ART INSIGHTS Creating Wealth as a Successful Artist - John Dahlsen

ART INSIGHTSCreating Wealth as aSuccessful ArtistJohn Dahlsen

ARTINSIGHTSCreating Wealth as a Successful ArtistA journey into a successful art career,providing specific advice for artists seekingsuccess and wealth creation.JOHN DAHLSEN

All Rights Reserved.Reproduction or translation of any part of thiswork beyond that permitted by the Laws ofAustralia under the Copyright Act, withoutthe permission of the Copyright Owner isunlawful. Request for permission or furtherinformation should be addressed to thePublications Permissions Department, OneCreation Publishing.No part of this book may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted inany form or by any means graphic, electronic,or mechanical, including photocopying,recording means, taping or otherwise withoutprior written permission of the One CreationPublishers.Copyright ©2009 by One CreationISBN: 978-0-9806926-0-0www.johndahlsen.com

DedicationFor my beautiful wife Rago, for without herconstant support and love, there simply wouldbe no “Art Insights” book. Thank you for yourlight and for the oneness we share. A hugethank you to Bryan, my Dad since I was a yearand a half old, for his massive support overthe years and to my brother Andrew, who hashelped me cart around so much of the stuffthat makes the artwork described in thesepages. Also, a big thank you to my editor,D’lynne Plummer, for her tireless commitmentto helping me get this book on the road.

Table of ContentsPart I (page 7)Alchemy: My Career in Environmental ArtMy Infl uences 11Shedding of Identity 15Alchemy 23Variety of Expression: Recycled PlasticBag Art 27Driftwood Art 31Digital Prints & Paintings 33The Purge Series 39New Directions 41Reviewer Commentary 45Central Concerns 49

Part II (page 53)Business Strategies: The Artist asBusiness PersonApproaching Galleries 83Competitions 87Creating Wealth 89The Parthenon Principle 93Responsible Financial Management 95Separating the Artist from Entrepreneur 99Part III (page 101)Career Insights: Reflections, Reviews, andQuestions and AnswersRefl ections on Vision 83Refl ections on Obstacles 109Refl ections on Direction 113Articles and Reviews 127References 166

Part IAlchemy: My Career in Environmental ArtMy work as an environmental artist beganby accident.In the mid-‘90s I was collecting driftwoodin Victoria on the southern Australiancoastline. I had intended to make furnitureout of my finds, as I had done as a studentat the Victorian College of the Arts inMelbourne in the late ‘70s and throughoutthe subsequent years.During these trips to remote beaches, Istumbled across vast amounts of plasticdebris that were washing up on the7

shoreline, and I felt compelled to collect it.During my initial collection I had amassed80 jumbo garbage bags full of these foundplastics, all of which I had intended to taketo the recycling section of the local tip. Themore items I collected, however, the moreintrigued I grew about their form, theircolour, and I began to absorb deeply thedegree to which these plastics had becomea scourge to our environment.The objects I collected were of manydifferent varieties. Some were ropes andstring, very colourful and obviously fromboats or ships; some were Styrofoamrounded off by the rocks in the sun onthe ocean; some were plastic drinkingbottles. There were, of course, a myriadof plastics that were chipped and broken,and sometimes these found objects wereunrecognizable as the consumer items theyonce were. There were also buoys and flipflopsin dozens of colours. The objects castfrom the sea and deposited to the shorewere endless in amount, shape, color, andcontent.8

This new medium, it occurred to me, couldsupply an endless array of possibilities.After shipping all the materials back to mystudio, I slowly spread the items along thefloor, where a giant painter’s palette beganto assemble. In an uncanny way theseplastics, as they were sorted and arrangedin my studio, took on an unspeakable,indefinable and quite magical beauty.Exposed on the floor, they continued tofascinate me. For approximately 12 yearsI scoured Australian beaches for foundobjects – the ocean litter that affects ourwaters and beaches on a global scale.Sorting all of these objects became a naturalextension of my process of collecting, in away. Collecting on the beach was a type ofperformance art all its own. The new colorsand shapes – hues and forms I had neverseen before - revealed themselves to meagain as they accumulated in my studio,asking to be recollected but this time inthe form of environmental artwork.9

In a gallery spacedevoted to Mark Rothko,the American abstractexpressionist, I experiencedthe depth of andcommitment in his work.The exhibition drew anintense emotional responsefrom me, moving me totears, and provided a levelof inspiration that I had notexperienced until that point.

My InfluencesAs a young artist, I was fortunate enoughto interact with many people who playeda significant role in shaping the Australiancontemporary art world. During the late‘70s, I studied at the Victorian College ofthe Arts in Melbourne Australia. It wasthere that I had the opportunity to meetpeople like Fred Williams, Roger Kemp,and my drawing teacher Noel Counihan.These and other lecturing artists, includingGareth Sansom, Paul Partos and AllanMittelman, demonstrated to me what itmeant to have an energetic response tothe creative process.Exposure to international art in London andEurope, in the early eighties, encouragedme to pursue my career as an artist.One defining moment was experiencedat the Tate Gallery in London, 1981. Ina gallery space devoted to Mark Rothko,the American abstract expressionist, Iexperienced the depth of and commitmentin his work. The exhibition drew an intense11

emotional response from me, moving meto tears, and provided a level of inspirationthat I had not experienced until that point.Another Rothko piece (from a differentperiod), seen several years later whilevisiting the National Gallery of Victoria,Australia, filled me with the same feelingof understanding. Looking back, with thebenefit of experience, I can say that it wasthe sincerity and purity from within hispaintings that moved me.Upon returning to Australia, after residingsome years in the United States, I took upa position as artist in residence at EditionsGallery, Western Australia. Living andworking with other artists is an education initself. Fellow painter Keith Looby promptedme to explore more painterly qualities inmy work, while John Beard would helpdeepen my exploration into abstraction.The vitality and intensity with which bothof these artists approached their workleft quite an impact on me, subsequentlyaffecting the way I approached my ownart practice. Significant support in the12

form of both patronage and exhibitionopportunities by Alan Delaney from DelaneyGalleries in Perth also assisted greatly tomy uncompromising dedication to my art.Pat Corrigan in later years was anotherfigure to emulate this support.Some of the great masters, of course,provided me with great inspiration. Imust mention 17th century Spanish artistDiego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez for hismonumental figurative paintings whichreveal, upon closer inspection, the mostamazing abstract painterly qualities. Thelater post-impressionist movement washighly inspirational, particularly artists likeVan Gogh, who’s work was explosive andbrilliant. A more complete list should alsoinclude American Abstract ExpressionistJackson Pollock and later Roy Lichtenstein,and more recently Jeff Koons, Keith Haringand Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was influencedas well by the Australian artists TonyTuckson and Ian Fairweather, primarily dueto the energy that their work conveys.13

It is what lies beyond theboundaries of abstractionand fi guration that intriguesJohn Dahlsen, and he hasdeveloped a unique visuallanguage to articulate this.Dahlsen has only arrived atthis crucial stage in his workafter a course of exploration,both in a personal and artisticsense.- Sandra Murray 1

