Who do you love?

Posted: 26 February 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Artists, Rona | Tags: , , , , , , | 12 Comments

 

Jean Dubuffet, Self Portrait, 1966, marker pen on paper

 

‘For a very long time I was too humble […] and lacking in confidence and composure; and I suffered cruelly because of this, appearing in my own eyes to be nothing more than the most abject dog turd. It was only at a late stage – when in the end I had resigned myself to living like a dog turd without shame or regret and making the best of the situation – that it dawned on me that everyone else was also a dog turd.’

– Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985)

 

Portrait of Jean Dubuffet by Marc Trivier

 

I love Jean Dubuffet.

While studying at university, one afternoon in the library when flipping through books in the art section, I turned a page and saw a reproduction of Man Eating a Small Stone by Dubuffet.

It turned my world upside down.

 

Jean Dubuffet, Man Eating a Small Stone, 1944, lithograph

 

Early in his life, Dubuffet was influenced by the German psychiatrist and art historian Hans Prinzhorn, and his book Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (Artistry of the Mentally Ill) published in 1922.

 

Hans Prinzhorn 1886-1933

 

Dubuffet collected an enormous amount of work by psychiatric patients, prisoners and children. He invented the term Art Brut (raw art) for the work produced by these non-professional artists. The collection is now housed at the Musée de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

Heinrich Anton Müller, Man with flies and snake, c 1920s, crayon drawing

 

Adolf Wölfli, Saint Adolf wearing glasses, 1924, pencil on paper

 

Dubuffet once declared ‘For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.’

 

Jean Dubuffet, Pisser at the wall, 1945, lithograph

 

Jean Dubuffet, Bertelé Mondain, 1946, oil on canvas

 

Jean Dubuffet, La belle encornée, 1954, oil on canvas

 

Jean Dubuffet, Le deviseur II, 1969-1970, epoxy resin and polyurethane paints

 

Jean Dubuffet, Cabinet Logologique, 1967-1969, epoxy resin and concrete with polyurethane paints

 

Jean Dubuffet, Closerie Falbala, 1971-1973, epoxy resin and concrete with polyurethane paints

 

Jean Dubuffet, Portrait d'homme, 1974, mixed media on paper

 

Jean Dubuffet, Mêle moments, 1976, mixed media on canvas

 

Jean Dubuffet, Jardin d'émail, 1974, epoxy resin and concrete with polyurethane paints

 

One of my most ecstatic art moments was visiting the Kröller-Müller Museum when in the Netherlands and encountering Dubuffet’s Jardin d’émail. Indescribable.

 

Rona Green atop Jardin d'émail

 

Dubuffet expressed that ‘Art should always make us laugh a little and frighten us a little, but never bore us.’

 

Jean Dubuffet driving some hot wheels

 

Put simply the guy is mind-blowing and his effect upon me has been profound.

 

Rona Green, party, 1995, lithograph

 

So, who do you love?

 

Strokin’ is open

Posted: 19 February 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Exhibitions, Rona | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

 

Australian Galleries Glenmore Road, Sydney, Australia

 

Strokin’ – an exhibition of prints, paintings and drawings by me – is now open at Australian Galleries Glenmore Road, Sydney, Australia and runs until Sunday 11 March.

 

Here are a few pics I snapped of the show installed at the gallery for your viewing pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite work in the show is The Surgeon as it pays homage to my cat Googie.

 

Rona Green, The Surgeon, 2010, linocut, ink and watercolour

 

Googie Abwy (1992-2010)

 

If you are keen to see more work you can check out my artists page on the Australian Galleries website.

 

Greasy Rhys comes alive!

Posted: 12 February 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Rona | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

 

‘It would be vain to try to put into words that immeasurable sense of bliss which comes over me directly when a new idea awakens in me and begins to assume a definite form. I forget everything and behave like a madman.’

– Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky

 

 

Artists are often asked where their ideas come from. How the creative process works is difficult to describe verbally. So here is an illustration of the stream of consciousness that originated Greasy Rhys, who features on the invitation (image above) to my forthcoming exhibition Strokin’.

 

Let the show begin…

 

Silver Gull aka Seagull

 

Eastern Beach, Geelong

 

Hot chips

 

Sailor smoking

 

Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collins (1911-1973)

 

Sailor Jerry tattoo flash

 

Tattooed sailor

 

Rona Green, Greasy Rhys, 2008, linocut, ink & watercolour, 38 x 28 cm, edition 13

 

Rona Green, Greasy Rhys, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 112 x 91.5 cm

 

Fin!

 

Rona is Strokin’

Posted: 9 February 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Exhibitions, Rona | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

 

 

Studio views

Posted: 8 February 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Rona | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

 

Mercator Studios at the Abbotsford Convent

 

The space I create my work in is part of Mercator Studios located within the grounds of the historic Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne. There are ten studios in the building inhabited by jewellers, designers, ceramicists and artists. Restoration of the Mercator building took place during 2009 and it was officially opened in 2010.

 

Studio pre-renovation

 

Studio post renovation

 

Studio today

 

On occasion the tenants of Mercator open their studios for the public to visit. If you are interested in receiving information about open studio events please join my mailing list.

 

Making sense of style

Posted: 7 February 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Artists, Rona | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

 

Rona Green, Bug Man, 1995, lithograph

 

When looking at an artists work I like to try and decipher who is in their ‘artistic family’ – who have they learnt from, who has influenced and inspired them.

 

Rona Green, Girl, 1995, lithograph

 

The following is a run down of my art family tree:

 

Egyptian art

Annubis God of the Dead Leaning over Sennutem's Mummy, Tomb of Sennutem, Luxor, Thebes, Egypt

 

African art

Bakongo Nkondi Fetish, Lower Zaire, Yombe

 

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Gertrude Stein, 1906, oil on canvas

 

Alberto Giacometti

Portrait of Alberto Giacometti with his sculpture by Gordon Parks, 1951

 

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol, Self Portrait with Skull, 1977, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas

 

Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon, Ronald Fischer, beekeeper, Davis, California, 1981, gelatin silver print

 

Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait, 1980, gelatin silver print

 

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus, Tattooed man at a carnival, Md., 1970, gelatin silver print

 

Paul Klee

Paul Klee, Senecio, 1922, oil on canvas

 

Jean Dubuffet

Jean Dubuffet, Man Eating a Small Stone, 1944, lithograph

 

John Brack

John Brack, Self Portrait, 1955, oil on canvas

 

David Hockney

David Hockney with his painting Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970-71, acrylic on canvas

 

Peter Blake

Peter Blake, Self Portrait with Badges, 1961, oil on board

 

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, Self Portrait, 1973, oil on canvas

 

Philip Guston

Philip Guston with his work Painter in Bed, 1973, oil on canvas

 

Gilbert and George

Gilbert and George, Dangling, 1991, mixed media

 

Ed Paschke

Ed Paschke, Sunburn, 1970, oil on canvas

 

And back to me…

 

Rona Green, Chips, 2008, linocut, ink and watercolour

 

Rona Green, The Surgeon, 2010, linocut, ink and watercolour

 

Hope you enjoyed the climb!