Collaroy Cinema

At the stroke of midnight, I took a photo that inspired this painting of the Collaroy Cinema. The theatre, on the corner of Pittwater Road and Alexander Street with its iconic Art Deco architecture, has served the Northern Beaches community since its grand opening on the 8th April 1938.

A search through the Trove archive reveals a Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, dated 21 September 1937, with a story tantalizing its readers with the details of a new building under construction. The paper reported the cinema is designed to seat a 1000 people in luxury equal to the latest city theatres around the world. The patrons will have a comfortable lounge space on the first floor with large windows overlooking the ocean. The feature story continues to the next paragraph that I’ve quoted below.

“Subdued but colourful lighting will be given indirectly. The decorative treatment in the auditorium is a study in simplicity contrasted with richness concentrated on the most important positions. Mechanical ventilation and heating plants will be installed. The sound equipment will be of the most modern and effective kind. “Source https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17408008

The colour scheme of the United Cinema looks striking day or night, however at night I like how the orange bus lane contrasts against the light and shadows of the blue and white art deco walls of the theatre. The Collaroy Cinema is a 2nd addition to my Sydney Art Deco Style series. The 1st painting featured the pedestrian walkway entrance to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I’ve captured both buildings at night to showcase the geometric shapes carefully considered in the design for each building.

Collaroy Cinema comes with a 1 minute video revealing the story of its making.

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I have taken the long road to discover that painting and photography can sit side by side, for me painting is my first meaningful creative outlet. I use my photography to inspire my artwork and I hope my love of composition, subject and light come through in my artwork.

I was born in Papua New Guinea and lived on a remote rubber plantation before moving to Sydney in 1971 at the age of 7. I was finding it hard adjusting to the city and my mother encouraged me to take up oil painting.

Having won an art competition when I was 10, the judges recommended that I study at the local TAFE on a Saturday morning. I completed one term but felt out of place with students who were all over 16 years old, so I did not continue. (I was also a TV junkie, we had no TV in Papua, and staying at TAFE meant missing out on Hey Hey It’s Saturday.)

It took me 40 years to rediscover painting.

The one constant in my work is to find a new project and during my break from painting I have been a project manager in Information Technology. This kept me in a world with projects, and here too I learnt that even the smallest piece of data contributes its meaning towards each information system. The other constant motivating me in life is to finish a project so I can start a new one.

My creative drive comes from knowing that each brush stroke I make contributes its meaning towards the completed work. What inspires me about art is how the smallest brush strokes, when added together, can radiate a meaning for the person who gazes at the painting far beyond the meaning of each brush stroke.

I aim to do my best in each project and try to avoid, at all cost, the haunting feeling I get when I leave a project unresolved. Even to this day I still think of my unfinished painting of a sailing boat peeping out behind photographic developing chemicals back in 1979. I was 15 then and my easel had been replaced by a camera and darkroom. A part of me still needed to finish the oil painting, but photography filled the void, so the unfinished artwork was thrown away in a frenzied darkroom clean out before my HSC exams.