jefferson City, Missouri, USA.
It was here that I made a series of totemic
installations with thousands of plastic bags
in clear acrylic tubes for the residency’s
sculpture walk.
I would hope and imagine that these
plastic bags are possibly facing extinction,
as governments are beginning to impose
deterrents to their use. The Chinese
government is banning production and
distribution of the thinnest plastic bags
in a bid to curb the “white pollution” that
is taking over the countryside. The move
may save as much as 37 million barrels of
oil currently used to produce the plastic
totes, according to China Trade News. In
the meantime, my role as a contemporary
environmental artist allows me to recycle
these materials and to create artworks that
I hope both express beauty and their own
unique environmental messages.
28
Apart from wishing to express obvious
environmental messages, with this recycled
plastic artwork I've been particularly
interested in showcasing the brilliance of
the colours and textures available, creating
not only wall works and assemblages
but sculptures and other art forms. The
possibilities are endless. Despite years of
consistent exposure to these found plastics
I am ceaselessly surprised by the variations
within them.
29
“Driftwood Assemblage #1”
Found driftwood objects
1.65m x 1.94m
"Driftwood Assemblage # 1" was a
diptych from this series and a finalist for
the Wynne Prize, on display in
2004 at the Art Gallery of New South
Wales in Sydney
Driftwood art
My work with driftwood assemblages and
sculptures began in 1998 and has continued
until this day. An article described these
driftwood assemblages, which I exhibited
in a solo show in Australia in early 2004,
as follows. 4
John Dahlsen isn't your average artist. A
bold statement to make but appropriate
after you realize the sheer depth and
determination which goes into the work
this man has produced over the past seven
years. Although he has been within art
circles for much longer than that, it is only
in the most recent years, that we have
seen Dahlsen create a different form of art
with environmental messages and strong
statements. It is 'found' object art, be that
organic or inorganic.
He would be seen scavenging beaches
in search of plastics, specific colours and
sizes. He is also known for venturing
along the edge of Victoria alone in search
31
of driftwood. Boat trips, four-wheel-drive
tours and scaling 40 meter-high cliffs were
all part of the process for this driftwood
exhibition, and Dahlsen admits at times
there
were
death-defying
moments
grabbing the perfect piece of wood.
This all sounds exciting and possibly a bit
unbelievable, however it is quite true that
I would often find myself in dangerous
situations. Exploring remote parts of
Australia is often a treacherous endeavour,
especially if you are climbing up and down
cliff faces carrying heavy pieces of wood.
I loved every second of this experience. I
love the adventure and spending time with
my loved ones, family and friends, trekking
to far-flung locations to source these
materials. I also love the tactile experience
of working with wood. I celebrate the effect
nature has had on these individual pieces
by bashing them against rocks, fading
them in the sun.
32
Digital Prints and Paintings
Another focus of my environmental artistic
activity is large-scale prints and paintings
on canvas and paper. This exploration into
prints was initiated in 1999 and eventually
developed into screen-printing, digital
print technology and ignited a resurgence
of painting—my previous medium of choice
for many years. This new focus satisfied
my interests with advances in technology
while still including the found plastic, this
time as two-dimensional images.
In 1999 I developed a series of aerial
Cibachrome photographs of the found
plastics. I then developed these into
complex, high-resolution large-scale works
on canvas, utilizing contemporary computer
and
screen-printing
advances.
The
development of these works immediately
followed the construction of my web site,
an experience from which I learned the
scope of possibilities within digital media.
33
“Thongs" • Digital Print on Canvas • 1.4m h x 2.8m w
As well as embracing the digital and screenprinting arena, this new focus also heralded
my return to painting.
I went on to create a series of installations
with this two-dimensional work. The
“Installations
series”
featured
highresolution, large-scale digital prints on
canvas, offering a birds-eye view of
assembled found plastics. The process
of creating these digital prints was quite
complicated and reasonably expensive, as
it involved up to 12 individual, mediumformat transparency photographs in
segments for each assemblage, which were
then drum scanned and stitched together
to form the final high-resolution image.
Once this image was then transferred
digitally onto large canvases they were
stretched and wall mounted. On the floor, in
front of the images, I placed an assemblage
of the actual documented plastics,
creating a dialogue between the two- and
three-dimensional objects, as well as a
more literal dialogue among the viewing
36
audience. I suspect each corresponding
element accentuated the other, making the
final product an aesthetically pleasing and
provocative success. This series of work is,
to this day, some of my favorite creations.
The works were shown in the Australia, as
well as in Athens during the Olympics and
later in New York.
"Primary Installation"
Digital prints on Canvas and found plastics
Canvas: 2.5m (h) x 1m (w)
Assemblage: 40cm (h) x 1.3m (w) x 2m (d)
37
“Light Blue Purge Dialogue”
Acrylic paintings on Belgian linen, plastic sculptures,
based on the subject matter of plastic "purges" plastic fabricator machine end waste.
Sizes vary
The Purge Series
During the latter part of 2005 and into 2006
I created a new body of environmental
artwork that considers cycles and recycling,
a series of synthetic polymer paintings on
Belgian linen based on the subject matter
of plastic "purges" - plastic fabricator
machine end-waste. This “Purge Series”
of environmental artwork concentrated on
cycles, momentum and the multiple.
I painted non-recyclable purged plastic
objects- objects that are by-products of
everything else plastic. These objects are
the plastic pieces run through a machine
before or after a hairbrush, juice bottle or
chair is made. They represent everything
and nothing. The plastic in its petroleum
state has undergone millions of years of
evolution to get to this stage, and then it is
discarded as a by-product of consumerism.
The paintings create the profile of a solid
sculpture, moulded and plied to present
the essence of formalism. The subject
matter of the paintings conjures abstract
39
geometrical imagery and constructivist
diagramming of space that is playfully
organic and blob-like. I made this series
of work to explore the mechanics of how
an object is put together and what place it
occupies in a cycle of life, organic or man
made. With this work I explore the duality
of meaning and perception and the illusion
that is created between; I am presenting
an image of a non-object, in a painting of
an informal formalist sculpture.
Massive
social
transformations
are
necessary to adequately deal with such
crises as the depletion of fossil fuels and
climate change. I hope my work can serve
as a timely reminder of the limited supply
of these petroleum-based materials - a
direct result of our current global mass
consumerism.
40
New Directions
New directions in my environmental
artwork evolved naturally for me and
further galvanized my return to painting.
Prior to collecting society's discarded
objects of the everyday and transforming
them into formal compositions, which I did
for over 15 years, painting was my primary
medium. The landscape and seascape
paintings I made from 2007 to 2009 were
painted as a continued response to our
local environment and my evolving work
with found objects.
In the past I have used recycled materials
to convey the history and memory of a
place, to comment on the human experience
of place, beauty and degradation of the
environment. The featured landscapes
are the very same places I have roamed
over the years and where I have collected
detritus - my working materials. In my
painting series I emphasize the changing
weather patterns witnessed in recent
years, through my own depictions of storm
41
The Pass #5
2007
Acrylic on Belgian Linen
1.83m h x 1.83m w
activity and beach erosion along the North
Coast region in Australia, where I live.
My landscape paintings exude a sense
of foreboding. Rather than aspiring to
be natural, they are highly produced,
stylized and maintaining a flat, artificial
and detached look - a kind of apocalyptic
realism with an element of abstraction.
They are executed with a sense of urgency,
as seen in my handling of paint, born of
my ever growing concerns about global
warming and its readily apparent impact
on the environment.
43
‘Contemporary Landscapes’ –
his mammoth task – afforded
him a freedom to demonstrate
aesthetic possibilities which
radiate vitality and joie de
vivre, uncommon to most
artists deeply conscious of
environmental issues.
- Catharina Hampson
5
Reviewer Commentary
Each piece of my environmental body of
work contains a recognizable mood, an
aspect written about by Dr. Jacqueline
Millner from the University of Western
Sydney: 6
This play between abstraction and
figuration, between synthetic/organic
matter and immateriality in the purge
paintings, has been applied in Dahlsen’s
most recent works to landscapes —
dark works whose subtle references
to environmental degradation all but
disappear before forcefully catching you
unawares.
This
tension
between
inorganic
abstraction and emotionally charged
organism lends these works particular
resonance, given their inception in the
politics of environmental art. They play
out, in elegant and economical aesthetics,
the unstable boundaries between the
natural and the artificial, reminding us
45
of Wendell Berry’s paradox that ‘the
only thing we have to preserve nature
with is culture; the only thing we have to
preserve wildness with is domesticity.’
From an Artspeak column in The Northern
Star, by Steven Alderton: 7
John has been working on a very
successful new body of work that extends
from his previous enviro sculptures into
paintings. They are of the places he has
collected detritus for his sculptures. The
subject matter also happens to be Byron
Bay, a place of infinite beauty and great
affection.
From a review of my Contemporary
Landscapes exhibition (1999) by Catharina
Hampson: 8
Years of abstract /figurative painting…
inspired by living organic forms often
monochromatic,
smoothed
transition
to his present exhibition of works... His
flotsam collection acquired at the same
time as his driftwood evolved into a
46
further dramatic phase … ‘Contemporary
Landscapes’ – his mammoth task – afforded
him a freedom to demonstrate aesthetic
possibilities which radiate vitality and
joie de vivre, uncommon to most artists
deeply conscious of environmental issues.
47
Never have we so
urgently needed art and
activism to boldy promote
consciousness shifts
around the health of
our planet.
Central Concerns
It amazes me to think how many times
I have bent over to pick up the many
thousands of pieces of plastic debris that
made up that aspect of my art, each piece
jostled around for an unknown duration by
sand, sun and ocean, their form altered,
faded and rounded by the elements.