Shedding of IdentityMy entrée into environmental artwork wasnot my first shift in media and style. I beganmy artistic life as a figurative painter,attracted to that form of expression for itsnarrative qualities. During art school I hadmoved from figurative paintings to moreabstract work. This evolving abstractionand change in identity became an open,abundant field to explore. Free from theconfines of structured figurative elements,I was able to work the canvas and paper,sometimes with paint stripper. After manyyears of painting, I found myself becomingmore courageous and open to theexploration of new materials andtechnology, thereby able to stretch myselfbeyond the realms of paint-brushand canvas. In addition to the consciousexploration of new materials and technology,I have found that being alert and opento the benefit of accidents occurring in myart-making processes have lead to someof the most profound breakthroughs in mywork.15

I was further assisted in discardinglingering habits and identities by a seriousfire in my Melbourne studio in 1983. Thefire completely destroyed my studio andseven years of work within it, includingpaintings, drawings and prints. It was adevastating time for me, forcing me to turnmy attention inward. This event caused meto take a sabbatical from art. The fire wasthe catalyst for a reassessment of my life’spriorities.After completion of a teachers trainingdegree at the Melbourne College ofAdvanced Education and some extensivetravel in the United States, I felt betterprepared to return to my career as aprofessional practicing artist. The accident,which had deeply impacted both mypersonal and professional life, hadenabled me to mature overall as a person.Artistically, I acquired the ability to facetruths about my work, making radical,necessary changes.16

Sandra Murray, the then director of theLawrence Wilson Gallery at the Universityof Western Australia, eloquently describedthe changes in my work in a Universitycatalogue essay, “Dahlsen - Painting andDrawing, in 1991.”The successful artistic expression of anabstruse concept such as universality isdifficult to achieve, but ultimately rewardsboth artist and viewer. It is what liesbeyond the boundaries of abstraction andfiguration that intrigues John Dahlsen, andhe has developed a unique visual languageto articulate this. Dahlsen has only arrivedat this crucial stage in his work after acourse of exploration, both in a personal2and artistic sense.The culmination of this maturation andepiphanies around my work sent me lookingfor driftwood on a shoreline in Victoria,which then directed me to yet this excitingnew medium of found objects.17

The Garbage PatchThere is an area in the Pacific Ocean calledthe “Garbage Patch” of a size greaterthan the entirety of the United States. Itis like a giant washing machine, swirlingplastics around and around. A recent studybroadcast on ABC Television in Australiarevealed that these plastics are breakingdown to such a level where they'rebecoming ingested by fish and other sealife. In turn, humans are ingesting the fishand seafood and developing a myriad ofchronic illnesses. In the Garbage Patch,and elsewhere in our oceans, plastic ispassed through the food chain.My work attests to the staggering globalproblem of trash in our oceans, the majorityof which is plastic.The following few paragraphs appearedin the Asian Geographic, Issue 3, 2008,feature article on my work. 319

In 2006, the United Nations EnvironmentProgram estimated that every square milehosts some 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.So vast is one area of concentrated trashin the northern Pacific Ocean, confinedby slowly circulating currents, that it hasbeen named the Great Pacific GarbagePatch. A Greenpeace report that same yearestimated that 80 percent of the ocean’splastic garbage begins its long life on land.Much of the remainder is spillage directlyfrom the plastics industry, which shipsplastic around the globe in the form of tinypellets, called nurdles, that eventually endup on our supermarket shelves after beingcoloured, melted and moulded into ourubiquitous disposable products.20

Not surprisingly, the ocean’s toxic stewspells untold havoc for ecosystems. Aplastic bag is a dead ringer for a jellyfish –if you’re a sea turtle. Multicoloured plasticshards have been found to lace the innardsof marine birds. Most insidious of all, thetiniest fragments of plastic are soakingup the manmade toxins already widelydiffused in seawater, threatening the entirefood chain. We are already ingesting ourown trash. The plastic debris that washesup on Dahlsen’s shores and finds its wayinto his art is a poignant reminder of thecrucial part we all have to play.21

"Thong Totems"Found objects and Stainless Steel2.2. m x 30 cm each totem.Winner of the 2000 Wynne Prize: Art Gallery ofNew South Wales, Sydney, Australia

AlchemyOver the past 20 years I have triedto maintain a pure commitment tocontemporary art practice. I have neverlooked for a safe place to rest. Whathappens with my art generally runs parallelto my life; I learn from my art and applysome of these insights to my life, and viceversa. When I sense that I am becomingtoo comfortable in what I am doing, I willconsciously move on to something new.Challenges in my personal life keep meon my toes and help me to extend myselfmore as an artist. This is how my work isin a constant state of evolution.I see this evolution of my consciousnessas an alchemical one, which is also trueof my work, in a more literal sense. Theinitial alchemy of a manmade object hasbeen redefined by nature’s elementsbefore it winds its way to the shore andbefore I redefine it again. The vision formy environmental work began with a deepcuriosity with evolution and transformation.23

I toe the line betweenfulfi llment and frustration,knowing that my creativeexpression is only able toprovide a glimpse of thegreatness that is life, afragment of the ineffable.

The initial curiosity resulted in a critical firststep - transporting these plastics to mystudio. Then came the processing, sortingand assembling of them. A vital alchemicaltransformation takes place as intuition andpersonal aesthetic judgment are applied torework the plastics into artworks, wherethe objects truly began to speak. And thefinal alchemy is in the eyes of the beholder,as they process the work and render theirown thoughts, feelings and reactions and,hopefully, experience perceptual shifts.While my art practice changes, and evolves,my underlying commitment as an artisthas never wavered. I have always beenmotivated by a professional duty to be awareof and express current social, spiritual andenvironmental concerns through my artpractice. I toe the line between fulfillmentand frustration, knowing that my creativeexpression is only able to provide a glimpseof the greatness that is life, a fragment ofthe ineffable.25

“Blue River”Recycled Plastic Bags behind Perspex2m x 1.2mFinalist in the 2003 Wynne Prize forAustralian Landscape at the Art Gallery ofNew South Wales.

Variety of Expression:Recycled Plastic Bag ArtIt is important to me as an artist to continueexploring of the full range of expressionso that I never feel limited by my creativeoutput. I want to avoid categorization andconfinement, by me or by others.This ceaseless exploration led me to developnew works using recycled plastic bags;“Blue River” is perhaps one of my morewell known works using this medium. Thepiece used thousands of recycled plasticbags to form a contemporary landscapebehind Perspex.Recycled plastic bag environmentalartwork such as this was a departurefrom the more recognizable assemblageworks in which I used plastics and otherfound detritus collected Australia's easternseaboard, such “Thong Totems”, which wonthe Wynne prize in 2000. The most recentexample of my work with recycled plasticbags was in 2005, when I was artist in27

esidence at Jefferson City, Missouri, USA.It was here that I made a series of totemicinstallations with thousands of plastic bagsin clear acrylic tubes for the residency’ssculpture walk.I would hope and imagine that theseplastic bags are possibly facing extinction,as governments are beginning to imposedeterrents to their use. The Chinesegovernment is banning production anddistribution of the thinnest plastic bagsin a bid to curb the “white pollution” thatis taking over the countryside. The movemay save as much as 37 million barrels ofoil currently used to produce the plastictotes, according to China Trade News. Inthe meantime, my role as a contemporaryenvironmental artist allows me to recyclethese materials and to create artworks thatI hope both express beauty and their ownunique environmental messages.28

