I am an Australian artist based in the US. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Victorian College of the Arts and an Honors degree in Fine Art from Monash University in Melbourne. I recently completed a Master of Fine Art degree at the University of California Santa Barbara. I have exhibited and done residencies in the US, Australia, Europe and Asia.
I am a long-time painter who has recently ventured into animation. My paintings are figurative abstractions influenced by the surrealist and expressionist art movements. The imagery evolves through a stream of consciousness approach, derived from my subconscious.
My process encourages the phenomenon of Pareidolia; I search for images in loose, gestural mark-making during the early stages of a painting. These embryonic images inform the narrative direction of the work.
“The idea just needs to be enough to get you started. Because for me, whatever follows is a process of action and reaction. It’s always a process of building and then destroying, and then, out of this destruction discovering a thing and building on it." - David Lynch
I have always taken reference photos of my paintings in progress because they change and morph over time. The photos reveal underpainting that functions like scaffolding as the paintings take shape. Sometimes I look at these photos and miss the raw, half-developed imagery that has since been refined, morphed into something else, or been buried altogether. These early stages of the work are often done in a flow state, when the stakes are lower and decisions are made on impulse. Sometimes these photos of lost areas of underpainting are used as the basis for new ones, and a kind of cross-pollination of imagery occurs. The surfaces of the finished canvas show this non-linear approach, labored areas of built-up paint sit alongside underpainting or areas of raw canvas.
Animation allows me to bring the viewer along on the improvised journey, showing the evolution of the forms without having to reduce them all to a final image on the surface of a canvas. My improvised approach to image making feels the same, but I’m using time-based media.
George Condo said of painting, “There is no guideline to the unknown. It is a path cut out in the wild with a machete looking for a clearing and hoping to arrive at a destination.”
Gates of Hell (Remix): An Improvised Animation Project
Gates of Hell (Remix) is an experimental animation project inspired by Auguste Rodin's monumental bronze sculpture, Gates of Hell (1880-1917). Through a process of improvised drawing based on the sculpture, I create hypnotic animated sequences that morph and evolve.
I began the project by taking a series of photos panning around the Gates of Hell sculpture at Stanford’s Rodin Sculpture Garden. These sequences of photos serve as the foundation for my improvised digital drawing where I distort figures in the original sculpture and create new ones. The resulting animation loops showcase the ongoing transformation and evolution of the figures. Different sequences show the same figures from different angles.
Rather than seeking a precise representation of Rodin's sculpture or the text of Dante’s Inferno that the original work was based on, I embrace the surrealistic concept of projecting imagery from my subconscious. The figures in Rodin’s sculpture function like the ink blots of a Rorschach test, becoming a canvas on which I project imagery from my imagination. By cross-dissolving frames into each other, I encourage pareidolia—a phenomenon where viewers perceive recognizable patterns in random stimuli. I play with these transitional shots and elaborate on the figures I see emerging.
Drawing inspiration from the earliest form of animation—the Zoetrope—I experiment with a unique approach. I assemble a sequence of 49 frames into a large composite image. This process is akin to tearing the pages out of a flick book and pasting them together. This zoetrope consists of 7x7 frames, the first image in the sequence is in the top right corner, and it runs backward, ending in the bottom left corner.
I then digitally draw on this zoetrope so the figures flow seamlessly across the picture frame, an entanglement of sculptural figures spilling from one frame into the next. This method borrows from the surrealists' "exquisite corpse" technique, generating chance occurrences that inspire fresh relationships and new figures. Frames within the zoetrope not only interact with frames on either side but also above and below. Cropping the finished zoetrope into frame sizes other than the original 7x7 creates new compositions that I then continue working on as new frames, distorting and morphing the figures to create new forms and narrative tangents.
My focus lies on the imagery that emerges from the "in-between" spaces—both in how still images interact with their neighboring images on the zoetrope and how they transition into each other in a linear sequence. I play with the animation concept of "tweening,” but instead of making ‘in-between’ frames to smooth transitions between keyframes, I make morphed and distorted frames combining elements of both. The animation loops become denser and more detailed with the addition of new in-between frames; this process is like an image-based feedback loop that increases with intensity.