The unabated dumping of thousands of
tonnes of plastics has been expressed in
my assemblages, installations, totems,
digital prints, paintings and public
artworks. And yet, despite my outrage at
this environmental vandalism, I returned
to the beach daily to find more pieces for
my artist’s palette. While the litter seems
to have decreased in some areas, ocean
waste is a growing global concern.
Many artists are now highlighting
environmental concerns in their work,
such as climate change. I am always
hopeful that art can help shift awareness
in a positive direction. I am also hopeful
49
that the viewing public embraces these
messages and is moved to act, for I firmly
believe that at present we need all the help
we can get to address the current ecological
needs of our planet. If just a fraction
experienced a shift in their awareness
by virtue of exposure to my work, then
all the labor and intention in the artistic
process is, for me, justified. Our planet is
in a fragile ecological position, and global
warming hastens unprecedented change.
Never have we so urgently needed art and
activism to boldy promote consciousness
shifts around the health of our planet.
My work exemplifies my commitment
as an artist to express contemporary
social and environmental concerns. At
the same time, I'm sharing a positive
message about beauty and the aesthetic
experience. I am also offering examples of
detritus recycle and reuse. I hope that this
work encourages those who experience
it to look at the environment in creative
ways. People have expressed to me an
awareness that manifests after seeing my
50
found object artwork. When they walk the
beach they feel awakened by possibilities.
I am touched when people marvel at the
creative way I present the recycling theme
in my plastic bag series. I entrust the final
alchemy of my work to the viewer with
the possibility that they may experience
deep perceptual ships and have a positive
aesthetic experience. And I will always
hope that my work will act as a constant
reminder to walk gently on the planet.
…
51
Part II
Business Strategies: The Artist as
Business Person 8
For the past 12 years, I have enjoyed
significant prosperity and accomplishments
and as a leader in my field. I feel it is
important to pass on what I have learned
to artists who wish, as I have, for career
success. I feel confident that by following
some of the suggestions outlined in this
chapter you will experience tangible
improvements in your mindset and,
eventually, your career. I hope you will
incorporate some of this advice into your
daily routine and overall strategy.
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It is of utmost importance
to have a reasonably
structured approach
serving as your guideline.
I personally believe it’s a great thing for an
artist to prepare for the business of being
an artist. I’m not referring to what goes
on in behind the closed doors of a studio,
where inspiration and a lot of hard work are
responsible for the creation of your works.
I’m talking about the ongoing running of
your finances, how you deal with galleries,
how you bring in a responsible income, and
how flexibly you respond to situations, like
the current economic crisis.
Let me state up front that it is of utmost
importance to have a reasonably structured
approach serving as your guideline. The
art market is very competitive, and any
edge that you can gain by simply having
a well-laid plan will set you steps ahead of
your competitors. Most artists don’t like to
see themselves as competitive or having
competitors, but the simple fact is that
you are in a business and you need to be
business minded in order to succeed.
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Let’s be clear about one fact: the number
of artists who achieve runaway success
in their lifetimes and have multi-milliondollar incomes as a result of great fame is
relatively small. Many artists go into the
business of making art equipped only with
the desire to make good work and the hope
for wealth and fame.
Unless you develop strategy you will always
be wondering when you are going to have
the success that you know is possible.
As an initial roadmap, I’d like to list a
few qualities and values that are worth
cultivating for the sake of strategic thinking
and overall, long-term success.
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1. KNOW
YOUR WORTH.
Let me begin with a story about a nuclear
plant.
This nuclear plant had begun to malfunction,
and the malfunction was costing upwards
of $200,000 a day. The manager of the
plant tried everything he could to fix the
problem but it appeared unfixable, and
they needed to hire a specialist.
The specialist arrived early the next day
and looked around and checked all of the
meters and the equipment associated with
the possible fault, and after about an hour
or so he went up to one of the meters,
put a sticker on it, and with a big black
permanent marker drew a large “X” on it.
He then turned to the manager of the plant
and said, “This is your problem. Replace
this meter and anything that is associated
with this meter and your problem will be
fixed and the plant will run as normal.”
Then he left.
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The manager of the plant was highly
skeptical, however he went ahead and
replaced all of these components and the
meter, and as soon as this was done the
plant started to run to its full capacity.
After a week or so the specialist sent in a
bill for $20,000. The manager was shocked
and said to himself, “He was only here for
one hour and he’s charging us $20,000?”
He wrote back to the specialist asking for
an itemized receipt. A few days later the
itemized receipt was returned with the
items listed:
Placed “x” on meter = $1.00
Knowing where to place the “x” = $19,999
This story is a metaphor to describe the
importance of understanding the value
of your work. I encourage artists not to
undervalue themselves, not to be crammed
down by an unscrupulous merchant or
collector who wants to get the best deal and
who banks on the artist’s lack of self worth.
It is important to reasonably consider the
58
price the market is willing to pay for your
work without selling yourself short.
There are many artists currently working
with recycled materials, found objects, and
rubbish, like me. Because of the object in
use and prevalence of work of this nature,
is it easy to doubt that the market will
believe in the intrinsic value of the work. A
cynical artist will assume that the general
public will only see rubbish. This notion is
the only rubbish here! There is no reason
why an artist should reduce the value of
their work because they are using these
materials or because they are painting
pictures about issues that confront the
general public head on. I feel passionate
about defending the artist’s freedom to
be a social commentator, to reflect upon
prevailing political or spiritual dilemmas
without being categorized as a political/
eco/feminist artist. These categories
marginalize the artist’s role.
It is up to you to value yourself and your
art. This is especially pertinent if you work
59
Remember that it is
you who is placing the
“X”, and only you know
precisely where it goes.
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with challenging materials that are easily
misunderstood. Too often the general
public is misinformed or uninformed about
the nature of art, oblivious to the richness
conveyed in complex materials. It is up to
us to educate them.
Remember the factory metaphor when you
price your work, as well as when you make
it. Let the story of the nuclear plant give you
the required strength to stand up against
any detractors who imply that your work is
worth less than its value. Remember that
it is you who is placing the “X”, and only
you know precisely where it goes.
2. KNOW
WHAT YOU WANT AND SET GOALS.
Visualize what it is you are seeking and
what you expect out of your creative
business. Artists all to often enter this
business environment without knowing
what they want or what is possible. When
you are sitting alone in your studio and
you’re wondering why you’re not having
any success, have you ever asked yourself
61
how much you’re willing to sacrifice for that
success? Success often requires hard work
and sacrifice. The degree to which you’re
willing to go will be entirely up to you.
Think carefully about what you really want
to accomplish and set some goals to help
you get there. If, for example, you want to
have four exhibitions a year, start planning
for them. Make the necessary connections.
Have a target and set your goals.
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When you set your goals, think of this
word: SMART.
S pecific: your goals as an artist need
to be specific
M easurable: create a system of
determining your progress.
A ttainable: set goals you can reach.
R ealistic: set reasonable expectations
for achieving these goals.
T i m e : set time limits and deadlines.
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3. FOCUS.
Successful artists have the ability to focus.
If it’s not natural, they develop it, and this
is a reason they have success over those
who never identify a specific goal. Build into
your lifestyle an effective exercise program
that can help you focus. The idea, or should
I say the romantic notion, that artists sit
around all night drinking copious amounts
of alcohol and in some cases using other
intoxicants in order to build inspiration is
very largely outdated. We are simply in a
different, more advanced time.
In Australia we have a very popular form
of sport called cricket. During the ‘70s,
‘80s and early ‘90s we were constantly
hearing about our national team’s
indiscretions on airplanes or while visiting
overseas countries, players goading each
other into drinking contests and setting
records still standing at over 50 drinks
in an evening! Times have changed.
These days, misbehaving – even for the
smallest infraction – simply isn’t tolerated.
64
Like athletes and other professionals
excelling at their craft, artists need focus
and therefore it is critically important to
abandon romantic notions of impediments
to our rigor.
4. BE
ACCOUNTABLE.
You ALONE are responsible for your success.
How you respond to the challenges you face
is entirely your responsibility. No one else
is going to obtain success on your behalf.
Likewise, there is no one else to blame for
your lack of success except for you. You
will find it a relief to embrace this fact. You
are now in a position to guide your efforts
toward success.
5. COMMIT
TO OVERACHIEVEMENT.
How committed are you to your success as
an artist? You need to find the belief inside
yourself that you will be fully committed
to your success under all circumstances.
Your commitment requires that you not
spread your energies too thin by working
in a number of different jobs to try to make
65
ends meet. This usually does not work. Be
focused, and make a total commitment to
your success.
Your willingness to go the extra mile will
determine your success. Not only do you
deliver when you say you will, but you
deliver with enthusiasm. You do not stop
at “good enough.” The law of reciprocity
exists in the art business. Go the extra mile
for your clients and dealers. Put effort into
your communications. Be gracious. This
can mean taking a client out for dinner after
they have just purchased a major artwork
from you. The gesture is not expected, and
it creates a lasting bond between you and
your client. These efforts will naturally start
coming back to you in unexpected ways.
You must to do something special to gain
an advantage in today’s highly competitive
marketplace. Only then can you expect to
create the compelling desire in your clients
for reciprocity.
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6. MANAGE
YOUR TIME WISELY.
You need to become very aware of how
you organize your workday. Make full use
of the time that you have on this planet.
When the hours of the day have passed,
they are gone.
People ask me the same questions again
and again. What kind of work day do you
have? Is it hard to have the inspiration
to make art all the time? People seem to
presume that most artists are reasonably
unstructured with their work ethic. This
couldn’t be further from the truth. It is so
important to have a strong work ethic and
a plan for managing the hours in your day.