Apart from wishing to express obviousenvironmental messages, with this recycledplastic artwork I've been particularlyinterested in showcasing the brilliance ofthe colours and textures available, creatingnot only wall works and assemblagesbut sculptures and other art forms. Thepossibilities are endless. Despite years ofconsistent exposure to these found plasticsI am ceaselessly surprised by the variationswithin them.29

Driftwood artMy work with driftwood assemblages andsculptures began in 1998 and has continueduntil this day. An article described thesedriftwood assemblages, which I exhibitedin a solo show in Australia in early 2004,4as follows.John Dahlsen isn't your average artist. Abold statement to make but appropriateafter you realize the sheer depth anddetermination which goes into the workthis man has produced over the past sevenyears. Although he has been within artcircles for much longer than that, it is onlyin the most recent years, that we haveseen Dahlsen create a different form of artwith environmental messages and strongstatements. It is 'found' object art, be thatorganic or inorganic.He would be seen scavenging beachesin search of plastics, specific colours andsizes. He is also known for venturingalong the edge of Victoria alone in search31

of driftwood. Boat trips, four-wheel-drivetours and scaling 40 meter-high cliffs wereall part of the process for this driftwoodexhibition, and Dahlsen admits at timesthere were death-defying momentsgrabbing the perfect piece of wood.This all sounds exciting and possibly a bitunbelievable, however it is quite true thatI would often find myself in dangeroussituations. Exploring remote parts ofAustralia is often a treacherous endeavour,especially if you are climbing up and downcliff faces carrying heavy pieces of wood.I loved every second of this experience. Ilove the adventure and spending time withmy loved ones, family and friends, trekkingto far-flung locations to source thesematerials. I also love the tactile experienceof working with wood. I celebrate the effectnature has had on these individual piecesby bashing them against rocks, fadingthem in the sun.32

Digital Prints and PaintingsAnother focus of my environmental artisticactivity is large-scale prints and paintingson canvas and paper. This exploration intoprints was initiated in 1999 and eventuallydeveloped into screen-printing, digitalprint technology and ignited a resurgenceof painting—my previous medium of choicefor many years. This new focus satisfiedmy interests with advances in technologywhile still including the found plastic, thistime as two-dimensional images.In 1999 I developed a series of aerialCibachrome photographs of the foundplastics. I then developed these intocomplex, high-resolution large-scale workson canvas, utilizing contemporary computerand screen-printing advances. Thedevelopment of these works immediatelyfollowed the construction of my web site,an experience from which I learned thescope of possibilities within digital media.33

“Thongs" • Digital Print on Canvas • 1.4m h x 2.8m w

As well as embracing the digital and screenprintingarena, this new focus also heraldedmy return to painting.I went on to create a series of installationswith this two-dimensional work. The“Installations series” featured highresolution,large-scale digital prints oncanvas, offering a birds-eye view ofassembled found plastics. The processof creating these digital prints was quitecomplicated and reasonably expensive, asit involved up to 12 individual, mediumformattransparency photographs insegments for each assemblage, which werethen drum scanned and stitched togetherto form the final high-resolution image.Once this image was then transferreddigitally onto large canvases they werestretched and wall mounted. On the floor, infront of the images, I placed an assemblageof the actual documented plastics,creating a dialogue between the two- andthree-dimensional objects, as well as amore literal dialogue among the viewing36

audience. I suspect each correspondingelement accentuated the other, making thefinal product an aesthetically pleasing andprovocative success. This series of work is,to this day, some of my favorite creations.The works were shown in the Australia, aswell as in Athens during the Olympics andlater in New York."Primary Installation"Digital prints on Canvas and found plasticsCanvas: 2.5m (h) x 1m (w)Assemblage: 40cm (h) x 1.3m (w) x 2m (d)37

“Light Blue Purge Dialogue”Acrylic paintings on Belgian linen, plastic sculptures,based on the subject matter of plastic "purges" -plastic fabricator machine end waste.Sizes vary

The Purge SeriesDuring the latter part of 2005 and into 2006I created a new body of environmentalartwork that considers cycles and recycling,a series of synthetic polymer paintings onBelgian linen based on the subject matterof plastic "purges" - plastic fabricatormachine end-waste. This “Purge Series”of environmental artwork concentrated oncycles, momentum and the multiple.I painted non-recyclable purged plasticobjects- objects that are by-products ofeverything else plastic. These objects arethe plastic pieces run through a machinebefore or after a hairbrush, juice bottle orchair is made. They represent everythingand nothing. The plastic in its petroleumstate has undergone millions of years ofevolution to get to this stage, and then it isdiscarded as a by-product of consumerism.The paintings create the profile of a solidsculpture, moulded and plied to presentthe essence of formalism. The subjectmatter of the paintings conjures abstract39

geometrical imagery and constructivistdiagramming of space that is playfullyorganic and blob-like. I made this seriesof work to explore the mechanics of howan object is put together and what place itoccupies in a cycle of life, organic or manmade. With this work I explore the dualityof meaning and perception and the illusionthat is created between; I am presentingan image of a non-object, in a painting ofan informal formalist sculpture.Massive social transformations arenecessary to adequately deal with suchcrises as the depletion of fossil fuels andclimate change. I hope my work can serveas a timely reminder of the limited supplyof these petroleum-based materials - adirect result of our current global massconsumerism.40

New DirectionsNew directions in my environmentalartwork evolved naturally for me andfurther galvanized my return to painting.Prior to collecting society's discardedobjects of the everyday and transformingthem into formal compositions, which I didfor over 15 years, painting was my primarymedium. The landscape and seascapepaintings I made from 2007 to 2009 werepainted as a continued response to ourlocal environment and my evolving workwith found objects.In the past I have used recycled materialsto convey the history and memory of aplace, to comment on the human experienceof place, beauty and degradation of theenvironment. The featured landscapesare the very same places I have roamedover the years and where I have collecteddetritus - my working materials. In mypainting series I emphasize the changingweather patterns witnessed in recentyears, through my own depictions of storm41

The Pass #52007Acrylic on Belgian Linen1.83m h x 1.83m w

activity and beach erosion along the NorthCoast region in Australia, where I live.My landscape paintings exude a senseof foreboding. Rather than aspiring tobe natural, they are highly produced,stylized and maintaining a flat, artificialand detached look - a kind of apocalypticrealism with an element of abstraction.They are executed with a sense of urgency,as seen in my handling of paint, born ofmy ever growing concerns about globalwarming and its readily apparent impacton the environment.43

‘Contemporary Landscapes’ –his mammoth task – affordedhim a freedom to demonstrateaesthetic possibilities whichradiate vitality and joie devivre, uncommon to mostartists deeply conscious ofenvironmental issues.- Catharina Hampson 5

