Artist Biographies

Satoshi Kinoshita

"Part of my mission to be an artist is to create my Contemporary art in Modern ways for helping the viewer's self discovery with unconscious processes. Once my work is completed it is no longer my own to explain. If I give the viewer the language or meaning behind the work, that is the end of their own thought. For this reason more you try to talk about my artwork in your way, more you reveal yourself unconsciously. But you can't help it, can you, Mister?" - Satoshi Kinoshita, to be asked  by a journalist - "What is your aim to be an artist?" - at his opening party in New York City, 2003.

A Japan-born artist, Satoshi lives and works in New York City, Osaka and Sydney. Extensive artistic and creative background, with over 20 years experience as a mixed media artist and fine art photographer. His main private collectors are in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, Amsterdam, Osaka and Sydney. His 15 Years Retrospective Collection (over 100 photographs), "SATOSHI KINOSHITA PHOTOGRAPHS (1986-2001)" acquired by National Library of Australia (Canberra) in 2002.

Diverse creative career including internationally selected exhibitions at Japanese Contemporary Fine Art Gallery of New York, Inc. (New York City), The Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney), National Library of Australia (Canberra), State Library of New South Wales (Sydney), Ginza NIKON Salon (Tokyo), Sydney Opera House (Sydney), KODAK Gallery (Sydney), Royal Botanic Garden (Sydney), Oscar's (Hong Kong) and more.

Exhibitions sponsored and supported by QANTAS (Australia), NIKON (Japan), KODAK (Australasia), Japan Foundation (Sydney), Australian Tourist Commission, The Consul General of Australia (Hong Kong), etc.

Paintings on Canvas and Works on Paper: The two dominant principles of Satoshi Kinoshita's paintings and drawings are "wabi-sabi" as well as the New York School (Abstract Expressionism). Wabi refers to a philosophical construct, a sense of space, direction, or path, while sabi is an aesthetic construct rooted in a given object and its features, plus the occupation of time, chronology, and objectivity. Though the terms are and should be referred to distinctly, they are usually combined as wabi-sabi, as both a working description and as a single aesthetic principle. Sabi suggest natural processes resulting in objects that are irregular, unpretentious, and ambiguous. The objects reflect a universal flux of "coming from" and "returning to." They reflect an impermanence that is nevertheless congenial and provocative, leading the viewer or listener to a reflectiveness and contemplation that returns to wabi and back again to sabi, an aesthetic experience intended to engender a holistic perspective that is peaceful and transcendent. Sabi objects are irregular in being asymmetrical, unpretentious in being the holistic fruit of wabizumai, ambiguous in preferring insight and intuition, the engendering of refined spiritualized emotions rather than reason and logic. Ambiguity allows each viewer to proceed to their capacity for nuances without excluding anyone or exhausting the number and quality of experiences.

The contrast to Western principles of aesthetics is rooted in the contrast to Western philosophical premises of power, authority, dominance, engagement, and control, whether of others or of nature. The art produced by such a culture is a visual and tactile expression of its values. The two cannot be separated. Nor, on the other hand, are wabi and sabi usually separated in wabi-sabi art.

The design principles of wabi-sabi fall into several categories;

1) FORM: The object is shaped naturally or organically, showing natural or intentional asymmetry or irregularity. Form is not imposed by human contrivance but subtly intervenes to make the object follow the capabilities and relevant physical characteristics, properties, and propensities of its own nature. This naturalness of form is probably the first and most striking characteristic of the object. Above all, the work is itself, not a symbol of anything.

2) TEXTURE: In keeping with the material used, the texture remains rough, uneven, variegated, and random, with every appearance of  pursuing an unimpeded natural process.

3) BEAUTY: The Western standard of beauty referred to above does not find a place in wabi-sabi. Not even conventional standards of beauty in the popular mind unfamiliar with theory are necessarily wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi presses the absolute nature of  permeability in the visual and sensual, so that the fragility and poignancy of conventional beauty lost in the passage of time is made real in the present space. The object reveals this different sense of beauty in subtle and even barely perceptible detail, but it is a holistic experience that is difficult for the viewer to abstract given details that convey the given sensibility.

Indeed, the wabi-sabi artist does not intend the viewer to "abstract" anything. Wabi-sabi is a holistic  experience, and objects derive their beauty from the emotion conveyed, not from any particular detail of the work. In this latter sense, beauty is more easily conveyed in the experience of literature, theater, or ceremony than are some of the other principles.

4) SIMPLICITY: Simplicity conveys the spontaneity of natural materials that are not or cannot be embellished. Lack of adulteration and ostentation confirms the authenticity of the work and its conformity to the wabi-sabi spirit.

5) COLOR: The object conveys nothing harsh or unnatural, hence colors are muted. Light is diffused or subdued. Colors are derived from natural sources, lacking uniformity or harshness. Nor is color exclusively conveyed by visual art objects.

6) SPACE: While sabi works are the objectification of wabi in space, here space refers to proportion and perspective. Nothing is wasted yet there is ample space around the object, conveying a holistic philosophy wherein all elements intertwine and are essential to the whole. Scale becomes an economy of space (the tea hut, bonsai), but empty space conveys the nature of the universe (the bowl or cup, archery, the Zen garden).

7) BALANCE: The work reflects the physical balances found in the natural world. Hence no preconceived formula for symmetry is tenable because nature defines itself by circumstances: a tree grows tall or short, thin or thick, leafy, crooked, etc., in the context of other trees, rocks, water, soil, hummus, etc. in the forest. This balance as circumstance is a design principle for the artist to infuse into a work. The work, like the tree, is unique. The regularity, uniformity, and prescriptions contrived by the artist are secondary to the requirement to reflect a natural and unforced appearance to the object and its context.

8) SOBRIETY: Sobriety is the simple principle that art is sometimes better defined by what is left out than by what is put in. Sobriety adds a sense of perspective to the experience of impermanence. The artist approaches creative work with humility, sincerity, and a clarification of motives. Bad motives poison art and inevitably reveal themselves in the work. The artist must proceed to create freely and intimately a personal and vulnerable work that is naturally infused with the spirit of wabi-sabi. Sobriety provides the element of ambiguity because the artist recognizes his limitations, and refrains from making bold or emphatic statements.

Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is the beauty of things modest and humble. It is the beauty of things unconventional.

*All things are impermanent
*All things are imperfect
*All things are incomplete

Abstract Expressionism: A term first used in connection with Kandinsky in 1919, but more commonly associated with post-war American art. Robert Coates, an American critic, coined it in 1946, referring to Gorky, Pollock and de Kooning. By the 1951 Museum of Modern Art exhibition 'Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America', the term was used to refer to all types of non-geometric abstraction. There are two distinct groups within the movement: Colour Field artists (Rothko, Newman, Still) worked with simple, unified blocks of colour; and gestural painters like Pollock, De Kooning and Hofmann who made use of Surrealist techniques of automatic art. Not all the artists associated with the term produced either purely abstract, or purely Expressionist work: Harold Rosenburg preferred the phrase Action Painting, whilst Greenberg used the less specific 'American Type Painting', and because of the concentration of artists in New York, they are also known as the New York School. The only real connection between Abstract Expressionists was in their artistic philosophy, and publications like Tiger's Eye, an avant-garde magazine that helped spread their ideas. All were influenced by Existentialist ideas, which emphasized the importance of the act of creating, not of the finished object. Most had a Surrealist background, inspired by the presence of Breton, Masson and Matta in New York in the 1940s and by retrospectives on Miró (1941) and Kandinsky (1945), and the Abstract Expressionists sought to express their subconscious through their art. They also shared an interest in Jung's ideas on myth, ritual and memory (inspired by exhibitions of African and American Indian art in 1935 and 1941 respectively) and conceived an almost Romantic view of the artist, seeing their painting as a way of life and themselves as disillusioned commentators on contemporary society after the Depression and the Second World War. Other American artists associated with the movement were Motherwell, Tobey, Kline and Philip Guston."