Try to discover if there are areas in your
life where you waste time, and don’t let
other people waste your time. Remember
that your goal and the time frame you
have assigned to it is important. If you
are serious about your artistic business
success, time is one of the most critical
areas to defend.
67
Managing your time
also means placing a
value on it.
I recommend planning your year at a high
level, setting dates for various goals. On a
micro level, I have been very successful by
telling myself that am about to spend the
next three hours making art, for example,
and that I will feel rewarded for it. If I’m on
my way to a gallery to speak with clients,
I spend the commute getting really clear
about my immediate next steps.
In other words, don’t start any activity
without setting intentions for that segment
of time. This sounds simple, but feels
miraculous. I’ve worked through much
dread in business situations by thinking
about events as fragments of time and
committing to certain actions and results
within those fragments.
Take two hours every weekend to just think.
I personally like to use this time to map
out my thought projections and visions
for long-term projects. Some people find
visualization to be an incredibly powerful
tool for building confidence and reaching
goals. Spend time imagining yourself at
69
your next show, selling art and talking
confidently to new clients.
Managing your time also means placing a
value on it. I set aside time for silence and
space. Do not assume that packing as many
shows into a year is the right use of time.
I once operated this way, until I became
exhausted and disillusioned. In spite of
good shows and sales, I wasn’t doing well
emotionally. I kept pushing myself because
of a notion that this is what artists are
supposed to do. Now, I’m doing what I love
to do without being under constant duress.
It can be a challenge to order your life by
your own values, but it will lead you to a
clearer picture of what you want.
7. MANAGE
YOUR EMOTIONS.
Never place a call or send out an email
when you are emotional. Email is a volatile
communication form. I have received (and
probably sent) some of the most damaging
messages from people who had gotten my
intentions all wrong, and then fired off
70
a response filled with venom and vitriol.
The danger (and the advantage) of email
is that it’s immediate. If someone emails
you something that triggers you, wait at
least 24 hours before responding. Use
proper email etiquette. Use greetings, and
acknowledge the human who’s reading the
email prior to launching in to your business
speak.
8. PERSIST.
Develop your sense of determination and
persistence, especially when things don’t
go as planned. Sometimes it seems that all
of your artist friends are experiencing the
fame and financial success that you seek.
This feeling of defeat is the very moment
to take stock and to really take control.
You can take control by keeping in contact
with your clients and collector base. Do
everything that you can to remain positive.
This will include having the right amount of
exercise and eating the right food.
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To create something
of beauty at any given
point in time requires of
an artist a great deal of
honesty and integrity.
You must remember that everything in life
happens in cycles. You will have highs and
lows in your career. Successful individuals
are the ones who persevere and don’t get
swallowed up by any negativity that the
lows can bring.
9. MAINTAIN INTEGRITY.
Your attitude guides how you work with
your materials. I have been in exhibitions
the world over where I have shown next to
artists who have simply poured their piles
of rubbish onto the floor. I have witnessed
artists hoping to get away with dramatic
statements about the environment and
ecology by simply grossing out the viewing
audience, making hard-hitting abrupt and
blunt comments, and using lazy forms of
expression to masquerade as art. It is more
difficult to bring the necessary amount of
artistic judgment, expertise, attention to
detail and aesthetic sensibility to a project
using recycled objects. Again and again I
experience enormous difficulty creating a
particular piece of work, only to destroy it
73
and start again. My integrity forces me to
finish only when the work resonates as a
truly complete work of art.
It is my intention to create something
of beauty when making art, even when
creating prints, sculptures, assemblages
or paintings out of or inspired by relatively
challenging materials such as found
plastics, recycled plastic bags and recycled
left over roadside materials. I even seek
beauty in the very same paintings that
depict the urgency and dread surrounding
our current environmental predicament
and ecological disasters.
To create something of beauty at any given
point in time requires of an artist a great
deal of honesty and integrity.
74
10. BE
RESOURCEFUL.
Artists should think both creatively and
responsibly about supporting their income.
Throughout this chapter I wish to instill the
importance of flexibility in today’s economy
and the benefits of a multi-tiered income
stream to support artistic activities. A multitiered income stream is not a compromise.
It is an intelligent means to continue to
practice what you love.
We find ourselves in the information age,
where there has never existed a better time
in the history to share our information.
Money can be made by creating a few
simple products that detail what it is that
you know best. The sale of these products
contains a great deal more integrity than
cutting your artistic talents short to make
a sale.
75
Marketing is also an
attitude. Your own
perception of your
work can usher in
desired perceptions
from others.
11. MARKETING
Websites are a cornerstone of marketing.
Artists need to have Internet presence,
and the best way to do this is by having a
website, or at the very least a blog. When
you approach a gallery, you can lead a
gallery director to your site for a snapshot
of your work. You can also incorporate
“shopping cart” software to sell work directly
off your site. I recommend keeping your
site very simple, using a white background
to accentuate the artwork you’re showing.
Make certain your site is easily navigable.
I also run seminars where I teach people
simple and effective ways to assemble web
pages. An artist friend recently contacted
me and shared her frustration with her web
designer, who was not answering her calls.
She wanted to update and finally launch
her website. She didn’t know what to do.
I sent a quick e-mail to her that explained
how to make these changes in a very
simple step-by-step manner. A few days
later she sent me an e-mail with a link to
77
her updated website that she set up under
my guidance. She took control of her site.
When you create new work, you should be
able to easily add images to your website,
and by adding a shopping cart to your site
you can sell your works without having to
use a middleman. This is not such a difficult
process to do. With the simple instructions
that you can receive in my seminars, a
lot of the guesswork is removed from the
equation.
I have been asked if it’s wise to post artwork
from all aspects of one’s career to a site.
I have mixed thoughts about this. For the
longest time I showed only the most recent
work on my website. Then, after a period
of approximately 10 years or so, I felt it
was time to bring the viewing audience
up to speed with my work historically.
I’ve done this in a way that is not plastered
all over my homepage so that people have
to scroll through countless pages and pages
of older work; it is simply available on the
website for people to see if they want to
78
go there, and it is clearly written as such
in a link placed at the bottom of the home
page.
I suppose viewers can look at work the
same way they would at a gallery, where
they often keep a backlog of work on file.
Continuity is important, and ideally, you
should present your work on your site
they way you would in a show, presenting
quality, consistent works in limited numbers
and keeping sold works to a minimum. I
do think it’s important to show some work
that has been sold, as it serves to make
people feel more confident about their own
purchase.
Marketing is also an attitude. Your own
perception of your work can usher in
desired perceptions from others. Many
artists start apologizing for their work.
Here’s a secret: the viewing audience
wants you to succeed, and they want you
to be confident because they don’t want
to feel sorry for you. If you are having an
exhibition, the viewing audience assumes
79
that you feel confident about the work
showing. Go with it. Never imply that you
are out of your league, and you won’t be.
If you feel like there’s no use to your
efforts, that you’ll never be successful, or if
you conjure up the same self-depreciating
ideas over and over again, then you need
meditation and/or exercise. Meditation and
exercise empower you and send positive
messages to your brain. They are powerful
tools for increasing energy, positivity and
confidence, almost immediately.
If you are an emerging artist, set reasonable
expectations. While no one gets very far
without a certain amount of ambition, it’s
important to realistically structure your
approach to getting what you want. Begin
by contacting your local galleries and people
you know in the arts community. You can
eventually reach out regionally, nationally
and even internationally, but start slow,
sensibly and thoughtfully. Sometimes it’s
best to begin by joining artist initiatives and
participating in group shows. Networking is
80
one of the strongest ways to establish your
presence in the art world. Attend openings
and get involved in the art world in general.
If you are having trouble getting shows, it
might be advisable to occasionally rent a
space or approach a local café and ask if you
can have your work on their walls. You can
choose to offer them a small commission if
they happen to sell the work. These types
of exhibiting opportunities can help to get
started and are not to be frowned upon,
especially at the beginning of your career.
81
Approaching Galleries
One of the first things that I’d recommend
for an artist when they’re contacting the
gallery for the first time is to never do it
cold. Don’t just walk in off the street and
expect that the gallery director will want to
discuss your work with you. I’m amazed at
how many artists do this on impulse, most
likely because they don’t know better.
Research the gallery, find out who is the
Director, and write a letter of introduction
with details about your website, if you
have one, and include a CD, though these
days I think it’s preferable to send some
good quality photographs as well. A short
biography and an artist statement is a
must. Be prepared to only hear back from
1 out of 10 galleries that you approach.
Not everyone will connect with your work,
and many galleries are fully committed for
twelve months at a time.
Don’t show all of your work to the Gallery
Director. Show your best, recent work,
preferably in clusters or series. The
83
presentation of your work can persuade or
dissuade a gallery from taking you on. Be
articulate, brief and clear about your work.
Do not be rushed - take your time without
being laborious or redundant.
The best way to talk about your art is to
start with the elements that you are most
clear on. It’s really important not to waffle
when you talk about art in general and
particularly when addressing your own
work. It’s most effective to directly respond
to the questions being asked. If I’m not
comfortable about the direction a particular
conversation is going I change it. Express
your enthusiasm but prevent yourself from
rambling on to avoid losing their interest.
Be aware of who is listening to you and
their level of interest as you speak.
Whether you are speaking to gallery
directors, clients or friends, at some point
the topic of artistic influences will arise. I
think it’s important is to be honest when
you’re talking about your work, and if
there are artists who have influenced you
84
it’s good to acknowledge it. There is no
need to turn the subject away from your
own work, however, particularly if the
other artists who have influenced you are
contemporaries. This can have the effect
of dampening the conversation about your
own work.
I have had many influences, sometimes
directly sometimes indirectly. But I never
focus this as a major element in my work.
I feel that I have always followed my own
momentum and that my body of work is
not a derivative of someone else’s.