Reviewer CommentaryEach piece of my environmental body ofwork contains a recognizable mood, anaspect written about by Dr. JacquelineMillner from the University of Western6Sydney:This play between abstraction andfiguration, between synthetic/organicmatter and immateriality in the purgepaintings, has been applied in Dahlsen’smost recent works to landscapes —dark works whose subtle referencesto environmental degradation all butdisappear before forcefully catching youunawares.This tension between inorganicabstraction and emotionally chargedorganism lends these works particularresonance, given their inception in thepolitics of environmental art. They playout, in elegant and economical aesthetics,the unstable boundaries between thenatural and the artificial, reminding us45

of Wendell Berry’s paradox that ‘theonly thing we have to preserve naturewith is culture; the only thing we have topreserve wildness with is domesticity.’From an Artspeak column in The Northern7Star, by Steven Alderton:John has been working on a verysuccessful new body of work that extendsfrom his previous enviro sculptures intopaintings. They are of the places he hascollected detritus for his sculptures. Thesubject matter also happens to be ByronBay, a place of infinite beauty and greataffection.From a review of my ContemporaryLandscapes exhibition (1999) by Catharina8Hampson:Years of abstract /figurative painting…inspired by living organic forms oftenmonochromatic, smoothed transitionto his present exhibition of works... Hisflotsam collection acquired at the sametime as his driftwood evolved into a46

Never have we sourgently needed art andactivism to boldy promoteconsciousness shiftsaround the health ofour planet.

Central ConcernsIt amazes me to think how many timesI have bent over to pick up the manythousands of pieces of plastic debris thatmade up that aspect of my art, each piecejostled around for an unknown duration bysand, sun and ocean, their form altered,faded and rounded by the elements.The unabated dumping of thousands oftonnes of plastics has been expressed inmy assemblages, installations, totems,digital prints, paintings and publicartworks. And yet, despite my outrage atthis environmental vandalism, I returnedto the beach daily to find more pieces formy artist’s palette. While the litter seemsto have decreased in some areas, oceanwaste is a growing global concern.Many artists are now highlightingenvironmental concerns in their work,such as climate change. I am alwayshopeful that art can help shift awarenessin a positive direction. I am also hopeful49

that the viewing public embraces thesemessages and is moved to act, for I firmlybelieve that at present we need all the helpwe can get to address the current ecologicalneeds of our planet. If just a fractionexperienced a shift in their awarenessby virtue of exposure to my work, thenall the labor and intention in the artisticprocess is, for me, justified. Our planet isin a fragile ecological position, and globalwarming hastens unprecedented change.Never have we so urgently needed art andactivism to boldy promote consciousnessshifts around the health of our planet.My work exemplifies my commitmentas an artist to express contemporarysocial and environmental concerns. Atthe same time, I'm sharing a positivemessage about beauty and the aestheticexperience. I am also offering examples ofdetritus recycle and reuse. I hope that thiswork encourages those who experienceit to look at the environment in creativeways. People have expressed to me anawareness that manifests after seeing my50

It is of utmost importanceto have a reasonablystructured approachserving as your guideline.

I personally believe it’s a great thing for anartist to prepare for the business of beingan artist. I’m not referring to what goeson in behind the closed doors of a studio,where inspiration and a lot of hard work areresponsible for the creation of your works.I’m talking about the ongoing running ofyour finances, how you deal with galleries,how you bring in a responsible income, andhow flexibly you respond to situations, likethe current economic crisis.Let me state up front that it is of utmostimportance to have a reasonably structuredapproach serving as your guideline. Theart market is very competitive, and anyedge that you can gain by simply havinga well-laid plan will set you steps ahead ofyour competitors. Most artists don’t like tosee themselves as competitive or havingcompetitors, but the simple fact is thatyou are in a business and you need to bebusiness minded in order to succeed.55

Let’s be clear about one fact: the numberof artists who achieve runaway successin their lifetimes and have multi-milliondollarincomes as a result of great fame isrelatively small. Many artists go into thebusiness of making art equipped only withthe desire to make good work and the hopefor wealth and fame.Unless you develop strategy you will alwaysbe wondering when you are going to havethe success that you know is possible.As an initial roadmap, I’d like to list afew qualities and values that are worthcultivating for the sake of strategic thinkingand overall, long-term success.56

1. KNOW YOUR WORTH.Let me begin with a story about a nuclearplant.This nuclear plant had begun to malfunction,and the malfunction was costing upwardsof $200,000 a day. The manager of theplant tried everything he could to fix theproblem but it appeared unfixable, andthey needed to hire a specialist.The specialist arrived early the next dayand looked around and checked all of themeters and the equipment associated withthe possible fault, and after about an houror so he went up to one of the meters,put a sticker on it, and with a big blackpermanent marker drew a large “X” on it.He then turned to the manager of the plantand said, “This is your problem. Replacethis meter and anything that is associatedwith this meter and your problem will befixed and the plant will run as normal.”Then he left.57

The manager of the plant was highlyskeptical, however he went ahead andreplaced all of these components and themeter, and as soon as this was done theplant started to run to its full capacity.After a week or so the specialist sent in abill for $20,000. The manager was shockedand said to himself, “He was only here forone hour and he’s charging us $20,000?”He wrote back to the specialist asking foran itemized receipt. A few days later theitemized receipt was returned with theitems listed:Placed “x” on meter = $1.00Knowing where to place the “x” = $19,999This story is a metaphor to describe theimportance of understanding the valueof your work. I encourage artists not toundervalue themselves, not to be crammeddown by an unscrupulous merchant orcollector who wants to get the best deal andwho banks on the artist’s lack of self worth.It is important to reasonably consider the58

price the market is willing to pay for yourwork without selling yourself short.There are many artists currently workingwith recycled materials, found objects, andrubbish, like me. Because of the object inuse and prevalence of work of this nature,is it easy to doubt that the market willbelieve in the intrinsic value of the work. Acynical artist will assume that the generalpublic will only see rubbish. This notion isthe only rubbish here! There is no reasonwhy an artist should reduce the value oftheir work because they are using thesematerials or because they are paintingpictures about issues that confront thegeneral public head on. I feel passionateabout defending the artist’s freedom tobe a social commentator, to reflect uponprevailing political or spiritual dilemmaswithout being categorized as a political/eco/feminist artist. These categoriesmarginalize the artist’s role.It is up to you to value yourself and yourart. This is especially pertinent if you work59

Remember that it isyou who is placing the“X”, and only you knowprecisely where it goes.60

with challenging materials that are easilymisunderstood. Too often the generalpublic is misinformed or uninformed aboutthe nature of art, oblivious to the richnessconveyed in complex materials. It is up tous to educate them.Remember the factory metaphor when youprice your work, as well as when you makeit. Let the story of the nuclear plant give youthe required strength to stand up againstany detractors who imply that your work isworth less than its value. Remember thatit is you who is placing the “X”, and onlyyou know precisely where it goes.2. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT AND SET GOALS.Visualize what it is you are seeking andwhat you expect out of your creativebusiness. Artists all to often enter thisbusiness environment without knowingwhat they want or what is possible. Whenyou are sitting alone in your studio andyou’re wondering why you’re not havingany success, have you ever asked yourself61

62how much you’re willing to sacrifice for thatsuccess? Success often requires hard workand sacrifice. The degree to which you’rewilling to go will be entirely up to you.Think carefully about what you really wantto accomplish and set some goals to helpyou get there. If, for example, you want tohave four exhibitions a year, start planningfor them. Make the necessary connections.Have a target and set your goals.