From "The Bulfinch Guide to Art History"

Photography: "The act of taking photographs is the starting point to grope for my own vision of life, and the work in the darkroom is the effective means of discovering and recognizing it. Even things that I cannot imagine when facing my subjects reveal themselves gradually during the process of developing the final prints. I then become clearly aware of the true meaning of my subjects. In this manner, I have gathered in this collection of photographs depicting the fragments of everyday subjects that continued to stimulate some kind of emotion in me until the end." - Satoshi Kinoshita.

Limited Edition Prints: The dominant principle of Satoshi Kinoshita's "Limited Edition Prints" is POP ART.

Pop art was an artistic movement that emerged in the late 1950s in England and the United States. Characterized by themes and techniques drawn from mass culture, such as advertising and comic books, Pop Art is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism. Pop art, like pop music, aimed to incorporate popular as opposed to elitist culture into art, and targeted a broad audience.

The term was coined in 1958 by British critic Laurence Alloway (in response to works by Richard Hamilton, among others) and a "pop" movement was widely recognized by the mid-1960s. In the meantime, the movement was sometimes called Neo-Dada, a name which reveals some of the thinking behind this type of art, and the strong influence of dada pioneer Marcel Duchamp on such seminal pop figures as Hamilton, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol.

Mixed Media: Mixed Media is a visual art form that allows the artist to use a variety of mediums to create an art piece. With regard to painting, the term mixed media has traditionally referred to the combination of painting materials such as acrylic and watercolor or gouache and tempera. Contemporary mixed media art has expanded the definition of mixed media to include a boundless arrangement of mediums and materials resulting in unique creations limited only by the creativity and imagination of the artist. The term intermedia is used synonymously (Avoid using "multimedia" as a synonym, because that is likely to cause confusion).

SELECTED ACTIVITIES

- Paintings, Mixed Media on Canvas and Prints show***
- Works on paper, Photographs and Paintings show **
- Audio-Visual Slide show *
- Individual Photographic Exhibition#
- Group Shows +

2004"In A New Light" (Australian Photography 1930s-2000)+National Library of Australia (Canberra) until March 28, 2005
2004"Intersections" (Photography, History, and the National Library of Australia) by Helen Ennis - published by the National Library of Australia - One photograph on page 13
2004"Photodoc 5"*State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
2004 Photographs from the Retrospective Collection (1986 - 2001) acquired by the National Library of Australia (Canberra)
2004 Photographs from the Retrospective Collection (1986 - 2001) acquired by State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
2003"Selected Works- part two" (2001-2003)***Japanese Contemporary Fine Art Gallery of New York, Inc. (500 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.)
2003"Selected Works- part one" (2001-2003)***Japanese Contemporary Fine Art Gallery of New York, Inc. (1255 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.)
2002 Over 100 photographs from the Retrospective Collection (1986 - 2001) acquired by the National Library of Australia (Canberra)
2002 "New Frontier" (2001-2002)** Japanese Contemporary Fine Art Gallery of New York, Inc. (500 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.)
1999 "fo.to.me.men.to.frag.men.to" (1986-1999) * Stills Gallery, Sydney - For End of Year Party
1999 "Sydney Eccentric" + State Library of New South Wales
1997 "Dugongs of Hinchinbrooks" + The Palm House, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
1996 "fo.to.me.men.to.frag.men.to" (1986-1996) * The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1996 "Rage to See" + Southern Foyer & Exhibition Hall, Sydney Opera House
1994 "Night People 3 - Blackmarket" * The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1994 "Ayers Rock to Alice Springs, Australia" # Oscar's, Hong Kong
1994 "Night People 1986-1996" * Blackmarket, Sydney
1993 "Night People 2 - San Francisco Bay Area, USA" * The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1993 "Night People - AUST." * The Art Gallery of New South Wales
1990 "Recent Work - Still Life" # The Cove Gallery, Circular Quay, Sydney
1989 "A day in Australia" # Kodak Gallery, Sydney
1988 "AUST. - A Night in Australia" # Ginza Nikon Salon, Tokyo

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John McDonald

John McDonald was born in Cessnock, NSW, in 1961, and graduated from Sydney University in 1981 (majoring in English literature & philosophy). He has written for newspapers and journals for over 25 years, and done occasional work for radio and television. He is perhaps best known for his lengthy art columns in the Sydney Morning Herald from 1983-89, 1994-1998, and again from the beginning of 2005.

In 1999 JMcD took up the post as Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, and resigned in December 2000, after acting as Curator of the NGA exhibition ‘Federation: Australian Art and Society 1901-2001’, which toured the nation until June 2002.

JMcD has lectured throughout Australia, and taught Art History & Theory at the National Art School, Sydney. From 2002-04 he was director of Newcontemporaries, a non-commercial exhibition space at the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, committed to showing the work of new & emerging artists. He has acted as publisher-in-chief of East-West Editions, and founding editor of the magazines, Australian Art Review, and East-West Arts.

JMcD’s publications include monographs on Australian artists such as David Strachan, Ari Purhonen and Jeffrey Smart, and an essay to accompany Rex Dupain’s photographs in the book, ‘From Bondi to Broken Hill’. Living in England from 1990-94, he edited the anthology, 'Peter Fuller's Modern Painters'  (Methuen 1993). In 2007, with photographer, Ian Lloyd, he published Studio, an overview of 61 contemporary painters and their studios – as a book, an exhibition and a DVD. The show was launched at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, in July 2007 and is still touring Australia.

The Art of Australia – the first volume of a new – and comprehensive – three part history of Australian art for Pan Macmillan, was issued in December 2008. He has written a catalogue of the White Rabbit collection of contemporary Chinese art, for a new private museum & foundation in Sydney. He is currently working on by Volume two of The Art of Australia, and a TV documentary series on the history of Australian art.

John McDonald's Summary

Born: Cessnock, NSW, 2 April 1961.
Graduated: BA (English lit. & philosophy), Sydney University, 1980
Spent six years overseas, including four years in UK.
Head of Australian Art: National Gallery of Australia, 1999-2000.

Australian Newspapers: Sydney Morning Herald (senior art critic 1983-89; 1994-99; 2005 -), The Australian, National Times on Sunday, Independent Monthly, The Age, Australian Financial Review, Sun-Herald. London: Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian.

Australian journals: Australian Art Review (Editor, first three issues), East-West Arts (editor), The Diplomat, Art and Australia, Artworld, Age Monthly Review, Australian Art Collector, Art Monthly, Belle, Craft Arts, Art & Antiques, Artlink, Indesign, Island, Pol Oxygen, Quadrant, State of the Arts, Vogue Living, Qantas magazine, etc. Overseas journals: The Art Newspaper, Times Literary Supplement, Modern Painters, Contemporary Art, London Magazine, Flash Art, Artcoast, Discovery, International Travel Plan, etc.

