Quilty Live
You know, I really would have preferred to have written this post on Tuesday night, but unfortunately I have been rather busy, and now I’m worried I’ve lost my inspiration. Bear with me whilst I try to stoke the fires.
I’m talking about Ben Quilty. If you didn’t see Artscape on Tuesday, you definitely should watch it. But not so fast - read this first…
Almost a year ago, now, I went to an exhibition opening of a Ben Quilty retrospective. The dress code on the invitation said ‘pub rock’. Kind of unconventional, no? But that’s exactly the kind of guy Ben Quilty is.
Unconventional.
It was one of the best exhibitions I’ve ever seen, partly because it was completely unexpected (I went with little knowledge of Quilty’s works), but mostly because his works are so amazing that it was all I could do to blink as little as possible in an attempt to maximise the visual experience and miss as little as possible.
Quilty is a young, contemporary Australian artist (actually, he’s kind of young to be having a retrospective) whose works are large, dramatic, thickly painted and absolutely incredible both in their subject matter and in the style in which they are painted.
Quilty not only presents art that is original, shocking, beautiful, and saturated with movement and vibrance, he also addresses issues facing young men in our society, and their obsession with alcohol, fast cars and risk-taking.
Subject matter
So… Did I mention he was unconventional?
Quilty isn’t your typical artist. Let’s face it, a lot of the time when I say ‘artist’, you say ‘pretentious wanker’. Whilst this is of course an unfair and ill-informed generalisation, on the whole, artists do tend to a) give the impression of being a bit pretentious, and b) actually be a little bit pretentious.
Quilty, on the other hand, is anything but. He is so unpretentious that I almost felt a little bit pretentious in comparison to him. And in general, I don’t think I’m a pretentious person. But enough about me.
Growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney, I get the impression Quilty was a bit of a trouble maker. And perhaps still is, just a bit. The subject matter he has painted most are his friends, himself, cars (both wrecked and non-wrecked), hamburgers, parodies of colonial English settlers, Jesus, Jimmy Barnes, and his baby Joe. With works titled ‘Self portrait: Smashed’, ‘Joe Burger’, and ‘Smoking Skull’, I think you’re probably starting to get a picture of the kind of guy Quilty is. Beyond this, however, Quilty uses his works to reflect on his youth, and the attitudes young men tend to have towards themselves and each other.
Ben Quilty | Self Portrait: Smashed | 2008
Ben Quilty | Smashed Rorschach | 2008
Style
Quilty paints thickly, with a palette knife rather than a brush, slathering the paint on in thick slabs of colour. The expanses of colour, however, come together to really effectively reflect the colour, movement and feeling of the subject matter.
The Rorschach pieces Quilty does are called thus after the Rorschach inkblot test, commonly used in psychological analysis. He actually lays a blank canvas onto the painted one, creating something of a butterfly painting effect, and causing the paint from the original canvas to be drawn off the canvas, creating peaks in the paint that remain once the work is dry.
The works are all so tactile. I love them.
Ben Quilty | Cook Rorschach No. 2 | 2008
Another thing that is unconventional about Quilty is his use of the spray can. Frequently, Quilty’s works are not only paintings, they are installations within the gallery, as Quilty uses spray paint to position the painting within a context on the gallery wall.
For example:
They’re incredible aren’t they.
Because I know you want to see more, I’m just going to include a couple more of my favourites, but you can visit www.benquilty.com for more.
Ben Quilty | Joe Burger | 2006
Ben Quilty | Skull Rorschach | 2008