85
Competitions
I personally am very selective about the
art competitions that I choose to enter.
In my earlier years I used to enter just
about anything, simply because the prizes
were so enticing. All competitions have
a fee associated with entry, so do your
homework, make sure you know whether
the prize is for you, and make sure the
fee is not beyond your budget. Also be
aware that usually the artist is paying
for freight costs back and forth for these
competitions. 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
into 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.
87
$$
$ $
$
$
$
$$
$
Creating Wealth
Everyone knows the stereotype of the
poor starving artist. For you, this can
become an irrelevant notion of the past.
As presented in my seminars, I have
created a systematic, practical approach
to creating a platform using the Internet
to share your creative endeavors. Have
you ever imagined writing a book, creating
a series of CDs or DVDs, or even having
a subscription-based newsletter on your
website?
When a gallery closes, many artists have
nowhere to turn. In my small town of Byron
Bay Northern New South Wales alone, at
least four local galleries have closed as
a direct result of economic downtown.
Many of the artists represented by these
galleries were shocked and left scrambling
for income. It is wise to have alternatives
at the ready.
While pursuing your art career, you might
also consider other at-home business
89
opportunities, such as writing a book.
(This process is outlined in detail in my “Art
Insights” seminar.) Ultimately, you can
publish your own book e-book or online
newsletter and have different products all
related to your field of art. Many possibilities
exist for a varied income stream.
I have also been developing my own range
of limited edition prints for a number of
years. I first started making these around
1999 when the technology was in its earlier
stages.
Originally these prints were incorporated
into my installations. I have since found that
the prints provide another reliable stream
of income when produced responsibly, in
very small editions.
I would recommend that you keep your
editions to a maximum of 15 prints, thereby
keeping them exclusive and special, which
matters to clients. I also recommend
pricing them affordably. This is particularly
the case with digital and giclée prints.
90
These days I try to limit my limited edition
prints to paper. I use 300 GSM arches
paper, which is one of the best, and this
really helps with quality. Sometimes I go
onto canvas, but this is usually only when
I am making works that are a part of an
installation.
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The Parthenon Principle
To create an effective varied income stream
we can look to the Parthenon Principle.
If you have visited or seen the ancient
Parthenon temple in Athens, you will recall
its many Doric columns. These columns
are the parallel between this surviving
structure and the wealth we aim to build.
If one column collapses there are others to
bear the weight of the roof.
Setting up multi-tiered income generation
streams that are independent of each other
means that if one is not performing well at
a particular point in time, one of the other
income streams will be, and the roof will
not come crashing down. Following this
principle means not relying on selling art
through a gallery alone.
What happens in tough economic times like
these when work isn’t selling and galleries
are closing down? Do you have a strategy?
Do you have a backup plan so that you can
continue to have an income when you’re
93
not selling work? Do you go into teaching
full-time? Is that what you really want?
I am a strong proponent of trying a nontraditional at-home/in-studio business
opportunity that supports your artistic
endeavors without succumbing to work
that you don’t want to pursue.
We are all specialized in a particular field.
Imagine including your own book on your
website, or running your own workshop on
a DVD where you share information about
your creative process. This information
would be unique, as you are the unique
individual assembling the information. No
one else can do this. You are in fact creating
unique information that is valuable for
others to hear or read or see.
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Responsible Financial Management
Artists need to organize their money and
protect and save their wealth. I have met
many artists who were simply overwhelmed
by financial planning. Most often they are
responsible for the problem by not taking
sufficient interest in their finances, and it
is often necessary to twist an arm in order
to persuade an artist to audit their income
and take control. Some artists take control
by seeking advice from good accounting
firms and business managers.
The problem can be solved with a new
mindset that places a premium on wealth
creation and disciplined spending that
places an emphasis on the formulation of
long-term financial goals and discourages
short-term wants. Such a strategy can
be developed with the help of financial
advisors and professional investment
help, but wealth creation and disciplined
spending begins with a personal decision
made by an artist that he or she will live
according to a set of values and principles
95
and will establish their spending priorities
accordingly.
There are also, of course, a lot of artists
who succeed at buying property and have
a diverse portfolio of investments. There
are other artists who are legendary for
their penchant for saving their money. I
encourage artists to save their money and
invest it in a variety of ways ranging from
real estate to gold to the latest initial public
offerings (IPOs) in the stock market.
If the topic of finances terrifies you, remind
yourself of this: you can have wealth, and
you deserve wealth. Before you open your
bills or online accounts, make up an amount
that’s in your account. Say thank you for
all that is perfect and wonderful in your
life. Say thank you for the tiniest progress
you have made. Then proceed with your
finances. Shift your energy.
On this topic of finances, it is also important
to set limits. Many people are so fuelled
by the desire for money or the need to
96
please everyone that they say yes to every
opportunity, for better or worse. If this is
you, and you are tired of this, take a risk.
Start saying no. Say no to clients who drain
you and who want to take up all of your
time with little results for you. Say no to
gallery directors who want you to do all the
work for an exhibition. Ask more for your
services and, likewise, pay more to receive
better services as well.
Hiring help for your office or studio can be
complicated, but up front communication
around expectations, desired outcomes,
wages and estimates can reduce risk and
make the experience less cumbersome.
Artists often err on the side of creating
a comfortable connection. It is more
important, however, to express your true
expectations. Boundaries are essential at
the start of any project, from public art to
marketing projects and web design. And
if confusion around scope occurs during a
project, stop and say, “I need to be clear
here. I had thought you were going to
include this service in the estimate – did
97
I get that wrong?” Clarity is important
and will make the experience of hiring
or collaborating with someone more
comfortable overall.
98
Separating the Artist from the
Entrepreneur
The business side of the arts, which can
both sustain individual artists and lead to
wealth creation, needs to be encouraged
and
properly
managed.
Sometimes
artists get discouraged in their business.
It is important to separate your artistic
sensitivity from your business clarity.
I’ve run the business side of my art for
many years now. It didn’t actually become
a functioning business until I got clear that
I wanted to get more orderly and businesssavvy. I have since developed CDs, DVDs
books and e-books on this topic, as well
as a subscriber newsletter. You may even
wish to attend one of my “Art Insights”
seminars, where I explain how to set up
alternative revenue streams in general.
It may be helpful to you to develop an alter
ego when you’re working on the business
side of your art or your product. You don’t
have to use this name in your business
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dealings, but you might find that the
energy of that person can shift your own
body language when you’re in your office
facing issues that confront the artist side
of you.
…
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Part III:
Careers Insights: Reflections,
Reviews, Questions and Answers
I have often been asked what my definition
of success is and whether or not I consider
myself successful. The parameters by which
I define success are very wide. I don’t feel
that it’s confined to financial success or
necessary aligned with fame. It may be the
case that someone is financially rewarded
for what they do. Greater success comes
from acting from an honest place, in which
case you may be blessed with a lot of
beauty in life and lifestyle as a reward.
In some ways, I feel sure that I’ve had
a great deal of success in my life, and I
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do gauge that as both an interior quality
and an exterior experience, because I can
also see that I’m living in a beautiful place
here in Australia. It’s a beautiful, abundant
lifestyle, and I feel momentum from
constant improvement on many levels.
The fine-tuning of my inner self is reflected
in my outer life, making success an infinite
journey.
The idea of being a successful artist is
a very relative notion, the whole idea of
being a successful artist. In terms of my
hometown of Byron Bay, yes, I guess I have
a certain amount of success here. People
in this region are aware of me as an artist
who has achieved aplomb in my career. On
a state-wide level, yes, people are aware of
my work. In Australia at large, I am aware
that I am known, as I have won some
rather important prizes and have exhibited
nationally. I have received quite a bit of
recognition for the work that I’ve done.
I have also received some international
recognition. I usually go to New York
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City every year to have an exhibition or
to be involved in a lecture. New York is
very exciting, and on any given Thursday
evening there are 50 or more exhibition
openings!
In my studio, the fact that I can create
whatever I want feels like a successful
accomplishment. I’ve been painting for the
last couple of years, and now I’m involved in
a series of sculptures and wall works using
driftwood again. I have granted myself
permission to use a variety of techniques,
as I want. Success is sometimes feeling
that one isn’t categorized or confined.
I was recently reading about the British
artist Damien Hirst. He was recently named
on the Artprice Art Market Information
website as the 4th highest earner from
art sales in the world last year. He has
amassed nearly $1 billion. One might ask
him if he is successful in his own life, with
his family and relationships. I don’t know.
In that way, it’s all relative.
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“6 Driftwood Totems”
Found Driftwood and Stainless Steel
220 cm (h) x 40cm base (w) each
Reflections on Vision.
9
In art school I discovered freedom. I had
just come from an all-boys boarding school
in Melbourne, and it was time for me to
shake free, and I indeed shook free. During
my art school years I spent a lot of my time
experimenting and probably not being as
conscientious with aesthetic decisions as I
like to be these days. I think I probably
wanted to be somebody famous and
outrageous. I remember having aspirations
of arriving somewhere in the caliber of the
Australian artist Brett Whitely, who’s not
with us anymore. In the late ‘70s he was
winning all of the art awards at the Art
Gallery of New South Wales. He won the
trifecta, the Archibald, the Wynne and the
Sulman prizes in 1978, in the midst of my
art training.
I guess he was somebody that I was
looking at emulating in some way or other,
however he also had a serious drug habit
with heroin, which was a choice I had
absolutely no intention of following. I did
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I strive to act as a
reminder of our need
for oneness and the
necessity to help
each other.
like the way he approached art. I felt in
his career he was incredibly courageous
and had an amazing natural talent, and
somewhere I got a taste of wanting to
achieve something along those lines minus
the tendency for addictive substances!