Books: Jeffrey Smart: Paintings of the 70s and 80s (Craftsman House 1990); Ari Purhonen (Freeman Editions 1992); David Strachan (Beagle Press 1993); essay for ‘Rex Dupain: Bondi to Broken Hill’ (Harper 1998) ‘Federation: Australian Art & Society 1901-2001’ (NGA 2000); ‘Studio: Australian Artists on the Nature of Creativity’ - with photographer, Ian Lloyd (R.Ian Lloyd Publications 2007); The Art of Australia Vol.1: Exploration to Federation (Pan Macmillan); As editor: Peter Fuller’s Modern Painters (Methuen UK 1993). Contributor to Australian Painters of the 20th Century (Ed. Lou Klepac, Beagle Press 2000); major contributor to catalogue, White Rabbit (Neilson Contemporary Chinese Art Foundation).

Curator:‘Federation: Australian Art & Society 1901-2001’ (National Gallery of Australia 2000). Exhibition held initially at the NGA, toured to Melbourne, Newcastle, Darwin, Perth, Townsville and Launceston, 1999-2002. ‘Nigel Thomson: Critical Realist’ 2004, (Manly Art Gallery & Museum, and touring), Richard Woldendorp: Abstract Earth (2008, S.H.Ervin, AGWA, & touring)
For Newcontemporaries gallery:  ‘New Contemporaries: Emerging Art in Australia’ (Aug-Sept 2002); ‘Joe Furlonger: Landscape & Figure, Works on Paper 1983-2002’ (Oct-Nov 2002);’Sydney or the Bush: Rural & urban landscape photography’ (Dec 02 – Feb 03); ‘Walcha: City of Art’ (June-July 03); etc.

Catalogue essays, book intros, chapters for: Allen, Davida (DVD interview); Arts Project Australia; Tom Bass; John Beard; Michael Bell; Ian Bettinson; David Bromley; Barbara Campbell; Cressida Campbell; Jun Chen; Kwang-Young Chun (Korea); Peter Churcher; Michael Dillon (USA); Max & Rex Dupain; Ian Fairweather; Anne Ferguson; John Firth-Smith; William Fletcher; Joe Furlonger; Rosalie Gascoigne; Guo Jian; Nicholas Harding; Hu Ming (China); Michael Johnson; William Kentridge (RSA); Leon Kossoff (UK); Colin Lanceley; Michael Le Grand; Barbara McKay; Euan Macleod; Tim Maguire; Allan Mitelman; David Moore; Clive Murray-White; Robert Natkin (USA); Peter Neilson; Ben Nicholson (UK); Bernard Ollis; Maureen O’Shaugnessy; Margaret Preston; James Robinson (NZ); William Robinson; Victor Sellu; Wendy Sharpe; Shen Jiawei; Shen Shaomin (China); Slave Pianos; Jeffrey Smart; Andrew Sullivan; Mark Tedeschi; Aida Tomescu; John Turier; Hossein Valamanesh; Vince Vozzo; Robin Wallace-Crabbe; Ruth Waller; Guy Warren; Ken Whisson; Fred Williams; Richard Woldendorp; Rose Wylie (UK), Zhao Bandi (China), etc.

Guest lecturer: Art Gallery of NSW; National Gallery of Australia; Australian War Memorial; National Art School; Sydney College of the Arts; NSW College of Fine Arts; University of Western Sydney; Newcastle University; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; University of Western Australia; John Curtin University, Perth; QLD Institute of Technology; Tasmanian School of Arts, Hobart & Launceston; Canberra School of Arts; Law School, Sydney University; Canberra TAFE; Churchie School, Brisbane; Brigidine College, St.Ives; Kincoppel School, Sydney; Art Gallery of NSW; Adelaide Festival of Arts; Melbourne Writers Festival; Byron Bay Writers Festival; FEVA arts festival, Byron Bay; Newcastle University; Newcastle Region Art Gallery; S.H.Ervin Gallery; Museum of Sydney; New England Regional Art Museum; Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery; Atheneum Club; Christies Art Course; Melbourne Art Fair; Sydney Art Fair; Riddoch Art Gallery, Mt.Gambier; Rockhampton Art Gallery; Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery; State Library of QLD; State Library of NSW; Michael Reid art education; Summersounds, Nelson, NZ. Japan Foundation, Tokyo; Petronaz Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, etc. Plus numerous spots for TV & radio.

Corporate: Presentations for Minter-Ellison Lawyers; EAST & Partners; Dibbs Abbott Stillman Lawyers.; Australia Club, Sydney & Melbourne; Union Club, Sydney. Regular presentations for Qantas In-flight.

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Dennis Nona

Dennis Nona is widely acknowledged as one the most important Torres Strait Islander artists.

Born on Badu Island in 1973 he was taught as a young boy the traditional craft of woodcarving. This skill has been developed and translated into the incredibly intricate and beautiful linocuts, etchings and sculptures created by the artist since the commencement of his art practice in 1989.

The artist holds a Diploma of Art from Cairns TAFE, a Diploma of Visual Arts in Printmaking from the Institution of Arts, Australian National University, Canberra and is currently completing a Master of Arts degree in Visual Arts at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane.

His work can be seen in the collections of most of the major Australian art institutions and in several important overseas collections. These include the National Gallery of Australia; Queensland Art Gallery; National Gallery of Victoria; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Cambridge University Museum UK and the Museum of American Indian Arts, USA.

Nona pioneered the development of the highly intricate linocut prints unique to the Torres Strait Islands. He has documented, in a vivid visual form, the ancient myths and legends of his island and the wider Torres Strait that had previously been transmitted by oral story telling and dance.

He uses a more graphic way of storytelling. Instead of a work based on a single image like that of the traditional Torres Strait Islander art, he introduced many, following what was being done by mainland Aboriginal artists. In this way he could relate an entire narrative in one single work with all the characters and events in one image. To link the work he introduced a matrix of delicately lined clan patterning, so binding the entire story to its place of origin. Since this breakthrough, the intricate designs and bold figurative imagery created by printmakers like Nona, have given local culture a vital reinvigoration. Today they are central to a cultural revival and elders now refer to them to help them to relate ancient stories to others. These were fast fading from common knowledge and being lost to new generations of Islanders suffering the cultural dislocation often imposed by the impact European settlement and influence.

Within Nona's work there is a celebration of island myths and legends, of how humans, animals, plants and landscape took their meaning from epic or magical events in the past. It was a culture where fighting was glorified and warriors were held in high esteem. Legendary heroes wore distinctive local headdress and masks. They played drums and used objects associated with their ritual ceremonies and dances. It was a culture of head hunters, cannibalism and raiding parties that attacked homes built in tree tops. It was a society where men, women, sorcerers and witches came to their final grief by being transformed into sea creatures or cast into the sea to become the islands and rocky outcrops evident throughout the Western Torres Strait Islands today.

The attraction of Nona's work lies in the way he has drawn on the rich traditions of Torres Strait Islander carving which he has transferred to linocut and more recently etchings and sculpture. Far more flexible in their visual reference and expressive means than that of traditional work from the Torres Strait Islands, his works are highly skilled compositions. Each work expresses a powerful materiality that comes from exquisitely crafted hand-made surfaces, a complex of finely chiselled hand made lines which are then coloured before printing.

