The Astronaut Checks the Index of Globular Clusters.

Like a lot of artists I collect images that have some interesting feature about them. I have a portion of my filing cabinet filed with images from magazines, maps, dancing step diagrams, photos that friends have given me and some, over the years, find their way into an artwork.

I find collage a very interesting, creative medium that throws up surprising results as you shift and move images around. They often create a funny, surreal and at times, unsettling situation with strange metaphors and mirage like results. It can take a lot of tedious scalpel cutting and scissoring to put everything together but I like to keep the overall image fairly uncluttered. It’s interesting how the artwork looks realistic from a distance but close up you can see all the cuts, paste-ups and dobs of paint here and there. The images are mounted on 2-3mm art card and are finished with a varnish. They have a generous white margin that will assist the framer to mount the work in a frame under glass.

With this particular piece I have worked with a theme that I have had listed for years. I was pleased that the artwork came together so well with a curious setting of a resting astronaut and a porthole window that almost looks like a halo above her head. I’ve always admire Manet’s, “Olympia” painting and there’s no doubt his work has influenced the layout of my artwork.

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Born in Hampshire, England, Colin arrived in Australia in 1971 and found work making chandeliers and later delivering rental televisions. Studying for matriculation over two years at night school he enrolled in Art College at the Preston Institute of Technology in 1975. A number of leading artists taught at PIT and Colin had the opportunity to work in audio with David Tolley, conceptualism with Dom De Clario, with the hard edge painting of Dale Hickey and the large, expressionistic work of Peter Booth, all of who have subtly influenced his own art. Majoring in Sound and Painting Colin left to drive taxis and to teach Art. Failing to heed the advice of a gallery director who told him to consider concentrating on one genre and sticking to it Colin continues to produce figurative paintings and drawings; large, ambient, colourwork and the occasional sculpture, installation and audio work.
About my artwork.
My work is generated from things around me that fit a certain feeling. At times I go looking and find them in places, or in objects and people. Other times I find them in a less active fashion, in sounds or perhaps in dreams or blends of colours. I find making artwork irresistible and enjoy the actual cognition of looking, listening and producing the work. Art is a rich tool, a mechanism that I can use to explore and respond to this curious and strange world where things appear both solidly real and also evasive and elusive.