When you set your goals, think of thisword: SMART.S pecific: your goals as an artist needto be specificM easurable: create a system ofdetermining your progress.A ttainable: set goals you can reach.R ealistic: set reasonable expectationsfor achieving these goals.T ime: set time limits and deadlines.63

3. FOCUS.Successful artists have the ability to focus.If it’s not natural, they develop it, and thisis a reason they have success over thosewho never identify a specific goal. Build intoyour lifestyle an effective exercise programthat can help you focus. The idea, or shouldI say the romantic notion, that artists sitaround all night drinking copious amountsof alcohol and in some cases using otherintoxicants in order to build inspiration isvery largely outdated. We are simply in adifferent, more advanced time.In Australia we have a very popular formof sport called cricket. During the ‘70s,‘80s and early ‘90s we were constantlyhearing about our national team’sindiscretions on airplanes or while visitingoverseas countries, players goading eachother into drinking contests and settingrecords still standing at over 50 drinksin an evening! Times have changed.These days, misbehaving – even for thesmallest infraction – simply isn’t tolerated.64

Like athletes and other professionalsexcelling at their craft, artists need focusand therefore it is critically important toabandon romantic notions of impedimentsto our rigor.4. BE ACCOUNTABLE.You ALONE are responsible for your success.How you respond to the challenges you faceis entirely your responsibility. No one elseis going to obtain success on your behalf.Likewise, there is no one else to blame foryour lack of success except for you. Youwill find it a relief to embrace this fact. Youare now in a position to guide your effortstoward success.5. COMMIT TO OVERACHIEVEMENT.How committed are you to your success asan artist? You need to find the belief insideyourself that you will be fully committedto your success under all circumstances.Your commitment requires that you notspread your energies too thin by workingin a number of different jobs to try to make65

ends meet. This usually does not work. Befocused, and make a total commitment toyour success.Your willingness to go the extra mile willdetermine your success. Not only do youdeliver when you say you will, but youdeliver with enthusiasm. You do not stopat “good enough.” The law of reciprocityexists in the art business. Go the extra milefor your clients and dealers. Put effort intoyour communications. Be gracious. Thiscan mean taking a client out for dinner afterthey have just purchased a major artworkfrom you. The gesture is not expected, andit creates a lasting bond between you andyour client. These efforts will naturally startcoming back to you in unexpected ways.You must to do something special to gainan advantage in today’s highly competitivemarketplace. Only then can you expect tocreate the compelling desire in your clientsfor reciprocity.66

6. MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY.You need to become very aware of howyou organize your workday. Make full useof the time that you have on this planet.When the hours of the day have passed,they are gone.People ask me the same questions againand again. What kind of work day do youhave? Is it hard to have the inspirationto make art all the time? People seem topresume that most artists are reasonablyunstructured with their work ethic. Thiscouldn’t be further from the truth. It is soimportant to have a strong work ethic anda plan for managing the hours in your day.Try to discover if there are areas in yourlife where you waste time, and don’t letother people waste your time. Rememberthat your goal and the time frame youhave assigned to it is important. If youare serious about your artistic businesssuccess, time is one of the most criticalareas to defend.67

Managing your timealso means placing avalue on it.

I recommend planning your year at a highlevel, setting dates for various goals. On amicro level, I have been very successful bytelling myself that am about to spend thenext three hours making art, for example,and that I will feel rewarded for it. If I’m onmy way to a gallery to speak with clients,I spend the commute getting really clearabout my immediate next steps.In other words, don’t start any activitywithout setting intentions for that segmentof time. This sounds simple, but feelsmiraculous. I’ve worked through muchdread in business situations by thinkingabout events as fragments of time andcommitting to certain actions and resultswithin those fragments.Take two hours every weekend to just think.I personally like to use this time to mapout my thought projections and visionsfor long-term projects. Some people findvisualization to be an incredibly powerfultool for building confidence and reachinggoals. Spend time imagining yourself at69

your next show, selling art and talkingconfidently to new clients.Managing your time also means placing avalue on it. I set aside time for silence andspace. Do not assume that packing as manyshows into a year is the right use of time.I once operated this way, until I becameexhausted and disillusioned. In spite ofgood shows and sales, I wasn’t doing wellemotionally. I kept pushing myself becauseof a notion that this is what artists aresupposed to do. Now, I’m doing what I loveto do without being under constant duress.It can be a challenge to order your life byyour own values, but it will lead you to aclearer picture of what you want.7. MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS.Never place a call or send out an emailwhen you are emotional. Email is a volatilecommunication form. I have received (andprobably sent) some of the most damagingmessages from people who had gotten myintentions all wrong, and then fired off70

a response filled with venom and vitriol.The danger (and the advantage) of emailis that it’s immediate. If someone emailsyou something that triggers you, wait atleast 24 hours before responding. Useproper email etiquette. Use greetings, andacknowledge the human who’s reading theemail prior to launching in to your businessspeak.8. PERSIST.Develop your sense of determination andpersistence, especially when things don’tgo as planned. Sometimes it seems that allof your artist friends are experiencing thefame and financial success that you seek.This feeling of defeat is the very momentto take stock and to really take control.You can take control by keeping in contactwith your clients and collector base. Doeverything that you can to remain positive.This will include having the right amount ofexercise and eating the right food.71

To create somethingof beauty at any givenpoint in time requires ofan artist a great deal ofhonesty and integrity.

You must remember that everything in lifehappens in cycles. You will have highs andlows in your career. Successful individualsare the ones who persevere and don’t getswallowed up by any negativity that thelows can bring.9. MAINTAIN INTEGRITY.Your attitude guides how you work withyour materials. I have been in exhibitionsthe world over where I have shown next toartists who have simply poured their pilesof rubbish onto the floor. I have witnessedartists hoping to get away with dramaticstatements about the environment andecology by simply grossing out the viewingaudience, making hard-hitting abrupt andblunt comments, and using lazy forms ofexpression to masquerade as art. It is moredifficult to bring the necessary amount ofartistic judgment, expertise, attention todetail and aesthetic sensibility to a projectusing recycled objects. Again and again Iexperience enormous difficulty creating aparticular piece of work, only to destroy it73

and start again. My integrity forces me tofinish only when the work resonates as atruly complete work of art.It is my intention to create somethingof beauty when making art, even whencreating prints, sculptures, assemblagesor paintings out of or inspired by relativelychallenging materials such as foundplastics, recycled plastic bags and recycledleft over roadside materials. I even seekbeauty in the very same paintings thatdepict the urgency and dread surroundingour current environmental predicamentand ecological disasters.To create something of beauty at any givenpoint in time requires of an artist a greatdeal of honesty and integrity.74

10. BE RESOURCEFUL.Artists should think both creatively andresponsibly about supporting their income.Throughout this chapter I wish to instill theimportance of flexibility in today’s economyand the benefits of a multi-tiered incomestream to support artistic activities. A multitieredincome stream is not a compromise.It is an intelligent means to continue topractice what you love.We find ourselves in the information age,where there has never existed a better timein the history to share our information.Money can be made by creating a fewsimple products that detail what it is thatyou know best. The sale of these productscontains a great deal more integrity thancutting your artistic talents short to makea sale.75

Marketing is also anattitude. Your ownperception of yourwork can usher indesired perceptionsfrom others.