Curator of Australian Prints at the National Gallery of Australia, Roger Butler, says that Nona's work represents a trend by artists to explore the physicality of the print making process instead of just the instant art making of digital processes: He comments:"He (Nona) sits there with a lot of lino and with a very sharp little chisel and cuts out those incredibly detailed little lines and gouge marks… That's really taking it back to the processes of (German Renaissance artist) Albrecht Durer, a simple technique that makes VERY complex images."

Subject & Themes

Melanesian influence. Denis's linocuts, etchings and sculptures derive from his wood-carving experiences on Badu Island. He is inspired by coastal life, family, traditional medicines and the myths and legends of the Torres Strait. 

Collections

Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Australian National University Printmaking Collection, Canberra
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat
Brighton University, Brighton, UK
Cairns Regional Gallery
Cambridge University Museum, UK
Charles Darwin University Art Collection, Darwin
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island
Gateway Horn Island Museum, Horn Island
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise
Griffith University Art Collection, Nathan
Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery
Machida Graphic Arts Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of American Indian Arts, New Mexico, USA
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern territory
Musee de Confluences, France
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney
National Museum of Scotland
Noosa Regional Gallery, Noosa Heads
OTC Collection, Sydney
Parliament House, Canberra
Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Queensland Museum, Brisbane
Queensland University of Technology Art Collection, Brisbane
Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute
University of Wollongong Art Collection, Wollongong
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK 

Individual Exhibitions

2005 Sesserae; The Art of Dennis Nona, Dell Gallery at Queensland College of Art, Brisbane 2005 Sesserae and Other Stories, Kickarts, Cairns 2005 Sesserae; New Prints by Dennis Nona, Darwin Entertainment Centre Gallery, Darwin 2006 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Cooee Aboriginal Art, Sydney 2006 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Australian Embassy, Paris 2006 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2006 Australie: le jeune homme et la mer, l'oeuvre grave de Dennis Nona (Iles du detroit de Torres, Queensland), Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob / Ambassade d'Australie, Paris
2006 - 2007 Sesserae; The Works of Dennis Nona Regional Tour. Rockhampton Regional Gallery, Qld. Port Macquarie Regional Art Gallery, NSW. Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island, Qld. Cairns Regional Gallery, Qld. Cooloola Shire Gallery, Qld. New Land Regional Gallery, Adelaide SA. Logan City Art Gallery, Qld. Caloundra City Gallery, Qld
2006 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Darwin Entertainment Centre Gallery
2006 Sesserae: New Works by Dennis Nona, Framed Gallery, Darwin
2006 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona Suzanne O'Connell Gallery, Brisbane
2007 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Impressions on Paper Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2007 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Big Star Art Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2007 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2007 Sesserae; New Works by Dennis Nona, Art Mob, Hobart
2009 Muluka Pyban (Passing Down), Andrew Baker Gallery, Brisbane
2009 Muluka Pyban (Passing Down), Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2009 Muluka Pyban (Passing Down), Art Mob, Hobart
2009 Muluka Pyban (Passing Down), United Galleries, Sydney
2010 Muluka Pyban (Passing Down), United Galleries, Perth 

Group Exhibitions

1991 The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1991 Group Show, Hogarth Galleries,Sydney.
1991 Cairns Art Society Exhibition, Cairns Regional Art Gallery, Cairns, QLD.
1992 One People One Soul, Palm Court Gallery, Cairns, QLD.
1992 Colours of Black, Queensland Aboriginal Creations, Brisbane.
1992 Group Exhibition, Gallery of Australian Landscape, Brisbane.
1992 Cross Currents, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney.
1992 The Ninth Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1992/1993 New Tracks Old Land: An Exhibition of Contemporary Prints from Aboriginal Australia, touring USA and Australia.
1993 Aboriginal Printmakers, Northern Territory University Art Gallery, Darwin.
1993 Mixed Exhibition, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney.
1993 Contemporary Prints from Aboriginal Australia, Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA.
1993 Cairns TAFE Students, Studio One, Canberra.
1993 Australian Aboriginal Printmakers, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington, USA.
1994 Gold Coast Art Award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise, QLD.
1994 International Print Exhibition, Machida, Tokyo, Japan.
1994 Aboriginal Exhibition, South Australian Art Gallery, Adelaide.
1994 Malu Ural, National Maritime Museum, Sydney.
1994 Aboriginal Art Award, Heritage Commission, Canberra.
1995 Same but Different, Aboriginal and Islander Students at the Australian National University, School of Arts Gallery, Canberra.
1995 Mixed Exhibition, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane.
2001 Islands in the Sun, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2001 18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2001 Trakin Kultja, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
2001 Thaigy Minaral - Beautiful Patterns, Port Kennedy Hall, Thursday Island
2001 - 2004 Gelam Nguzu Kazi - Gelam My Son, Travelling Exhibition. Australian Museum, Sydney; Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria B.C. Canada; Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, UK; Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane, Damien Minton Gallery, Newcastle; Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra; Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale; Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree; Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Stanthorpe; Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide; Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo ; Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura; Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga; Manly Art Gallery, Manly; Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba; Noosa Regional Art Gallery, Tewantin; Cairns Regional Art Gallery, Cairns; Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island.
2002 Paipa - 'Windward', National Museum of Australia, Canberra
2003 Beneath the Monsoon - Visions North of Capricorn, Artspace Mackay, Mackay; Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns; Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville
2003 Dream Traces, Brighton University, Brighton, UK
2003 Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Noumea, New Caledonia
2003 Bovicai Collaborative Exhibition, Qld.
2003 Coochimadlo Island Market Exhibition, Qld
2003 Indigenous Outback Exhibition, NAIDOC Day, Brisbane
2003 Michael Fox Gallery, Brisbane
2003 Pandanus Art Collabrative Exhibition, Currumbin Beach,
2003 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin
2003 Shell Fremantle Art Award, Fremantle
2003 Christchurch Art Gallery/Te Puna, Waiwhetu, Christchurch/Aotearoa, NZ
2004 Christchurch Art Gallery/Te Puna, Waiwhetu, Christchurch/Aotearoa, NZ
2004 Fragments, Little Stanley Street Gallery, Brisbane
2004 21st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2004 Angel Orensanz International Art Award, New York, USA (Winner)
2004 Robin O'Chin Memorial Art Award, Brisbane
2004 Shell Fremantle Art Award, Fremantle
2004 Artscape Group Exhibition, Brisbane
2005 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2005 Shell Fremantle Print Award 1975-2005
2005 Busan International Print Art Festival, Busan, Korea
2005 ARC Art, Design & Craft Biennial, Brisbane
2006 bangu yibara: works from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2006 Por Gubau Giza; Footsteps Gallery, Brisbane
2006 23rd Telstra National & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin
2006 Nokturne; 24 Hour Art, Darwin
2006 Through Here; Indigenous Alumni from the ANU School of Art, ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra
2006 L'art aborigene contemporain, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob / Mediatheque Cathedrale de Reims, Reims, FRANCE
2006 Salon "ST'ART", Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Strasbourg
2006 Masterwork; Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2006 - 2007 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2007 24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
2007 Culture Warriors. National Indigenous Art Triennial. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
2007 Parcours des Mondes, Galerie Arts d'Australie. Stephane Jacob, Paris
2007 St-Art, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Strasbourg
2008 Culture Warriors. National Indigenous Art Triennial. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
2008 25th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
2008 - 2009 The Tropics, Views from the Middle of the Globe, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
2008 Lineart, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Gent, Belgique
2008 Estampes contemporaines : regard prospectiff 2, Galerie Christian Collin, Paris
2008 St-Art, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Strasbourg
2008 Art Elysees, Arts deAustralie , Stephane Jacob, Champs-Elysees, Paris
2008 Estampes contemporaines : regard prospectif II, galerie Nathalie Bereau en association avec la galerie Arts d'Australie , Stephane Jacob, Chinon
2008 Estampes contemporaines : regard prospectif II, galerie Christian Collin en collaboration avec la galerie Nathalie Bereau et Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
2008 Parcours des Mondes, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
2008 Lille Art Fair, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Lille
2009 Gaigai Ika Woeybadh Yatharewmka, Legends Through Patterns from the Past, Robert Steele Gallery, New York USA
2009 Culture Warriors. National Indigenous Art Triennial, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
2009 Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
2009 26th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award 2009, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2009 Menagerie, Australian Musem, Sydney
2009 Clin d'oeil a l'Art Aborigene d'Australie, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob / Cinema du Pantheon, Paris
2009 Art Elysees, Arts d'Australie , Stephane Jacob, Paris
2009 Parcours des Mondes, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
2009 Regards Croises : Australie - France, oeuvres sur papier et sculptures, Espace Beaurepaire / Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
2010 Trilogie australienne, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
2010 27th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander ARt Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2010 Malu Miwar, Sea Patterns of The Torres STrait, Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia
2010 Prints From Around The Pacific Rim, Carleton College Northfield MN USA