I feel much more in the service of people
now. My vision is shaped more around
being in the service of people and humanity
as a whole. I am enjoying my role as a
mediator between nature and humans,
expressing universal truths in my work
and inspiring viewers as much as I am
able. When I deliver my lectures about
my environmental work in Australia and
overseas in the United States and Europe,
I often I begin the lecture with a blessing
for everybody- a blessing for oneness.
This is where my vision has evolved, a place
where my lectures and art making inform
and dovetail into each other. If there’s any
way that I can serve as a messenger of
positive change and consciousness, it is all
worth it.
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Reflections on Obstacles.
You always come across setbacks in your
career. You come across blockages in your
activities in the studio when things are not
quite working right and this can be very
unnerving, unsettling. At the same time,
these occurrences can open doors for a
new process of working.
When you’re having an exhibition of new
work and it doesn’t sell - that can be
difficult. Again, I would have to talk about
relativity. It’s tough if you don’t sell work
at an exhibition, especially if you put a lot
of time and money into the show. But that
really pales in significance when compared
to being dealt a bad hand when you least
expect it. In 1983 had a horrific fire in
my studio. This fire managed to destroy
approximately seven or eight years of
artworks, including paintings drawings and
prints. At the time this was a huge setback
to my career because I simply had no work
left and most of my documentation of the
work was burned as well. I did learn a
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great lesson from that experience, in that it
awoke in me a desire to get to know myself
on a deeper level, and for that I will always
be grateful. It helped to put me on a path,
and I have never looked back.
Other setbacks include the feeling that
your work is heading in a direction that
encourages people to categorize you. I do
my best to jump out of those categories, to
keep my freedom of expression by shifting
into different media and styles.
The public’s response to my work with
found objects has often been a challenge
for me. Some people are uncomfortable
or over demonstrable when they see me
walking along the beach collecting rubbish
because of their own positive or negative
projections. They sometimes have an
external reaction or projection, purely
being a very personal response of their
own to seeing this activity.
Most of the time for me, it was as though
I were doing performance art. In fact,
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collecting rubbish was my daily meditation.
For the last few years I haven’t been so
actively collecting plastics, as my work
continues to grow in different directions and
shift emphasis. I’ve just allowed that next
shift to happen. It’s been quite interesting
to feel the open doors and find myself
moving through them, into something new.
Cynicism by viewing audiences always
feels like an obstacle, one that can pull
you away from your centre. The challenge
is returning to your centre, going deep
to find your truth. And you can only get
there by going inward. So for the most
part, in my experience, setbacks are really
opportunities, or blessings in disguise.
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Reflections on Direction.
I have delivered many lectures over
the years on my environmental art,
environmental issues and other aspects
of art. In these lectures I cover all of the
key periods in my work. I really enjoy
delivering these lectures and traveling to
various parts of the globe to share my
insights. I enjoy the interaction that I have
with the audience. The questions I receive
probe and challenge me to give honest and
thought-provoking answers.
I’ve been an artist for 25-30 years now, and
it’s a great honour to be in a position where
I can share my experiences. It’s also a very
interesting time to be working with these
themes. When I first began working with
environmental issues it was a relatively
new phenomenon. I wasn’t aware of other
artists at that time who were working along
the same lines as myself, perhaps one or
two, but not many.
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And many people simply didn’t know what
to make of this artistic process. These
days, you see a lot of this type of work,
which is helping to highlight the plight of
our planet.
I see myself continuing to share my body
of work through lectures and other media,
while continuing to create new art. I would
like to share helpful information in all forms
of products and lectures with a very broad
audience that they can use to develop their
own skills and have deeper insights into
their own work and themselves.
One of the most profound shifts in direction
that has occurred for me came about
when a very good friend of mine had an
aircraft accident. The light aircraft he was
a passenger in crashed and he was very
badly hurt. I ended up spending quite a bit
of time by his bed while he was in hospital,
just being there for him for a few months.
His head had been badly injured, and he
had serious burns to his body. Spending so
much time with him, I had experienced a
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shift in my awareness. This whole garish
process didn’t phase me, and I wasn’t
aware of my tolerance for it beforehand.
I would take occasional breaks from my
hospital visits and garner driftwood and
plastics from very remote beaches in
South-eastern Victoria in Australia, as a
way of having some time out. Something
in me was not grossed out about picking
up huge volumes of rubbish, and I think
my experience in that hospital helped to
get me there.
My wife and I had just moved into a beautiful
new home in Byron Bay that had the most
lovely lime-washed ceilings and walls. I
remember saying to her that I wanted to
make drift wood furniture for it. We went to
some of these very remote beaches where
the driftwood piled up high in rocky coves
and on beaches that were seldom walked
upon and were reached by scaling down
cliffs. I noticed there not only driftwood
washed up on the beaches; there were also
piles of plastics, ropes, Styrofoam, plastic
bottles, buoys and thongs.
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Driftwood Couch
Dimensions Variable
116
I hadn’t seen the extent of this sort of
ocean litter before. I collected somewhere
around 80 jumbo garbage bags full of this
plastic stuff and sent it all by truck back to
my studio along with the driftwood.
I suppose there existed in me a very defined
sensibility about the environment to want
to pick up all this flotsam and jetsam. I’m
glad to know that this response happened
quite naturally within me. The inspiration
to consider these found objects as possible
material for my art making process is a
different matter.
As I intended, I completed the driftwood
furniture. When that project was complete,
I tipped all of the plastic bags out onto the
studio floor and ended up with a giant pile
of trash. I had friends dropping by asking
me if I was OK! Then I saw the giant
palette emerge, and I began to approach
the aggregate of found objects in a fairly
pragmatic way. The first series of work that
I ended up creating at that time I called
contemporary landscapes. They looked
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“Coke Totems”
Found plastic objects and
stainless steel
2.2 m x 30 cm base each
118
almost like a cross cut through the soil. I
ended up making very colourful, almost
painterly compositions behind Perspex.
Eventually I started making more sculptural
pieces with some of the larger plastics.
Totems and installations made with thongs,
coke bottles and all of these things. The
process was organic and took on a life of
its own. It is a beautiful process working
with these materials, where the doors of
opportunity and variation are kept wide
open.
“Gold Coast”
Found plastic objects, assembled behind Perspex
1.24m x 64 cm ea (4 panels)
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“White Totems”
Public art proposal
5m high x 3.5m diameter
120
People would tell me to look at this person’s
work or that person’s work. At the time, I
decided it was best for me just to continue
making my body of work and going into
various avenues that it took me and really
solidified what it was that I was doing with
these new materials instead of looking to
other artists for inspiration. This enabled
me to create work that was fresh and to
make my own mistakes to learn from. My
work was not a derivative of anyone else’s
work. This was important for me and has
always been.
I shifted again back to painting after
working with found objects and recycled
materials for so many years. I was asked
by a very major recycling company in
Australia to draw up some public art
proposals for works that were intended for
placement outside buildings and factories
throughout Australia. When I toured one
particular factory I noticed that their plastic
fabricating machines were pumping out
what are called “purges” at the end of a
run. These were like big blobs that would
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"Bronze Plastic Purge"
Plastic Sculpture Purge
40cms (h) x 50cms (w) x 40cms (d)
122
be squeezed out of the machine to clean
the machine at the end of the day or week.
I found these objects incredibly interesting
and immensely beautiful in their own way,
and I proceeded to collect a number of
these objects that were either destined
for a landfill or for recycling and chose
to exalt them on plinths in my studio. I
then created a series of paintings about
these plastic objects. This got me back
into painting again, almost accidentally.
The public art projects never went forward
because of financial difficulties on the part
of the companies, but in the meantime I
re-entered the realm of paint.
As a direct result of painting for an
extended period of time, I began a series
of paintings reflecting my daily walk
around the lighthouse here in Byron Bay.
Essentially I ended up painting seascapes
and landscapes of beaches that I had spent
the previous 12-14 years picking plastics
up off. It was an interesting turn of events.
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“Driftwood Sculpture Trio”
Found Driftwood, Steel and Wood
232 cm (h) x Dimensions variable
124
I remember telling the media during the
mid-90s that I hoped one day I would stop
making art out of found plastics because
the beaches were clean. Although the
beaches around my hometown are a lot
cleaner these days due to community
effort, on a worldwide scale ocean litter has
gotten much worse. Nowadays I would not
be able to create the kind of found object
works from collecting plastics off the local
beaches here.
My paintings of landscapes and seascapes
were not pretty pictures. They are rather
edgy and infused with a sense of urgency.
These paintings have in a sense a kind of
foreboding as regards the current ecological
crisis. We exist in a state of urgency. We
don’t know how long we’re going to be
fortunate enough to have our planet as a
life-giving place that is healthy enough to
support life.
I am now working with driftwood again.
It’s great to not feel any restriction in what
it is that I create. I’m just enjoying going
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with the flow with my creativity. I had
quite a large amount of it in storage, and
it’s been great to just get it out and work
it into some really interesting sculpturessculptures that I’ve never seen before. I
don’t know what’s going to happen next. It
might be that I decide on another journey
and collect driftwood from really remote
locations. Or I might go to New York and
have an epiphany in the presence of Mark
Rothko paintings. The future is wide open.
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Articles and Reviews
“Australian Environmental Artist Creating
a Sense of ‘Oneness’”
Art Calendar, May 2008
By Louise Buyo and Kim Hall
Few could have predicted that Australian
artist John Dahlsen would have transitioned
from representational painting to abstract
painting and finally, for the last decade,
to found object work - not even the artist
himself. Yet today, the mixed-media/
assemblage sculpturist is one of the most
recognized and awarded environmental
artists in the world.