11. MARKETINGWebsites are a cornerstone of marketing.Artists need to have Internet presence,and the best way to do this is by having awebsite, or at the very least a blog. Whenyou approach a gallery, you can lead agallery director to your site for a snapshotof your work. You can also incorporate“shopping cart” software to sell work directlyoff your site. I recommend keeping yoursite very simple, using a white backgroundto accentuate the artwork you’re showing.Make certain your site is easily navigable.I also run seminars where I teach peoplesimple and effective ways to assemble webpages. An artist friend recently contactedme and shared her frustration with her webdesigner, who was not answering her calls.She wanted to update and finally launchher website. She didn’t know what to do.I sent a quick e-mail to her that explainedhow to make these changes in a verysimple step-by-step manner. A few dayslater she sent me an e-mail with a link to77

her updated website that she set up undermy guidance. She took control of her site.When you create new work, you should beable to easily add images to your website,and by adding a shopping cart to your siteyou can sell your works without having touse a middleman. This is not such a difficultprocess to do. With the simple instructionsthat you can receive in my seminars, alot of the guesswork is removed from theequation.I have been asked if it’s wise to post artworkfrom all aspects of one’s career to a site.I have mixed thoughts about this. For thelongest time I showed only the most recentwork on my website. Then, after a periodof approximately 10 years or so, I felt itwas time to bring the viewing audienceup to speed with my work historically.I’ve done this in a way that is not plasteredall over my homepage so that people haveto scroll through countless pages and pagesof older work; it is simply available on thewebsite for people to see if they want to78

go there, and it is clearly written as suchin a link placed at the bottom of the homepage.I suppose viewers can look at work thesame way they would at a gallery, wherethey often keep a backlog of work on file.Continuity is important, and ideally, youshould present your work on your sitethey way you would in a show, presentingquality, consistent works in limited numbersand keeping sold works to a minimum. Ido think it’s important to show some workthat has been sold, as it serves to makepeople feel more confident about their ownpurchase.Marketing is also an attitude. Your ownperception of your work can usher indesired perceptions from others. Manyartists start apologizing for their work.Here’s a secret: the viewing audiencewants you to succeed, and they want youto be confident because they don’t wantto feel sorry for you. If you are having anexhibition, the viewing audience assumes79

that you feel confident about the workshowing. Go with it. Never imply that youare out of your league, and you won’t be.If you feel like there’s no use to yourefforts, that you’ll never be successful, or ifyou conjure up the same self-depreciatingideas over and over again, then you needmeditation and/or exercise. Meditation andexercise empower you and send positivemessages to your brain. They are powerfultools for increasing energy, positivity andconfidence, almost immediately.If you are an emerging artist, set reasonableexpectations. While no one gets very farwithout a certain amount of ambition, it’simportant to realistically structure yourapproach to getting what you want. Beginby contacting your local galleries and peopleyou know in the arts community. You caneventually reach out regionally, nationallyand even internationally, but start slow,sensibly and thoughtfully. Sometimes it’sbest to begin by joining artist initiatives andparticipating in group shows. Networking is80

one of the strongest ways to establish yourpresence in the art world. Attend openingsand get involved in the art world in general.If you are having trouble getting shows, itmight be advisable to occasionally rent aspace or approach a local café and ask if youcan have your work on their walls. You canchoose to offer them a small commission ifthey happen to sell the work. These typesof exhibiting opportunities can help to getstarted and are not to be frowned upon,especially at the beginning of your career.81

Approaching GalleriesOne of the first things that I’d recommendfor an artist when they’re contacting thegallery for the first time is to never do itcold. Don’t just walk in off the street andexpect that the gallery director will want todiscuss your work with you. I’m amazed athow many artists do this on impulse, mostlikely because they don’t know better.Research the gallery, find out who is theDirector, and write a letter of introductionwith details about your website, if youhave one, and include a CD, though thesedays I think it’s preferable to send somegood quality photographs as well. A shortbiography and an artist statement is amust. Be prepared to only hear back from1 out of 10 galleries that you approach.Not everyone will connect with your work,and many galleries are fully committed fortwelve months at a time.Don’t show all of your work to the GalleryDirector. Show your best, recent work,preferably in clusters or series. The83

presentation of your work can persuade ordissuade a gallery from taking you on. Bearticulate, brief and clear about your work.Do not be rushed - take your time withoutbeing laborious or redundant.The best way to talk about your art is tostart with the elements that you are mostclear on. It’s really important not to wafflewhen you talk about art in general andparticularly when addressing your ownwork. It’s most effective to directly respondto the questions being asked. If I’m notcomfortable about the direction a particularconversation is going I change it. Expressyour enthusiasm but prevent yourself fromrambling on to avoid losing their interest.Be aware of who is listening to you andtheir level of interest as you speak.Whether you are speaking to gallerydirectors, clients or friends, at some pointthe topic of artistic influences will arise. Ithink it’s important is to be honest whenyou’re talking about your work, and ifthere are artists who have influenced you84

it’s good to acknowledge it. There is noneed to turn the subject away from yourown work, however, particularly if theother artists who have influenced you arecontemporaries. This can have the effectof dampening the conversation about yourown work.I have had many influences, sometimesdirectly sometimes indirectly. But I neverfocus this as a major element in my work.I feel that I have always followed my ownmomentum and that my body of work isnot a derivative of someone else’s.85

CompetitionsI personally am very selective about theart competitions that I choose to enter.In my earlier years I used to enter justabout anything, simply because the prizeswere so enticing. All competitions havea fee associated with entry, so do yourhomework, make sure you know whetherthe prize is for you, and make sure thefee is not beyond your budget. Also beaware that usually the artist is payingfor freight costs back and forth for thesecompetitions. Read through the entry formand conditions thoroughly and ask aroundto see if the particular prize is reputableand recognized.If the prize is an international one checkinto the details very clearly. Many youngartists have fallen prey to paying large feesand attending exhibitions and competitionsinternationally because of the perceivedboost for their career and recognition,only to later discover that the particularexhibition was not what they expected.87

$ $$ $ $$$$

Creating WealthEveryone knows the stereotype of thepoor starving artist. For you, this canbecome an irrelevant notion of the past.As presented in my seminars, I havecreated a systematic, practical approachto creating a platform using the Internetto share your creative endeavors. Haveyou ever imagined writing a book, creatinga series of CDs or DVDs, or even havinga subscription-based newsletter on yourwebsite?When a gallery closes, many artists havenowhere to turn. In my small town of ByronBay Northern New South Wales alone, atleast four local galleries have closed asa direct result of economic downtown.Many of the artists represented by thesegalleries were shocked and left scramblingfor income. It is wise to have alternativesat the ready.While pursuing your art career, you mightalso consider other at-home business89

opportunities, such as writing a book.(This process is outlined in detail in my “ArtInsights” seminar.) Ultimately, you canpublish your own book e-book or onlinenewsletter and have different products allrelated to your field of art. Many possibilitiesexist for a varied income stream.I have also been developing my own rangeof limited edition prints for a number ofyears. I first started making these around1999 when the technology was in its earlierstages.Originally these prints were incorporatedinto my installations. I have since found thatthe prints provide another reliable streamof income when produced responsibly, invery small editions.I would recommend that you keep youreditions to a maximum of 15 prints, therebykeeping them exclusive and special, whichmatters to clients. I also recommendpricing them affordably. This is particularlythe case with digital and giclée prints.90