Awards

2010 - 27th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, winner works on paper
2008 - 25th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, winner works on paper
2007 - 24th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Overall winner
2004 - Angel Orensanz International Art Award, New York.
Cairns State High School Art Award, Cairns
Cairns State High School Aboriginal & Torres Strait
Machida International Print Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
4th Angel Orensanz International Art Award, New York, USA
Griffith University Lions Club Equity Bursery for Excellence in the Batchelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art, Brisbane
Parliament of Australia & Leichhardt Electorate Arts Achievement Award, Canberra

Commissions

Australian Indigenous Medicare Card logo
Badu Island Council mural
Thursday Island State High School mural
Cairns North State Primary School mural
Wakaid Coral Sea logo design
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Housing poster design
Badu Island State Primary School sports shirt logo design
Kubin, Moa Island Net Ball Team logo design
Thursday Island Court House glass panels
King Abdullah's University of Science & Technology, Saudi Arabia
Cairns Foreshore Authority, Cairns 

Bibliography

Perkins H. Beyond the Year of Indigenous Peoples in Art and Australia 1993 Vol 31 No 1 p 98-101
Islands in the Sun, National Gallery of Australia exhibition catalogue 2000
Illustrations, Dabu the Baby Dugong, Magaballa Press, WA.
International Print Exhibition Cat. Machida, Tokyo, Japan.
New Tracks Old Land Cat., Prints From Aboriginal Australia, Aboriginal Arts Management Association.
Ilan Pasin, this is our story. Torres Strait Art. Cairns Regional Gallery exhibition catalogue
Gelam Nguzu Kazi - Gelam My Son, Australian and International Touring Exhibition catalogue.
Demozay M., 2001,Gatherings, Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art from Queensland Australia.
Native Title Business, Australian Touring Exhibition Catalogue
Wilson G., Beneath the Monsoon Visions North of Capricorn exhibition catalogue, Art Space Mackay, Mackay QLD. 2002
Reid Michael, How to Buy and Sell Art, 2004
Sesserae: The Works of Dennis Nona. DELL Gallery at QCA Exhibition Catalogue, 2005
Busan International Print Art Festival Catalogue, 2005
ARC Art, Design & Craft 2005 Biennial Catalogue
Australie: le jeune homme et la mer; L'oeuvre grave de Dennis Nona. Paris Exhibition Catalogue
Artlines: Art and People. Queensland Art Gallery Magazine, 1-2007
Contemporary Printmakers from the Torres trait. Exhibition Catalogue, 2007
Culture Warriors. National indigenous art Triennial exhibition catalogue, 2007
The 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Exhibition Catalogue, 2007

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TT Strasse

DIE WENDE, "THE CHANGE," WAS THE TERM USED IN 1989 TO DESCRIBE THE SOCIAL UPHEAVAL after the fall of the Wall. Berliners are now talking about a different sort of Wende - from "Berlin: New, Sleek and Futuristic" by Bill Van Parys, 1999.

T.T. Strasse, (his pseudonym by choice) a member of an artists' collective working out of an abandoned grand building in former East Berlin, but now a centre of alternative culture with studios, bars and cafes, exhibits an original range of collages in the form of posters and prints. Although acknowledging this digital age, he chooses to create these collages manually, with images he has collected all over Europe and Asia, and selects to cut and paste the time-intensive way.

TT, as he is referred to, has experienced at first hand death threats and intimidation following the publication of some of his work from sensitive Asian nations upset by his cultural and political references. He was subsequently forced to remove his email address and web site, and keep a low profile within the collective.

"Working in Berlin" he claims "for me is the centre of the art-world. There is an encouragement from the German Government to support the arts and artists in Berlin, and given the very low rentals and cost of living in the city, it has become a mecca for artists all over Europe". "Even though the wall has been down for 15 years, there are still many hangovers from the past, and for some, an internal conflict for many Berliners, in terms of socialism versus capitalism. This is characterized in some ways by the amount and artistic quality of the graffiti appearing all over Berlin".

When one of the associates of Mojo Associates for Fine Art recently visited Berlin, he was excited to meet up with T.T. Strasse in one of the studios, and we now have pleasure in presenting these prints for sale and hope you find them as remarkable and politically incorrect as we do.

These artworks (with digital intervention by chromogenic color print) are in an open edition and being part of a series is what gives the artworks their integrity, their depth, and their meaning. Each individual image is informed by the meaning that attaches to the whole of this series.

Open Edition: A print edition of an unlimited number with no artist signature. "u/u" Denotes an unsigned and unnumbered open edition. For these reasons, the open edition is less expensive than a limited edition print. Our selected open edition prints from TT Strasse series have our original "Famous Mojo Artwork" stamp (with acid free archival ink) on the reverse.

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Yilpinji, Love, Magic & Ceremony

Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony is an exhibition of fine art prints by senior Aboriginal artists from Balgo Hills, Yuendumu and Lajamanu, that explores the powerful traditions of love magic rituals amongst the Kukatja and Warlpiri peoples of the Tanami Desert region.

The exhibition opened on the 23rd of July 2004 at the Northern Territory & Outback Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, and has been touring both nationally and internationally (UK, Denmark, Sweden, USA, France) until 2006.

Included within this exhibition is the Yilpinji Portfolio Edition; a special boxed portfolio containing fifteen limited edition aboriginal art prints by the most senior Warlpiri and Kukatja aboriginal artists from the remote aboriginal art communities of Yuendumu, Lajamanu and Balgo in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony explores for the first time the powerful Aboriginal traditions of love magic ritual and story that has been practiced and passed down from generation to generation amongst the Kukatja and Warlpiri peoples of the Tanami Desert region.