In the mid-nineties, Dahlsen was gathering
driftwood on the Victorian Coastline for
a furniture project, when he found huge
amounts of plastic litter washed up along
the shore. The artist accumulated 80 bags
of the garbage and dragged them to his
studio to begin his shift to a new medium.
For the last 10 years, Dahlsen has continued
to take walks along Australian beaches,
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collecting the debris he encounters. He
then sorts through it and separates it by
color to create new compositions that
produce a narrative.
In
his
artist
statement,
Dahlsen
acknowledges, “My challenge as an artist
was to take these found objects, which
might on first meeting have no apparent
dialogue, and to work with them until they
spoke and told their story, which included
those underlying environmental messages
inherent to the use of this kind of medium.”
The work is photographed using a number
of large format transparencies, which are
drum-scanned and then stitched together
to form a super high-resolution print of
each image. Editions are small in print run,
ranging from nine to fourteen per each of the
four sizes offered. Dahlsen sells his limitededition, large-scale, high-resolution digital
prints on canvas and paper for $15,000
or more each, with smaller prints ranging
between $2,500 and $7,000.
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Throughout the years, his work has
garnered a lot of praise. Dahlsen exhibited
at the Florence Biennale of Contemporary
Art in 2003, where he won an award for
mixed-media/new media. His work also
won the prestigious Wynne Prize (the most
recognized annual Australian art prize,
in existence for more than a century) at
the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000. And he
was selected by an international jury to
be a cultural ambassador and represent
Australia at the Athens Olympics of the
Visual Arts “Artiade Exhibition 2004”.
Not only has Dahlsen’s work been exhibited
worldwide, including at the Australian
embassy in Washington D.C., but he
has lectured about his art form in front
of hundreds of audiences ranging from
30 to 3,000 attendees, and has curated
environmental art shows everywhere from
Australia to New York. All this, and much
more, because Dahlsen had the courage to
pursue a form of art that forced him to let
go of many of the predispositions he had
about success in the art world and instead
believe wholly in his art and its mission.
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Art Calendar: I read that a fire destroyed
your studio in 1983, taking seven years
worth of work with it. Did this event
influence your transition from painting to
found objects?
Dahlsen: The fire incident, although a
major occurrence at the time in 1983,
didn’t directly affect my transition to
working with found objects, as that period
began in my work in the mid-nineties. It
did, though, rock my very foundations as
a person and brought me face to face with
my mortality, which explained, for me, my
immediate openness to the spiritual path,
which had been hindered up until that
point. I suppose it made the transition to
be easier, though, as I became less rigid
as a person in hindsight. It was this point
also which triggered me to begin to work
with my own issues revolving around my
fathers’ suicide, which took place three
weeks before I was born. Looking at these
issues helped to transform me significantly
as a person, and I’m sure helped me to
become more open and able to make the
130
required jumps when necessary throughout
my life.
Art Calendar: Were you concerned about
how your collectors or critics would react
to the new work, or whether you would
be able to make a living at all with your
newfound medium?
Dahlsen: I found that, although I saw this
as completely new work at the time, as I
hadn’t seen this kind of work before, I had
no doubt that it would find it’s place with
both the art world and my collector base.
I was simply so excited with discovering
this new visual language completely by
accident and with no influence by other
artists before me. In fact, I was surprised
how quickly collectors embraced the work.
I think that most of my collector base sees
clearly that I’m sharing a positive message
about beauty that can be gained from
the aesthetic experience of appreciating
these artworks, in the use of colour and
composition, etc., as well as at the same
131
time appreciating highlighting a present
dramatic plight of our planet and also
through the work giving examples of how
we can recycle and reuse in creative ways.
Art Calendar: Did you market your work
as “environmental” in the beginning?
Dahlsen: I never really marketed it as
any particular style at first. The term
“Environmental” simply grew the longer
I worked with it and had its obvious
commentary on environmental issues. At
first, I called these works “assemblages”
and “Contemporary Landscapes.” By now,
my work has naturally grown over the
years into this stronger concern for the
environment. As such, I’m happy to be
termed an “Environmental Artist.”
Art Calendar: You spend a significant
amount of time giving lectures about your
work. Tell us about that.
Dahlsen: Public speaking has occurred for
me as a natural development with my work.
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I love to address audiences and feel I have
a gift with delivering them. My many years
in the past as an educator have aided this,
with my lecturing at both the university
level as well as in the secondary school
level. Invitations to speak publicly keep
coming these days, which I enjoy. I love to
travel, and I’m paid well for it, which is a
good acknowledgment. Plus, I believe the
effect I have on my audience far outreaches
the carbon footprint I’m making with the
travel component of giving these lectures.
I’m very fortunate to connect with people
on such an intimate way in these lectures,
as evidenced by how I regularly receive
e-mails for weeks afterward from around
the globe by people who have been touched
by one of my lectures.
Art Calendar: How do you structure your
lectures?
Dahlsen: My lectures begin with my giving
the audience a blessing for “Oneness,” as
this is something I believe the world needs
the most at the moment. This is followed
133
basically by a talk on my environmental
art. I deliver these talks in speaking
engagements all over the world. My target
audiences range from participants in
seminars and environmental symposium
events and at corporate functions,
to
universities,
exhibition
openings
and embassy events. I lecture about
my knowledge and concern about
environmental issues, particularly in
relation to the power and effectiveness of
art transmitting important messages about
our environment.
I deliver these seminars for various
timeframes, from 20 minutes to one
to two hours, depending on the target
audience. The speaking engagements are
delivered with both PowerPoint and DVD
presentations, and involve an introduction
about myself and some basics about my
history as an artist, leading on to discussion
about the importance of art, emphasizing
environmental and ecological awareness.
This leads into the PowerPoint presentation,
where I project various images. Depending
134
on the length and nature of the presentation,
this can amount to anywhere between 70
and 200 images, followed by a question and
answer discussion. In this time of image
projections, I focus on the visuals around
eight main aspects of this environmental
artwork.
Art Calendar: You have chosen to be selfrepresented. How do you maintain such a
strong focus on creating new work, while
balancing it with the art of selling, booking
speaking engagements, etc.?
Dahlsen: Being predominantly selfrepresented has also just happened
gradually, toward the end of the nineties,
and has continued to this day. I did market
myself quite aggressively at one point, as
I really wanted to make no mistake as to
how I positioned myself. In many ways,
this has worked, as I tend to rely more on
my reputation these days. I’ve found that
responding relatively early to the need for
an Internet presence has worked wonders
for me with international exposure and
135
demand, and has made the decision of
when to need to have dealers or galleries
work for me a much easier decision to
make.
Some of the challenges I experience as a
self-represented artist are based around
the uncertainty of future projects, as I
am not committed to a set number of
exhibitions each year. But that said, I have
found it usually has a way of working itself
out, and I quite like the randomness of
it all. I could never become a production
line, which probably explains, in part, the
variety of work that I make as the years
go by.
I maintain a strong focus on creating new
work, while balancing it with the art of
selling and booking speaking engagements
by attending to my personal life equally, with
the same amount of vigor and enthusiasm
as I have for my art, so that I have the
inner strength to not let the business side
of things weigh me down in my career.
I think this is important, to have a good
136
balance. To get plenty of exercise, have
lots of harmony with nature and meditation
to help with it all. I also live in one of the
most beautiful places on the planet. Try
Googling ‘Byron Bay’ in Australia, and you’ll
see what I mean! Although it like all places
on our planet, is facing potential unheard
of climate changes, unless we change our
ways immediately.
Art Calendar: What’s next in your career?
Dahlsen: I am open to surprises, and
they just keep coming. Teaching others
about the importance of the environment
through delivering more lectures about
my art in public speaking engagements
does interest me, particularly as you can
see from my Web site that I have been a
hugely prolific artist over the years, and I
have lots to lecture about with heaps of
visuals. I think this will go hand in hand
with creating new work, as I’m also really
enjoying the possibilities I see in my reentry into painting. This excites me to no
end at the moment.
137
Art Calendar: Ultimately, what do you
hope viewers get from the work you’re
producing?
Dahlsen: A
everything.
138
sense
of
Oneness
with
“Flotsam and Jetsam - How One Man Put
the “Environmental” Into Art”
Asian GeoGraphic, Number 53 Issue 3,
2008
By Ian Seldrup
With all the talk about the new experimental
works coming out of Asia, like Yue Minjun’s
iconic grinning self-portraits, you would
think that the million-dollar figures Chinese
contemporary art is fetching is the only
thing that mattered. An entirely different
ethos underpins the multifaceted work of
Australian John Dahlsen, who has been
quietly amassing recognition and awards
for his unique creations, cobbled together
from bits of driftwood and all manner of
discarded plastic detritus.
After working in abstract painting for years,
the Byron Baysider began stumbling across
masses of plastic debris while scouring the
Victorian coastlines for driftwood to use
in furniture. Something of an obsession
soon developed, and over the period of a
139
decade, a vast collection of litter from the
ocean has been crowding his studio.
Dahlsen attended the respected Victorian
College of the Arts in Melbourne in the
seventies, and was enthralled by the
abstract expressionism of Mark Rothko
during a memorable visit to London’s Tate
Gallery in 1981. After a stint in the United
States, he returned to his home turf and
took up a position as artist-in-residence at
Editions Gallery in Western Australia. With
his traditional realm of paint and canvas
already giving way to explorations with new
materials and techniques, the “accident” of
coming across a bounty of waste plastic on
the beach was all the inspiration needed
to transition to a new way of working. “I
was immediately affected by a whole new
palette of colour and shape revealing itself
to me; I had never seen such hues and
forms before,” says the artist, who has
sifted, sorted and colour-coded his precious
finds ever since.