These days I try to limit my limited editionprints to paper. I use 300 GSM archespaper, which is one of the best, and thisreally helps with quality. Sometimes I goonto canvas, but this is usually only whenI am making works that are a part of aninstallation.91

The Parthenon PrincipleTo create an effective varied income streamwe can look to the Parthenon Principle.If you have visited or seen the ancientParthenon temple in Athens, you will recallits many Doric columns. These columnsare the parallel between this survivingstructure and the wealth we aim to build.If one column collapses there are others tobear the weight of the roof.Setting up multi-tiered income generationstreams that are independent of each othermeans that if one is not performing well ata particular point in time, one of the otherincome streams will be, and the roof willnot come crashing down. Following thisprinciple means not relying on selling artthrough a gallery alone.What happens in tough economic times likethese when work isn’t selling and galleriesare closing down? Do you have a strategy?Do you have a backup plan so that you cancontinue to have an income when you’re93

not selling work? Do you go into teachingfull-time? Is that what you really want?I am a strong proponent of trying a nontraditionalat-home/in-studio businessopportunity that supports your artisticendeavors without succumbing to workthat you don’t want to pursue.We are all specialized in a particular field.Imagine including your own book on yourwebsite, or running your own workshop ona DVD where you share information aboutyour creative process. This informationwould be unique, as you are the uniqueindividual assembling the information. Noone else can do this. You are in fact creatingunique information that is valuable forothers to hear or read or see.94

Responsible Financial ManagementArtists need to organize their money andprotect and save their wealth. I have metmany artists who were simply overwhelmedby financial planning. Most often they areresponsible for the problem by not takingsufficient interest in their finances, and itis often necessary to twist an arm in orderto persuade an artist to audit their incomeand take control. Some artists take controlby seeking advice from good accountingfirms and business managers.The problem can be solved with a newmindset that places a premium on wealthcreation and disciplined spending thatplaces an emphasis on the formulation oflong-term financial goals and discouragesshort-term wants. Such a strategy canbe developed with the help of financialadvisors and professional investmenthelp, but wealth creation and disciplinedspending begins with a personal decisionmade by an artist that he or she will liveaccording to a set of values and principles95

and will establish their spending prioritiesaccordingly.There are also, of course, a lot of artistswho succeed at buying property and havea diverse portfolio of investments. Thereare other artists who are legendary fortheir penchant for saving their money. Iencourage artists to save their money andinvest it in a variety of ways ranging fromreal estate to gold to the latest initial publicofferings (IPOs) in the stock market.If the topic of finances terrifies you, remindyourself of this: you can have wealth, andyou deserve wealth. Before you open yourbills or online accounts, make up an amountthat’s in your account. Say thank you forall that is perfect and wonderful in yourlife. Say thank you for the tiniest progressyou have made. Then proceed with yourfinances. Shift your energy.On this topic of finances, it is also importantto set limits. Many people are so fuelledby the desire for money or the need to96

please everyone that they say yes to everyopportunity, for better or worse. If this isyou, and you are tired of this, take a risk.Start saying no. Say no to clients who drainyou and who want to take up all of yourtime with little results for you. Say no togallery directors who want you to do all thework for an exhibition. Ask more for yourservices and, likewise, pay more to receivebetter services as well.Hiring help for your office or studio can becomplicated, but up front communicationaround expectations, desired outcomes,wages and estimates can reduce risk andmake the experience less cumbersome.Artists often err on the side of creatinga comfortable connection. It is moreimportant, however, to express your trueexpectations. Boundaries are essential atthe start of any project, from public art tomarketing projects and web design. Andif confusion around scope occurs during aproject, stop and say, “I need to be clearhere. I had thought you were going toinclude this service in the estimate – did97

98I get that wrong?” Clarity is importantand will make the experience of hiringor collaborating with someone morecomfortable overall.

dealings, but you might find that theenergy of that person can shift your ownbody language when you’re in your officefacing issues that confront the artist sideof you.…100

Part III:Careers Insights: Reflections,Reviews, Questions and AnswersI have often been asked what my definitionof success is and whether or not I considermyself successful. The parameters by whichI define success are very wide. I don’t feelthat it’s confined to financial success ornecessary aligned with fame. It may be thecase that someone is financially rewardedfor what they do. Greater success comesfrom acting from an honest place, in whichcase you may be blessed with a lot ofbeauty in life and lifestyle as a reward.In some ways, I feel sure that I’ve hada great deal of success in my life, and I101

do gauge that as both an interior qualityand an exterior experience, because I canalso see that I’m living in a beautiful placehere in Australia. It’s a beautiful, abundantlifestyle, and I feel momentum fromconstant improvement on many levels.The fine-tuning of my inner self is reflectedin my outer life, making success an infinitejourney.The idea of being a successful artist isa very relative notion, the whole idea ofbeing a successful artist. In terms of myhometown of Byron Bay, yes, I guess I havea certain amount of success here. Peoplein this region are aware of me as an artistwho has achieved aplomb in my career. Ona state-wide level, yes, people are aware ofmy work. In Australia at large, I am awarethat I am known, as I have won somerather important prizes and have exhibitednationally. I have received quite a bit ofrecognition for the work that I’ve done.I have also received some internationalrecognition. I usually go to New York102

City every year to have an exhibition orto be involved in a lecture. New York isvery exciting, and on any given Thursdayevening there are 50 or more exhibitionopenings!In my studio, the fact that I can createwhatever I want feels like a successfulaccomplishment. I’ve been painting for thelast couple of years, and now I’m involved ina series of sculptures and wall works usingdriftwood again. I have granted myselfpermission to use a variety of techniques,as I want. Success is sometimes feelingthat one isn’t categorized or confined.I was recently reading about the Britishartist Damien Hirst. He was recently namedon the Artprice Art Market Informationwebsite as the 4th highest earner fromart sales in the world last year. He hasamassed nearly $1 billion. One might askhim if he is successful in his own life, withhis family and relationships. I don’t know.In that way, it’s all relative.103

“6 Driftwood Totems”Found Driftwood and Stainless Steel220 cm (h) x 40cm base (w) each

Reflections on Vision.9In art school I discovered freedom. I hadjust come from an all-boys boarding schoolin Melbourne, and it was time for me toshake free, and I indeed shook free. Duringmy art school years I spent a lot of my timeexperimenting and probably not being asconscientious with aesthetic decisions as Ilike to be these days. I think I probablywanted to be somebody famous andoutrageous. I remember having aspirationsof arriving somewhere in the caliber of theAustralian artist Brett Whitely, who’s notwith us anymore. In the late ‘70s he waswinning all of the art awards at the ArtGallery of New South Wales. He won thetrifecta, the Archibald, the Wynne and theSulman prizes in 1978, in the midst of myart training.I guess he was somebody that I waslooking at emulating in some way or other,however he also had a serious drug habitwith heroin, which was a choice I hadabsolutely no intention of following. I did105