These love magic rituals and ceremonies, involve the singing of secret love songs, the painting of special designs onto their bodies and the production of 'love objects' to perform these ceremonies.

Called 'Yilpinji' in the Warlpiri language, these ceremonies are enacted separately by men and women as a means of attracting the object of their sometimes adulterous or otherwise forbidden desire. Many Dreaming narratives and associated ceremonies make powerful statements about the consequences of illicit or illegal love - love that is, that offends the strict rules of their kinship structures.

Paintings of Yilpinji not only relate to moral and ethical behaviour and the transgressions that occur but they are attached to specific tracts of land. Yilpinji stories and paintings provide guidance about how people should relate to, and interrelate with, one another and with the natural world.

In addition, love magic spells and songs relate to many 'different' Dreamings. They include stories about objects which 'hold' love magic and powerful love singers, as well as tales about faithfulness in relationships and the virtues of nurturing and respecting the object of one's love and desire.The prints in this exhibition and the stories that accompany them can be understood as concentrated, abbreviated versions of these much longer epic, and living, oral narratives.

Portfolio Edition

The Yilpinji Portfolio Edition is an important portfolio of fine art prints that provides a unique and affordable opportunity to invest in exceptional work by the most senior Aboriginal artists from Balgo Hills, Yuendumu and Lajamanu.

View the prints

This is the first time in the history of Australian printmaking that a portfolio of limited edition prints has become available that focus on a unique aspect of Aboriginal culture.

Fifteen senior Aboriginal artists have each created a thematic work on Yilpinji, the love magic practiced by the Warlpiri and Kukatja people of the central and western deserts of Australia.

This little known aspect of Aboriginal culture is explored in this important portfolio of fifteen etchings, screenprints and linocuts.

These limited edition prints by Old Masters from the predominantly Kukatja settlement of Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) in Western Australia as well as from Yuendumu and Lajamanu, Warlpiri settlements in the Northern Territory, have come about as a result of a unique cross-cultural collaboration. It has involved indigenous artists, remote art centre staff and community organisations, a fine art print publishing house, a number of anthropologists who have specialist knowledge of these cultural groups and two highly respected non-indigenous printmakers.

The prints in this portfolio are included in a larger body of works that make up an exhibition also titled, Yilpinji Love Magic & Ceremony. This exhibition has shown at the Australian Museum, Sydney and will tour public and commercial galleries both internationally and throughout Australia until 2006.

The publisher of the portfolio, The Australian Art Print Network, is a respected publisher and distributor of limited edition prints by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists. In producing this important folio of prints it has worked with two highly regarded print studios, Basil Hall Editions and Editions Tremblay and with Dr. Christine Nicholls of Flinders University, writer and cultural historian on Warlpiri and Kukatja art and culture.

The 15 original prints in this portfolio all measure 760mm x 560mm and are limited to editions of 99. They are presented in a buckram bound box, which is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue detailing the artists and the stories associated with each print and cross-referencing the images with the social and cultural issues they raise.

The exhibitions of Yilpinji Love Magic and Ceremony

The exhibition opened on the 23rd of July 2004 at the Northern Territory & Outback Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, and has been touring both nationally and internationally (UK, Denmark, Sweden, USA, France) until 2006.

Included within this exhibition is the Yilpinji Portfolio Edition; a special boxed portfolio containing fifteen limited edition aboriginal art prints by the most senior Warlpiri and Kukatja aboriginal artists from the remote aboriginal art communities of Yuendumu, Lajamanu and Balgo in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony explores for the first time the powerful Aboriginal traditions of love magic ritual and story that has been practiced and passed down from generation to generation amongst the Kukatja and Warlpiri peoples of the Tanami Desert region.

Exhibition Venues

REBECCA HOSSACK GALLERY, 35 Windmill St, London, UK. 22 April - 15 June 2004

FISKETORVET, Copenhagen, Denmark. 10 May - 15 May 2004

THE ORANGERY AT ADELSNÄS, Åtvidaberg, Sweden. 6 June - 27 June 2004

HIGHPOINT CENTER FOR PRINTMAKING, 2638 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55408, USA. 8 April - 23 May 2005

GALERIE DAD, 32 rue Thiers, 78200, Mantes-la-Jolie, FRANCE. 11 May - 25 June 2005

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY, 4 rue Jean Rey, Paris, FRANCE. 10 November 2005 to 20 January 2006

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, 400 Peter Jefferson Place, Charlottesville, VA, 22911, USA. November 2005 - January 2006

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Zigen

"Stop thinking, just feel."

Time and space continues to change and the whirl of information grows bigger as it draws us in. Our perceptions are always leveled through our environment and information, and are symbolized as communication tools. Globalization became convenient and fast by standardizing our senses in this system of the city. Will there ever be a moment where we will stop thinking, if we continue to parasite in this city?

Originally, perception meant "seeing" and "listening", and to recognize what something is. Seeing "red" is a sense. Seeing "a red apple" is a perception. Seeing a red color is a primitive sense. After seeing a red apple, if one feels "it looks good" or "it looks sour", it will only come because of our personal perception. Perception can change depending on the individual, but sense is something we all have.

If we see a crimson twilight sky that we rarely see in Tokyo and we feel "beautiful", isn't it a primitive sense that all we humans possess? That moment, you can feel yourself freed from "thinking" and only "feeling".

We think that it is time to lose that border you have had with your perception, and just "feel". We hope to recall your primitive senses by making you realize your five senses. We aim to express the primitive senses that all we humans possess, no matter of boundaries, races. cultures, or religions, through "Bali Deep".

ZIGEN / PHOTOGRAPHY

"Encountering Bali, moment after moment, I feel the Universe. A once in a lifetime chance." - Zigen

Born in Nishinomiya-Shi, Hyogo-ken in 1959. After graduating from the Visual Arts College Osaka he came to Tokyo and worked as an assistant for two years. In 1982, he left for Europe and worked as Peter Lindbergh's assistant for three years in Paris. After that, he became freelance and worked mainly in Paris and Milan as a Fashion Photographer, but returned to Tokyo in 1993, establishing the ZIGEN Office. In 1999, his first solo exhibition, "Seikimatsu Shouzou (Portraits from the End of the Century)" was held in Aoyama Spiral Hall. The same exhibition, "Seikimatsu Shouzou" was held in Visual Arts Gallery Osaka in 2001. He became the Special Consultant for the Visual Arts College in 2002. He now is based in Tokyo, working on various advertisements, fashions, and music photos.

Zigen's Magazine Works:

Italia: 100cose, Westuff, L'uomoVouge, Annabela and Cosmopolitan Italy

France: Marie Claire, 20ans, Joyse, Jardin des Modes, Perfact and Polydor

Japan : Elle Japon, Figaro Japon, Marie Claire, Hi-Fashion, Cutie, Brutus, MCsister, Men'sClub, Penthouse and  Playboy

Zigen's Individual Exhibitions:

1999 "Seikimatsu Shouzou" at Aoyama Spiral Hall, Tokyo.

2001 "Seikimatsu Shouzou" at Visual Art Gallery Osaka.

2005 "Bali Deep" at Daikanyama Hillside Forum, Tokyo.
        "Bali Deep" at Puri Lukisan Museum, Bali .