140
Of that early time, Dahlsen says: “My
challenge as an artist was to take these
found objects, which might on first meeting
have no apparent dialogue, and to work
with them until they spoke and told their
story, which included those underlying
environmental messages inherent in the
use of this kind of medium.” As a seasoned
artist, Dahlsen could be forgiven for dwelling
on the aesthetic, but a deep environmental
consciousness clearly has its roots in those
early experiences.
“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,” he says.
The “environmental” art of Dahlsen attests
to the staggering global problem of trash in
our oceans, the majority of which is plastic.
In 2006, the United Nations Environment
Program estimated that every square
mile hosts some 46,000 pieces of floating
plastic. So vast is one area of concentrated
141
trash in the northern Pacific Ocean, confined
by slowly circulating currents, that it has
been named the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. A Greenpeace report that same year
estimated that 80 percent of the ocean’s
plastic garbage begins its long life on land.
Much of the remainder is spillage directly
from the plastics industry, which ships
plastic around the globe in the form of tiny
pellets, called nurdles, that eventually end
up on our supermarket shelves after being
coloured, melted and moulded into our
ubiquitous disposable products.
Not surprisingly, the ocean’s toxic stew
spells untold havoc for ecosystems. A
plastic bag is a dead ringer for a jellyfish –
if you’re a sea turtle. Multi-coloured plastic
shards have been found to lace the innards
of marine birds. Most insidious of all, the
tiniest fragments of plastic are soaking
up the manmade toxins already widely
diffused in seawater, threatening the entire
food chain. We are already ingesting our
own trash. The plastic debris that washes
up on Dahlsen’s shores and finds its way
into his art is a poignant reminder of the
crucial part we all have to play.
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Interview between John Dahlsen
and Cassandra Parkinson, the Artist
Career Project Manager of the National
Association of the Visual Arts (NAVA).
NAVA Magazine.
June 2008
NAVA: You’ve gone through several distinct
phases in your career, creating a diverse
body of work. What led you to change your
approach?
JD: A fire destroyed my studio in 1983,
taking seven years work with it. It shook
my foundations as a person and brought
me face to face with my mortality. It
influenced my transition through a fairly
diverse range of art practice and made
the later transition to found objects easier,
because I became less rigid as a person.
After many years of painting, I became
more open to exploring new materials
and technology, and to stretching myself
beyond the realm of paintbrush and canvas.
Being open to the benefit of ‘accidents’ in
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the art-making process has led to some
of the most profound breakthroughs in
my work. My creative medium changed to
found object art after one such ‘accident’
in 1997. I was collecting driftwood on a
remote Victorian coastline, planning to
make furniture, when I stumbled on vast
amounts of plastic ocean debris. A whole
new palette of colour and shape revealed
itself.
NAVA: To what degree does a commitment
to the environment inform your process as
an artist?
JD: In the mid 1990s, my visual language
developed across broad areas through the
found object work, which encompassed such
disciplines as sculpture, assemblage wall
works, public art, digital prints, installation
art, painting and drawing. During that time
my work took on strong environmental
themes, offering a vast field of exploration.
I see the term “environmental artist” as
being very flexible. Because I live with
the environment, I have no choice but to
144
tackle environmental issues and represent
my commitment to contemporary social
and environmental concerns in my work.
This approach has grown naturally for me
through my work with found object visual
language.
NAVA: What came first – the decision to
live in a seaside area or the decision to
focus on environmental art?
JD: I live in a seaside town called Byron Bay
and the decision to live here came before
the decision to focus on environmental
art. As a result of living here, my creative
medium shifted. The landscapes in my
latest paintings are the same places where
I have roamed and collected detritus and
materials for my assemblages and other
works. In the past I used recycled materials
to convey the history and memory of a place
and to comment on the human experience
of place, beauty and environmental
degradation. I have executed my new
paintings with a certain sense of urgency,
because I have become increasingly
145
concerned about global warming. But with
these works the environmental message is
more subtle.
NAVA: How difficult has it been to strike a
balance between your “local” life in a small
town and that which engages with the rest
of the world?
JD: I’ve found an easy balance with my
local and broader commitments, which
have unfolded naturally over the years. I
began to represent myself from the late
1990s, coinciding with the growth of the
internet and more convenient travel, so
it was easier to maintain contacts from a
distance. Living in a regional area has helped
me reach out to the international market
and creating an early internet presence
worked wonders in gaining international
exposure and demand. That made it easier
to decide when to work with dealers and
galleries and it had unexpected results,
such as having my work become part of
the syllabus in parts of Australia, the US
and the UK. It’s also important to have a
146
good balance in your life, to get plenty of
exercise, have lots of harmony with nature,
meditation and a quiet place to work. I live
in one of the most beautiful places on the
planet. These things all benefit me as an
artist living outside a major metropolitan
centre.
NAVA: Ultimately, what do you hope
viewers get from the work you're
producing?
JD: I hope viewers get a sense of
oneness with everything from the work
I’m producing. Making this art is a way
of sharing my messages about the need
to care for our environment and about
the aesthetic experience of appreciating
artworks. I believe humanity is at a critical
point, with the planet in a fragile ecological
state and global warming hastening major
changes. I hope people enjoy my work at
many levels and can identify with each
piece in various ways. I also hope the
viewing public can embrace messages in
other artists’ work, particularly when they
147
express strong environmental and social
statements intelligently and with a high
degree of aesthetic complexity.
148
“Questions on Plastic Bags” Interview with
the artist
By C.W. Thompson
(Publication forthcoming)
What inspired you to make art out of
plastic bags?
Two things really, the first was the strong
environmental messages I could convey
and the second was the great colours and
forms I could create out of the material.
I developed works using recycled plastic
bags as the primary medium a few years
ago, “Blue River” was one of these works
using this medium. This work was a finalist
in the 2003 Wynne prize at the Art Gallery
of NSW and signalled a slight departure
from my more recognizable assemblage
works, in which I used plastics and
other detritus collected from the Eastern
seaboard, “Thong Totems” which won the
Wynne Prize in 2000 is a good example.
149
I am with this work, apart from wishing to
express obvious environmental messages,
particularly interested in the brilliance of
the colours and textures available to me in
working with this medium. I am constantly
surprised to see the variations in these
plastics, very much like how I am also
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.
The Irish Government imposed a 10 cent
levy on the use of these bags some years
ago and saw the consumption of this
product decrease by approximately 90%
within a year, a reduction of many billions
of plastic bags per year!
150
Once again, I am able as a contemporary
visual artist, to use these recycled materials,
to create artworks, which I hope express a
certain beauty as well as containing their
own unique environmental messages.
This is my way of making a difference,
and at the same time I’m sharing a
positive message about beauty that can
be gained from the aesthetic experience
of appreciating art, as well as giving
examples of how we can recycle and reuse
in creative ways. These artworks exemplify
my commitment as an artist to express
contemporary social and environmental
concerns.
What is it that makes plastic bags such
a nuisance?
Over consumption and their discardability
make plastic bags a nuisance. Danger
to wildlife including fish and animals.
Environmental vandalism caused by
the careless disposal of them into the
environment and landscape.
151
The one plastic bag that was blown by the
wind looked great in the sequence in the
movie American Beauty, but that was an
isolated event. This is all substantiated
in a report by the Australian Government
Department of the Environment, Water,
Heritage and the Arts. In 2005, Australians
used 3.92 billion lightweight single use highdensity polyethylene (HDPE) bags. 2.14
billion of these came from supermarkets,
while the others were used by fast food
restaurants, service stations, convenience
stores, liquor stores and other shops. 10
Most of these go to landfill (rubbish tips)
after they are used, and some are recycled.
In 2002 around 50 to 80 million bags ended
up as litter in our environment. While the
number littered has probably been reduced
since then, it is likely that a large number
still enter the environment. Once littered,
plastic bags can find their way on to our
streets, parks, and into our waterways.
Although plastic bags make up only a small
percentage of all litter, the impact of these
152
bags is nevertheless significant. Plastic
bags create visual pollution problems
and can have harmful effects on aquatic
and terrestrial animals. Plastic bags are
particularly noticeable components of the
litter stream due to their size and can take
a long time to fully break down.
The Australian Government is working
with industry and the community to
reduce the environmental impact of plastic
bags. However, everyone shares some
responsibility for this problem - from plastic
bag manufacturers and importers who sell
the bags, shop-keepers who give them
away, and the customers who use them. It
is up to all of us to help find the solution.
In recent years, many people have started
to use reusable bags, such as the 'green
bags' you can buy at most supermarkets.
Because of these efforts, the number of
HDPE bags used in Australia has fallen
from around 6 billion in 2002 to 3.92 billion
in 2005. However, there is a lot more that
can be done.
153
Plastic Bag Facts
Australians used 3.92
shopping bags per year.
billion
plastic
Nearly half a million plastic bags are
collected on Clean Up Australia Day each
year.
It takes only four grocery shopping
trips for an average Australian family to
accumulate 60 plastic shopping bags.
Plastic bags are produced from polymers
derived from petroleum. The amount of
petroleum used to make a plastic bag
would drive a car about 11 metres.
In 2005, Australians used 192 HDPE bags
per capita.
14% of HDPE plastic carry bags are returned
to major supermarkets for recycling.
154
Are paper bags any better?
As paper does come from trees... I think
ultimately a bag made from some kind
of recyclable material or made from a
sustainable practice material would be the
best.
In the US there are many initiatives to
outright ban plastic bags – as an iconic
though troubled item, do you think the
bag could ultimately disappear from
public consumption?
I would hope so, we have only relied on
them for the past 50 years or so. I believe
presently humanity is at a critical point in
time, with our planet currently existing
in a fragile ecological state, with global
warming hastening unheard of changes,
all amplifying the fact that we need all the
help we can get. Removing mass produced
plastic bags from circulation, would be a
good step in the right direction, simply
retraining people to not overly consume
and to recycle where possible.
