06 Mar Beauty In the Breakdown
I cannot remember the first time I heard the song “Let Go” by Frou Frou in a transition scene of a movie but I know that it has actively followed me around like its my very own sound track in my head. The words “Excuse me, too busy, You’re writing your tragedy, These mishaps you bubble wrap, When you’ve no idea what you’re like” and of course “Beauty In the Breakdown” more than 20 years later, still take on so many meanings from day to day. (Side note – If I get to go around again, I want to be a songwriter in my next life).
For the longest time I have visualised an art exhibition of my own making with a glamorous opening, with elegant people moving around the room and champagne bubbles catching the light in slow motion. The exhibition will be called “Beauty In the Breakdown” inspired by the song lyrics and and the artwork will speak to the resilience of the human spirit. Those closest to me would have heard me speak of this dream for at least 20 years. The only thing standing in the way was that I didn’t know what I was doing as far as art was concerned. It’s not a job, I’m not good enough at it to turn it into one and even if I was, I haven’t developed a signature style that people would be interested in, I would tell myself upon baseless evidence.
In my opinion, the best way to test the “market” for lack of a better word, is to just throw spaghetti at the walls and see what sticks or in real world terms, enter contests and see what kind of feedback you receive.
That is what I have been doing sparingly for the last few years and low and behold, I won a prize! Two actually – one month of free gallery space – selected by the Gallery owner AND The Peoples Choice by popular vote of the viewing public. I was FLOORED to say the least and what better prizes to win by someone hungry for validation of their artwork.
With spaghetti stuck and confidence increased, I entered another contest “The Alice Prize”, an acquisitive national contemporary art prize contributing to one of the largest regional collections of Australian art, with works by leading artists from across its over 50 year history.
Out of 372 entries, my piece was one of 63 selected as a finalist. This is probably one of the two proudest moments of my life. The piece I chose to enter is entitled . . . . . “Beauty In the Breakdown” . . . It’s a sign!
Wish me luck and watch this space – the vision is coming to life.
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