For each CD and DVD Track Listings and Samples, please visit Bali deep website - http://www.balideep.jp

PARADISE JAM / CREATIVE DIRECTION, ART DIRECTION, DESIGN & AUDIO VISUAL

CD Kojo Ikuta AD Kyoko Kakehashi D Yuichiro Akao

1993, Kojo Ikuta and Kyoko Kakehashi teamed as a designer unit called Paradise Jam. They began works on graphic designs such as advertisements and CD covers. Since 1994, they began more multicreative works such as producing fashion shows and hair shows. At the same time, they began to organize club events. "Kagero", which collects more than 1000 people every week. Naturally, the event became well talked about among DJs and artists inside and outside Japan. From 2000, doing VJ for "Kagero" triggered them to begin audio-visual production. Since, they broadened their AV works, from music videos, commercials, movie trailers, short films, and VJ for various live events. They are now very keen on using three-dimensional visual expressions and interactive arts using the web to reach the audio-visual mass. Their works were also selected and shown in international digital film festivals such as RESFEST and One Dot Zero.

NOBRAND Co. Ltd. / MUSIC

P Toshihisa Mafune SP Yuji Yoshida

Group of up-and-coming music producers established in 1997. Brought together the hiphop and reggae scene in Yokohama, creating the brand, 045 style. The group signs many talented artists and is now the center of the Japanese and reggae scene, effecting the trend with every move. Their production no longer is limited in this genre, and their works, from acapella to pop music are always seen in the charts. This busy multi-sound producer group also works on commercial music, and are now rushed with order after order.  Recently, they have done the sound ID for SKYPERFECT TV. They are also well versed in Bali, collecting various sounds for 15 years. This can be seen fully in the work, "Bali Deep", where they have collaged their accumulated samplings and images.

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Tiny Tim (1932 - 1996)

Tiny Tim was born Herbert Khaury, and gave his birth date as April 12, 1932. He grew up in New York in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.

By the early '60s, he had gained a cult following around the thriving Greenwich Village music scene, particularly after he began to incorporate bizarre renditions of contemporary songs into his repertoire. He first sang in a lesbian cabaret bar called Page Three, where he was billed as ‘The Answer To The Beatles!’ He used a number of pseudonyms, but eventually settled on Tiny Tim, after the character from Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’

His appearance in the film You Are What You Eat led to a booking on the hugely popular comedy series Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. He was an instant sensation; no one had ever seen anything like him. He appeared several more times on Laugh-In, and became a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, also performing on the Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason variety shows. His eccentric personality became as well-known as his music: he was obsessed with bodily cleanliness, and his distaste for sex seemed logical when paired with his gentle, asexual demeanor. Apart from his extraordinarily high falsetto voice, his appearance with long curly hair, large nose, tall stature (he was six feet one inch), and his relatively tiny ukulele made him unforgettable in a crowd.

Now a hot commodity, Tiny Tim signed a record deal with Reprise and issued his debut album, God Bless Tiny Tim, in 1968. His signature rendition of “Tip-toe Thru' The Tulips With Me” became an instant hit, and the LP sold over 200,000 copies. The other songs on the album displayed his wide ranging knowledge of the American songbook, and also allowed him to demonstrate his baritone voice, which was less often heard than his falsetto.

Striking while the iron was hot, he recorded a follow-up, Tiny Tim’s Second Album, which was released at the end of 1968. Its follow-up, an album of children's songs titled For All My Little Friends was released in August of 1969. Also in 1969, he married Victoria May Budinger or ("Miss Vicki") on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, a publicity stunt which attracted 40 million viewers. Tiny wrote his own marriage vows, including the promise to be “not puffed up.”

In August 1970 Tiny Tim performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 in front of a crowd of 600,000 people. His performance, which included English folk songs and rock and roll classics, was a huge hit with the multinational throng of hippies. At the climax of his set, he sang “There'll Always Be an England” through a megaphone which brought the huge crowd to its feet. This can be seen in the 1995 movie of the event Message to Love.

On 30 November 1996 Tiny collapsed seconds after playing “Tip-toe Thru' The Tulips With Me” during a performance in Minneapolis, dying off-stage in the arms of his 3rd wife, Miss Sue.

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London OZ Magazine (January 1967 - November 1973)

OZ was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963–69 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and more famous incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London. Strongly identified as part of the underground press, it was the subject of two celebrated obscenity trials, one in Australia in 1964 and the other in the UK in 1971. On both occasions the magazine's editors were acquitted on appeal after initially being found guilty and sentenced to harsh jail terms.

The central editor throughout the magazine's life was Richard Neville. Co-editors of the Sydney version were Richard Walsh and Martin Sharp/Art Director. Co-editors of the London version were Jim Anderson and, later, Felix Dennis.

OZ in London, UK -

In late 1966 Neville and Sharp moved to the UK and in early 1967, with fellow Australian Jim Anderson, they founded the London OZ. Contributors included Germaine Greer, artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora, photographer Robert Whitaker, journalist Lillian Roxon, cartoonist Michael Leunig, Angelo Quattrocchi and David Widgery.

With access to new print stocks, including metallic foils, new fluorescent inks and the greater flexibility of layout offered by the offset printing system, Sharp's artistic skills came to the fore and OZ quickly won renown as one of the most visually exciting publications of its time. Many editions of OZ included dazzling psychedelic wrap-around or pull-out posters by Sharp, London design duo Hapshash and the Coloured Coat and others; these instantly became sought-after collectors' items and now command high prices. The all-graphic "Magic Theatre" edition (OZ #16), overseen by Sharp and Mora, has been described by British author Jonathon Green as "arguably the greatest achievement of the entire British underground press." During this period Sharp also created two famous psychedelic album covers for the group Cream, Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire.

Sharp gradually drifted away from the magazine during 1968, so a young Londoner, Felix Dennis, who had been selling issues on the street, was eventually brought in as Neville and Anderson's new partner. The magazine regularly enraged the British Establishment with a range of left-field stories including heavy critical coverage of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement, discussions of drugs, sex and alternative lifestyles, and contentious political stories, such as the magazine's revelations about the torture of citizens under the rule of the military junta in Greece.

In 1970, reacting to criticism that OZ had lost touch with youth, the editors put a notice in the magazine inviting "school kids" to edit an issue. The opportunity was taken up by around 20 secondary school students (including Charles Shaar Murray and Deyan Sudjic), who were let loose on OZ #28 (May 1970), known as "Schoolkids OZ". This term was widely misunderstood to mean that it was intended for school children, whereas it was a statement that it had been created by them.

One of the resulting articles was a highly sexualised Rupert Bear parody. It was created by 15-year-old schoolboy Vivian Berger by pasting the head of Rupert onto the lead character of an X-rated satirical cartoon by Robert Crumb. The majority of the contributors were from public schools (in the UK sense of the term: elite non-state schools); as a result the humour was mostly an extension of the type of material familiar from undergraduate rag mags.

OZ was one of several 'underground' publications targeted by the Obscene Publications Squad, and their offices had already been raided on several occasions, but the conjunction of schoolchildren and arguably obscene material set the scene for the infamous OZ obscenity trial of 1971. In some respects it was a copy of the Australian trial, with evidence and judicial instruction clearly aimed at securing a conviction, but the British trial was given a far more dangerous twist because the prosecution employed an archaic charge against Neville, Dennis and Anderson—"conspiracy to corrupt public morals"—which, in theory, carried a virtually unlimited penalty.