155
This tension between inorganic
abstraction and emotionally
charged organism lends these
works particular resonance,
given their inception in the
politics of environmental art.
They play out, in elegant and
economical aesthetics, the
unstable boundaries between
the natural and the artificial.
- Dr. Jacqueline Milner
156
“Environmental Art”
University of Western Sydney
By Dr. Jacqueline Milner
(Publication forthcoming)
“A bleached and fractured world
surrounds the artist. To organize
this mess of corrosion into patterns,
grids and subdivisions is an aesthetic
process that has scarcely been
touched.”
Robert Smithson in Sedimentation Essays
(Cited in Jeffrey Kastner (ed) & Brian Wallis, Land and
Environment Art, London: Phaidon Press, 1998, p 27)
Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century
American public intellectual acknowledged
as one of the founders of the modern
ecological movement, made a point of
emphasizing the political significance of
what he called ‘the art of walking’. Thoreau
believed that venturing forth into the
landscape on foot, eschewing destinations
and concrete objectives, was an unqualified
good in itself. Not only did walking lift
one’s spirits: more importantly, it served
157
as a constant reminder of the mutual
dependence of humankind and nature, of
the imperative to protect the environment
from harm.
More than a century later, the British artist
Richard Long literalized the ‘art of walking’
by transforming his walks through the
landscape into artworks. In these poetic
renditions of land art, Long documented
the subtle and ephemeral traces of his acts
of walking: the faint line left in grass after
his feet trampled it, the simple patterns
created after he removed pebbles from his
path. In contrast to the massive excavation
exercises that comprised the earthworks of
pioneering land artists such as Americans
Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer,
Long’s works strike a decidedly gentle
note: a quiet but nonetheless insistent call
for a different kind of environmental work
grounded in the ethics of care.
When Australian artist John Dahlsen began
his littoral walks over a decade ago, he
was in some respects honouring Long’s
158
tradition of exploring the relation between
humankind and the environment through
daily, ritual, embodied interaction.
In the case of Dahlsen’s practice, however,
the ecological dimension was more explicit,
for during these saunterings along the
coast of his local area in Northern NSW, the
artist would collect the flotsam and jetsam
washed up on the shore. Unlike Long’s
engagement with the natural environment,
Dahlsen was actively harvesting from
‘nature’ the many- times-removed products
of human manufacture: the raw material
extracted from the earth, processed into
commodity, used, discarded, and returned
by the tide to human use.
For a time, the very act of walking and
coastal care comprised Dahlsen’s work,
recalling not only Long’s land art, but also
other environmental-conceptual works
that focused on the cleaning and caretaking of everyday environments. (These
include the works of Merle Lader Ukeles,
whose performances entailed sweeping,
159
scrubbing and foregrounding the sanitation
of particular urban settings, and Helen
Meyer Harrison and Newton Harrison, who
documented the pollution of the Sava River
in Yugoslavia, before devising a counterpollution strategy.) Soon, however, Dahlsen
grew inspired by the objects he collected
to create sculptures and assemblages, so
that his practice came to combine walking
with object and image-making.
The objects yielded by the tide prompted a
key question for the artist: how does one
give form to the formlessness of detritus?
Dahlsen was well aware that the organizing
principles he chose would determine the
meaning of any work he created. He began
by sorting the found objects into material,
natural or manufactured, then into colour
and size, his process a self-reflexive
examination of categorization.
These categories suggested particular
works: totem poles constructed from
buoys or thongs, wall-based collages
of driftwood, and, eventually, coloured
160
plastics assembled into abstract fields that
came to evoke landscapes. Unlike most
environmental artists, Dahlsen made his
work not from conventionally ‘natural’
materials — soil, grass, stones, for instance
— but rather from the ‘artificial’ materials
that nature has reclaimed and sculpted
through erosion. His works actively
mobilized the unstable boundaries between
what is human-made and what is natural.
These works not only transform rubbish
into objects of value, raising questions
about the assignation of cultural worth.
They also compel the viewer to make links
between the cycles of production and use
of everyday functional objects, and those
of art. What distinguishes a piece of plastic
ground to crystal-like translucency by time
and water, from a work of art? Can art shift
our thinking on matters of sustainability,
or is it complicit in the exploitation of the
earth’s resources for human consumption?
For many of the original land artists, the
move to sculptural form carved out of
161
the outdoor public domain was a reaction
against the isolation and supposed ‘purity’
of abstract painting. But for Dahlsen, land
art-inspired sculpture and assemblage have
paved the way for a recent reengagement
with painting.
Before turning to the found object some ten
years ago, Dahlsen’s practice had comprised
primarily of gestural abstraction. Now, the
time spent exploring environment-based,
sculptural and conceptual approaches has
radically transformed his painting. For
Dahlsen, painting has emerged as a new
way to explore the relationship between
waste and use, form and formlessness, and
environmental empathy and destruction.
Dahlsen’s latest series is appropriately titled
The Purge Paintings. To purge is to radically
cleanse, to empty out or permanently
delete; purging has connotations of violent
persecution, as well as of healing and
rebirth. On a personal level, Dahlsen could
be said to be purging his previous practice
in the new work, with all the ambivalence
162
that entails. The term also refers directly
to the amorphous extrusions created when
a plastics moulding machine is cleaned at
the end of a production run.
Dahlsen began collecting these cast offs,
destined either for landfill or recycling,
while researching a public art project
for a plastics manufacturer. The brightly
coloured and completely random forms
are extremely suggestive, generative of all
kind of interpretative possibility. Dahlsen
treated them at first like readymades —
sculptures in their own right. He then began
experimenting with their potential as still
lives: a quintessentially contemporary still
life subject, given their synthetic quality,
their disposability, and their integral role in
the petroleum industry, a key perpetrator
of environmental disaster.
Robert Smithson once claimed that “art can
become a resource that mediates between
the ecologist and the industrialist” in
reference to his many (unheeded) proposals
to mining companies to participate in
163
projects of land reclamation.
Dahlsen’s retrieval of the waste product
of plastics manufacturing partakes of
the same spirit, serving to remind us of
the interconnectedness of environmental
issues, but also attempting to reclaim
waste and the destruction of nature in the
beauty of art.
Dahlsen’s treatment valorises purged
plastic as an object of acute visual interest
and cultural importance: the blobs are
rendered large, exalted on a plinth. The
colours are flat and close in tone, the
compositions crossing the genres of still
life and abstraction: the materiality of the
plastic flattens into pattern, then springs
back into organic matter.
This play between abstraction and
figuration,
between
synthetic/organic
matter and immateriality in the purge
paintings, has been applied in Dahlsen’s
most recent works to landscapes —
dark works whose subtle references
164
to environmental degradation all but
disappear before forcefully catching you
unawares.
This tension between inorganic abstraction
and
emotionally
charged
organism
lends these works particular resonance,
given their inception in the politics of
environmental art. They play out, in elegant
and economical aesthetics, the unstable
boundaries between the natural and the
artificial, reminding us of Wendell Berry’s
paradox that “the only thing we have to
preserve nature with is culture; the only
thing we have to preserve wildness with is
domesticity.”
…
165
References
Part I
1,2 Murray, Sandra. Essay: “John Dahlsen - Painting
and Drawing”, Lawrence Wilson Gallery University of
Western Australia Catalogue, 1991.
3 Asian GeoGraphic, “Flotsam and Jetsam - How One
Man Put the “Environmental” Into Art,” Number 53,
Issue 3, 2008
4 Jeni Faulkner, Coffs Harbour Advocate, 18 March 2004
5,8 Hampson, Catharina: Review: “Contemporary
Landscapes Review”, Fox Galleries Brisbane Cat. 1999
6 Dr. Jacqueline Millner. University of Western Sydney.
December 2006
7 Steven Alderton, “Artspeak” The Northern Star
15 December 2007
Part II
8 This chapter was Inspired by Gary Kewish, “Business
Success Unleashed” - Part 2 – pages 53 - 100
166
Part III
9 Based on a transcript from an interview between Alison
Laird and the artist.
10 Report by the Australian Government Department of the
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Pages
Articles, pages 127-165
National Association of the Visual Arts (Australia) Interview between Cassandra Parkinson (Artist Career
Project Manager) and John Dahlsen Artist, June 2008
New York Magazine (Art Calendar Article), “John
Dahlsen– Australian Environmental Artist Creating a
Sense of ‘Oneness’,” Louise Buyo and Kim Hall. July/
August 2008
Asian GeoGraphic, “Flotsam and Jetsam - How One Man
Put the “Environmental” Into Art,” Number 53, Issue 3,
2008
“Questions on Plastic Bags,” Journalist C.W. Thompson
Dr. Jacqueline Millner, University of Western Sydney,
December 2006
167
The Artist’s Must-Read Guide for Success
ART INSIGHTS
ART INSIGHTS
Art/Business
$34.95
Creating Wealth as a Successful Artist
ART INSIGHTS
Creating Wealth as a
Successful Artist
John Dahlsen
John Dahlsen is a leader in his field of environmental art throughout
Australia and in the US, Europe and Asia. His art is considerd highly
collectible, and as a public speaker Dahlsen has spoken about his
work, his career and business strategies for artists at national and
international engagements for over a decade.
Part I
Alchemy: My Career in Environmental Art
Part II
Business Strategies for Artists: The Artist as Business Person
Part III Career Insights: Reflections, Reviews and Q&A
ISBN: 978-0-9806926-0-0
Contact John Dahlsen at www.johndahlsen.com
JOHN DAHLSEN
ART INSIGHTS provides specific advice for artists seeking success and
wealth creation. This easy to understand guideto success includes:
John Dahlsen