The ongoing process is a dance between chaos and order; improvised digital drawing in conjunction with systematic ways of sequencing the frames. As well as being a time-based animation set to music, I also envision transforming the images into a navigable 3D virtual sculpture that I can continue to expand on in a virtual space. Building Gates of Hell (Remix) as a computer-generated 3D model would open the possibilities for viewer engagement with the virtual sculpture, and new animation sequences could be generated from it.
My hope is to one day use technology that will enable me to continue working on Gates of Hell (Remix) in virtual space using only my mind. Artificial Intelligence could be trained on 3D scans of Rodin’s original sculpture and the digital images I’ve produced. The AI could generate its own variations on these that I could respond to in a collaborative feedback loop. Rather than creating an infinitely expanding sculpture, I envision an inwardly expanding digital Black Hole. A constantly changing vortex or portal.
BORN
New York. Based mostly in LA
EDUCATION
2021 Master of Fine Art, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
2011 Bachelor of Fine Art Honors, Monash University, Melbourne Australia
2004 Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting), Victorian Collage of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2001 Diploma of Visual Art (Painting), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology TAFE, Melbourne, Australia
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023
CRYPTIDS: An Archive of Beasts, ALSO Gallery, Los Angeles CA (Curated by Lesya Godfrey)
Zimmer Frei!, Wonzimmer Gallery, Los Angeles CA (Curated by Snezana Saraswati Petrovic)
2022
Dia De Los Muertos, Sky Film Studios, Glendale CA (Live Painting)
LA Summer Nights Pop-Up Art Show, Sky Film Studios, Glendale CA
LUNULA, ALSO Gallery, Los Angeles CA, (Solo) (Curated by Easton Miller)
It Appears to Be A Circle (UCSB MFA Thesis Show), Art, Design & Architecture Museum, Santa Barbara CA
Crossing Point, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles CA
Chrome City, Contemporary Australian Art in Los Angeles, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles CA
TIEZE, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles CA
Lynchland: Genre, Auteurism & a Fish in the Percolator , (Curatorial Project) Torrance Art Museum, Torrance CA. (Co-curated with Steven Wolkoff) Featuring artists: Susan Ankersen, Alison Blickle, Polly Borland, Debra Broz, Matt Bucy, Bill Dane, Tomoo Gokita, Tim Hawkinson, Trulee Hall, Shana Moulton, Penelope Umbrico and Tim Youd,
2021
Coming Into Focus, Loiter Galleries, Long Beach CA (Curated by Joe Davidson)
High Beams #3: Laser Snake, Downtown LA, Los Angeles CA (Live Painting)
2020
Why are you painting?, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
Art/World Australia, bG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Floating Downstream (online), www.Artsy.net
Return to Aus, Galerie pompom, Sydney, Australia
Influx ’21 (1st year review), Red Barn Gallery at UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
Floating Downstream, Glass Box Gallery at UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA (Solo)
QiPO 2 Art Fair, Mexico City, Mexico
2019
Figura: Micro Macro, Neumünster, Luxembourg
Step 9, Art Center Museum, Beijing, China
Plus One, Art Share L.A., Los Angeles, CA
Chaotic Beauty, Exhibit A Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
QiPO 1 Art Fair, Mexico City, Mexico
Kalashnikov Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
Spring Break Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
Salad Days, Young Space (online exhibition curated by Kate Mothes)
Escapism from LA, SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA (co-curator with Roni Feldman)
2018
Fool's Gold, Noysky Projects, Hollywood, CA
Native: Manchester, PAPER Gallery, Manchester, UK
Golden Underbelly, COOP Gallery, Nashville, TN (co-curator with Steven Wolkoff)
Dragnet II, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA
Studio Systems II, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Heavy, Chamber Presents, Melbourne, Australia
Odd Convergences: Steps/Missteps, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Fly In Fly Out, Sydney, Australia
Trustfall, ALSO Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Satellite One, TW Fine Art, Brisbane, Australia
Entangled Loci, HilbertRaum, Berlin, Germany
Book club: Going Native, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA
Abstraction in the Singular, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
Round Won, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA
The Collectivists, The Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, CA
2016
Native:Tokyo, Gallery Lara Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (exchange with Durden and Ray)
MAS Attack, Torrance Art Muesum, Torrance, CA
Slippery Stories, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA (exchange with Strange Neighbour)
Shift and Fade (Curious and Curiouser), BLAM!, Los Angeles, CA
Native, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA
Mondrian Died for Our Sins, BLAM!, New York, NY
Slippery Stories, Strange Neighbour, Melbourne, Australia (exchange with Durden and Ray)
Dada: Here & Now, San Francisco International Arts Festival, ATA, San Francisco, CA
UFOlogy, Outpost Projects, Yucca Vallery, CA
stARTup Art Fair, Highland Gardens Hotel, Hollywood, CA (representing Torrance Art Museum)
MAS Attack, Tempe Fine Art Complex 1101, Tempe, AZ
2015
Miami Projects, Durden and Ray, Miami, FL
From the Barricades, Kreuzberg Pavilion, Berlin, Germany
Here!, Durden & Ray, Los Angeles, CA
Within the Cave, Durden & Ray Projects, Los Angeles, CA
MAS Attack12, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
After Eden, MuzeuMM, Los Angeles, CA
Dragnet, Manhattan Beach Art Center, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Barbra Streisand Portrait Bender, Las Vegas: Fear and Loathing Returns to the Flamingo (screening and book launch) Human Resources Los Angeles, CA
i:23, Yokohama Triennial, various locations as part of Homing Pigeon, Yokohama, Japan
The Great Wrong Place, Notre Maar, Exchange Rates Expo, New York, NY
MAS Attack, Santa Monica Studios, Los Angeles, CA
MAS Attack, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2013
MAS Attack, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Amazonia Sexy Beast, MABINI EXTN, Manila, Philippines
Artist Residents Open Studios + Screening, 1335MABINI in conjunction with LOSTprojects and Planting Rice, Manila, Philippines
2012
Robert Downey Jr. Is Dead, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, private residence, Malibu, CA
LA Road Concerts, Mulholland Dérive, Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, CA
Platform LA Fair/ CO/LAB, RAID Projects, Los Angeles, CA
RAID Artist Residents Exhibition, RAID Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Utah Ties, Central Utah Art Center, Spring City, UT
2011
Milk of Magnesia, Hope St Studios, Melbourne, Australia
Devil's Workshop (solo), c3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, Australia
2010
Quentin Tarantino Thinking About Uma Thurman's Feet, Tarantino’s Bar, Berlin, Germany
2007
Iconoclast, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2005
The Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Traveling Fellowship (finalist), Margaret Lawrence Gallery, VCA, Melbourne, Australia
Lurking... There, There, Red Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2004
VCA Graduate Exhibition, School of Art, Victorian Collage of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
RESIDENCIES AND GRANTS
2019
Art Center Museum, Beijing, China
2018
Studio System II, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance CA
2017
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (nominated), New York, NY
2016
CES Gallery Residency (nominated), CES Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Art Start Grant 2013, Australian Council of the Arts, Australia
1335MABINI Contemporary Art Space, Residency and mentorship program with David Griggs/LOSTprojects, Manila, Philippines
Copyright Agency Limited, Creative Industries Career Grant, Australia
2012
RAID Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Central Utah Art Center (residency), UT
2011
Vermont Studio Center, VT
Starry Night Artist Retreat, NM
2009
The Art of Hospitality, AIR Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway
Spacement Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
France USA Media, Le Ben Franklin Post, "Tom Dunn: 10 Jours avec Barbra Streisand" [http://franceusamedia.com/2014/11/tom-dunn-10-jours-avec-barbra-streisand/]
Fabrik Issue 26, "Fresh Faces in Art: Eight Los Angeles Artists you Should Know"
[http://issuu.com/fabrik/docs/fabrik26/52]
Art and Cake, “Slippery Stories” at Durden and Ray
{https://artandcakela.com/2016/11/17/slippery-stories-at-durden-and-ray/}
The Huffington Post, "Within the Cave" at Durden and Ray
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shana-nys-dambrot/within-the-cave-at-durden_b_8149064.html]