The defence lawyer, John Mortimer QC announced at the opening of the trial in 1971 that “[the] case stands at the crossroads of our liberty, at the boundaries of our freedom to think and draw and write what we please” (The Times: 24 June 1971). For the defence, this specifically concerned the treatment of dissent and dissenters, about the control of ideas and suppressing the messages of social resistance communicated by OZ in issue #28. The charges read out in the central criminal court stated “[that the defendants] conspiring with certain other young persons to produce a magazine containing obscene, lewd, indecent and sexually perverted articles, cartoons and drawings with intent to debauch and corrupt the morals of children and other young persons and to arouse and implant in their minds lustful and perverted ideas” (The Times: 23 June 1971). According to Mr Brian Leary prosecuting “It dealt with homosexuality, lesbianism, sadism, perverted sexual practices and drug taking” (op. cit.).

The trial brought the magazine to the attention of the wider public. John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined the protest march against the prosecution and organised the recording of "God Save OZ" by the Elastic Oz Band to raise funds and gain publicity.

Dennis and Anderson were defended by lawyer and playwright John Mortimer (creator of the Rumpole Of The Bailey series) with assistance from Australian lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, while Neville represented himself.

The trial was, at the time, the longest obscenity trial in British legal history. Defence witnesses included comedian Marty Feldman, artist and drugs activist Caroline Coon, DJ John Peel, musician and writer George Melly and academic Edward De Bono. At the conclusion of the trial the "OZ Three" were found guilty and sentenced to prison; although Dennis was given a lesser sentence because the judge, Justice Michael Argyle, considered that Dennis was "very much less intelligent" than Neville and Anderson. Shortly after the verdicts were handed down they were taken to prison and their heads shaved, an act which caused an even greater stir on top of the already considerable outcry surrounding the trial and verdict.

The most famous images of the trial come from the committal hearing, at which Neville, Dennis and Anderson all appeared wearing rented schoolgirl costumes.

At the appeal trial, where the defendants appeared wearing long wigs, it was found that Justice Argyle had grossly misdirected the jury on numerous occasions. During the appeal, it was also alleged that Berger, who was called as a prosecution witness, had been harassed and assaulted by police. The convictions were overturned. Years later, Felix Dennis told author Jonathan Green that on the night before the appeal was heard, the OZ editors were taken to a secret meeting with the Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, who told them that they would be acquitted if they agreed to give up work on OZ, and that MPs Tony Benn and Michael Foot had interceded on their behalf.

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Indigenous Artists

We have much pleasure in presenting our carefully selected Aboriginal limited edtion prints by various artists from the regions of Balgo Hills, Kimberley,Tanami Desert, Kalgoorlie and Torres Strait. Some of these prints are by well-known artists such as Rover Thomas, Freddy Timms, Sam Tjampitjin, and Lily Karedada.

Limited Editions: The number of copies printed from the stone, plate, screen or block are collectively known as an edition. In Australia limited editions rarely number more than 99 and are often less. Each print is numbered e.g the tenth print from an edition of 99 would be marked 10/99. In addition to the numbered prints, APs (artist proofs), PPs (printers proofs), WPs (workshop proofs) are usually printed and generally do not exceed 10% of the numbered prints. These prints have the same value as the numbered prints in the edition. When the plates or screens have been used to produce the stated number of prints in the edition they are destroyed thereby ensuring no further copies can be made. In the case of a lithographic stone, the image is removed from the stone, which is then used again for other editions.

History of aboriginal printmaking - Aboriginal Prints And Printmaking

An introduction by Roger Butler, Senior Curator of Australian Prints, National Gallery of Australia.

Note:This text is presented by Mr Roger Butler for educational/research purposes only.

The first prints by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists were not produced until the late 1960's, and it was not until the 1970's that a sustained interest in this 'new' technique developed. Originally the impetuous for experimentation was from non-indigenous art advisors, and later, publishers of limited edition prints.

For many Aboriginal artists the use of printmaking methods was like an extension of traditional practice. The engraving of wood and linoblocks is a similar process to the incising of designs on stone or the surfaces of wooden sculptures and utilitarian objects. The sequential overprinting of colours in screenprinting is paralleled in the way traditional bark paintings are realised, and the same chalky opaque colours can be obtained.

Concurrently with this development in traditional homelands was the emergence of a generation of urban-based Aboriginal artists who had trained in Western art traditions and techniques. Art schools and print workshops also began to invite Aboriginal artists to participate in their programmes. More recently print workshops have been established by a number of Aboriginal communities.

Since the early 1980's prints by Aboriginal artists have been widely exhibited both in Australia and overseas. The success of exhibitions such as New Tracks Old Land and the marketing of works through The Australian Art Print Network has vastly increased the accessibility and public appreciation of prints by Aboriginal artists.

Prints by Aboriginal artists are no recognised as being the most dynamic art being produced in Australia. This new catalogue will undoubtedly increase the audience for Aboriginal prints.

Roger Butler,
Senior Curator of Australian Prints,
National Gallery of Australia.

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Anonymous Photographers

One of the associates of Mojo Associates for Fine Art has been amassing not only old photographs but also vintage original B&W negative films from 1920's to 1950's. We have much pleasure in presenting our carefully selected various photographs by unknown photographers from this massive collection.

These photographs (with digital intervention from original negatives or vintage prints by chromogenic color print) are in an open edition and being part of a series is what gives the photographs their integrity, their depth, and their meaning. Each individual picture is informed by the meaning that attaches to the whole of this series.

We have taken the liberty of attaching our own interpretative captions to the photos.

Open Edition: A print edition of an unlimited number with no artist signature. "u/u" Denotes an unsigned and unnumbered open edition. For these reasons, the open edition is less expensive than a limited edition print. Our selected open edition prints from this Anonymous Photographers series have our original "Famous Mojo Artwork" stamp (with acid free archival ink) on the reverse.

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Various Artists

We have much pleasure in presenting our carefully selected various artworks which are of many different kinds purposefully arranged but lacking any uniformity, are considered individually, distinctly dissimilar or unlike, although having great diversity or variety by various artists whose creative work show sensitivity and imagination.

various: [adj]

1: of many different kinds purposefully arranged but lacking any uniformity; "assorted sizes"; "his disguises are many and various"; "various experiments have failed to disprove the theory"; "cited various reasons for his behavior" [syn: assorted]
2: considered individually; "the respective club members"; "specialists in their several fields"; "the various reports all agreed" [syn: respective(a), several(a), various(a)]
3: distinctly dissimilar or unlike; "diverse parts of the country"; "celebrities as diverse as Bob Hope and Bob Dylan"; "animals as various as the jaguar and the cavy and the sloth" [syn: diverse]
4: having great diversity or variety; "his various achievements are impressive"; "his vast and versatile erudition" [syn:versatile]

artist: [n]

a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and imagination [syn: creative person]
-WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)

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Miscellaneous

This Miscellaneous page is for the bits of artwork and other cool stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

MISCELLA'NEOUS, a. [L. miscellaneus, from misceo, to mix.] - Mixed; mingled; consisting of several kinds; as a miscellaneous publication; a miscellaneous rabble - From Webster's 1828 Dictionary.

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