I strive to act as areminder of our needfor oneness and thenecessity to helpeach other.

like the way he approached art. I felt inhis career he was incredibly courageousand had an amazing natural talent, andsomewhere I got a taste of wanting toachieve something along those lines minusthe tendency for addictive substances!I feel much more in the service of peoplenow. My vision is shaped more aroundbeing in the service of people and humanityas a whole. I am enjoying my role as amediator between nature and humans,expressing universal truths in my workand inspiring viewers as much as I amable. When I deliver my lectures aboutmy environmental work in Australia andoverseas in the United States and Europe,I often I begin the lecture with a blessingfor everybody- a blessing for oneness.This is where my vision has evolved, a placewhere my lectures and art making informand dovetail into each other. If there’s anyway that I can serve as a messenger ofpositive change and consciousness, it is allworth it.107

Reflections on Obstacles.You always come across setbacks in yourcareer. You come across blockages in youractivities in the studio when things are notquite working right and this can be veryunnerving, unsettling. At the same time,these occurrences can open doors for anew process of working.When you’re having an exhibition of newwork and it doesn’t sell - that can bedifficult. Again, I would have to talk aboutrelativity. It’s tough if you don’t sell workat an exhibition, especially if you put a lotof time and money into the show. But thatreally pales in significance when comparedto being dealt a bad hand when you leastexpect it. In 1983 had a horrific fire inmy studio. This fire managed to destroyapproximately seven or eight years ofartworks, including paintings drawings andprints. At the time this was a huge setbackto my career because I simply had no workleft and most of my documentation of thework was burned as well. I did learn a109

great lesson from that experience, in that itawoke in me a desire to get to know myselfon a deeper level, and for that I will alwaysbe grateful. It helped to put me on a path,and I have never looked back.Other setbacks include the feeling thatyour work is heading in a direction thatencourages people to categorize you. I domy best to jump out of those categories, tokeep my freedom of expression by shiftinginto different media and styles.The public’s response to my work withfound objects has often been a challengefor me. Some people are uncomfortableor over demonstrable when they see mewalking along the beach collecting rubbishbecause of their own positive or negativeprojections. They sometimes have anexternal reaction or projection, purelybeing a very personal response of theirown to seeing this activity.Most of the time for me, it was as thoughI were doing performance art. In fact,110

And many people simply didn’t know whatto make of this artistic process. Thesedays, you see a lot of this type of work,which is helping to highlight the plight ofour planet.I see myself continuing to share my bodyof work through lectures and other media,while continuing to create new art. I wouldlike to share helpful information in all formsof products and lectures with a very broadaudience that they can use to develop theirown skills and have deeper insights intotheir own work and themselves.One of the most profound shifts in directionthat has occurred for me came aboutwhen a very good friend of mine had anaircraft accident. The light aircraft he wasa passenger in crashed and he was verybadly hurt. I ended up spending quite a bitof time by his bed while he was in hospital,just being there for him for a few months.His head had been badly injured, and hehad serious burns to his body. Spending somuch time with him, I had experienced a114

Driftwood CouchDimensions Variable116

almost like a cross cut through the soil. Iended up making very colourful, almostpainterly compositions behind Perspex.Eventually I started making more sculpturalpieces with some of the larger plastics.Totems and installations made with thongs,coke bottles and all of these things. Theprocess was organic and took on a life ofits own. It is a beautiful process workingwith these materials, where the doors ofopportunity and variation are kept wideopen.“Gold Coast”Found plastic objects, assembled behind Perspex1.24m x 64 cm ea (4 panels)119

“White Totems”Public art proposal5m high x 3.5m diameter120

People would tell me to look at this person’swork or that person’s work. At the time, Idecided it was best for me just to continuemaking my body of work and going intovarious avenues that it took me and reallysolidified what it was that I was doing withthese new materials instead of looking toother artists for inspiration. This enabledme to create work that was fresh and tomake my own mistakes to learn from. Mywork was not a derivative of anyone else’swork. This was important for me and hasalways been.I shifted again back to painting afterworking with found objects and recycledmaterials for so many years. I was askedby a very major recycling company inAustralia to draw up some public artproposals for works that were intended forplacement outside buildings and factoriesthroughout Australia. When I toured oneparticular factory I noticed that their plasticfabricating machines were pumping outwhat are called “purges” at the end of arun. These were like big blobs that would121

"Bronze Plastic Purge"Plastic Sculpture Purge40cms (h) x 50cms (w) x 40cms (d)122

e squeezed out of the machine to cleanthe machine at the end of the day or week.I found these objects incredibly interestingand immensely beautiful in their own way,and I proceeded to collect a number ofthese objects that were either destinedfor a landfill or for recycling and choseto exalt them on plinths in my studio. Ithen created a series of paintings aboutthese plastic objects. This got me backinto painting again, almost accidentally.The public art projects never went forwardbecause of financial difficulties on the partof the companies, but in the meantime Ire-entered the realm of paint.As a direct result of painting for anextended period of time, I began a seriesof paintings reflecting my daily walkaround the lighthouse here in Byron Bay.Essentially I ended up painting seascapesand landscapes of beaches that I had spentthe previous 12-14 years picking plasticsup off. It was an interesting turn of events.123

“Driftwood Sculpture Trio”Found Driftwood, Steel and Wood232 cm (h) x Dimensions variable124

I remember telling the media during themid-90s that I hoped one day I would stopmaking art out of found plastics becausethe beaches were clean. Although thebeaches around my hometown are a lotcleaner these days due to communityeffort, on a worldwide scale ocean litter hasgotten much worse. Nowadays I would notbe able to create the kind of found objectworks from collecting plastics off the localbeaches here.My paintings of landscapes and seascapeswere not pretty pictures. They are ratheredgy and infused with a sense of urgency.These paintings have in a sense a kind offoreboding as regards the current ecologicalcrisis. We exist in a state of urgency. Wedon’t know how long we’re going to befortunate enough to have our planet as alife-giving place that is healthy enough tosupport life.I am now working with driftwood again.It’s great to not feel any restriction in whatit is that I create. I’m just enjoying going125

126with the flow with my creativity. I hadquite a large amount of it in storage, andit’s been great to just get it out and workit into some really interesting sculpturessculpturesthat I’ve never seen before. Idon’t know what’s going to happen next. Itmight be that I decide on another journeyand collect driftwood from really remotelocations. Or I might go to New York andhave an epiphany in the presence of MarkRothko paintings. The future is wide open.

Articles and Reviews“Australian Environmental Artist Creatinga Sense of ‘Oneness’”Art Calendar, May 2008By Louise Buyo and Kim HallFew could have predicted that Australianartist John Dahlsen would have transitionedfrom representational painting to abstractpainting and finally, for the last decade,to found object work - not even the artisthimself. Yet today, the mixed-media/assemblage sculpturist is one of the mostrecognized and awarded environmentalartists in the world.In the mid-nineties, Dahlsen was gatheringdriftwood on the Victorian Coastline fora furniture project, when he found hugeamounts of plastic litter washed up alongthe shore. The artist accumulated 80 bagsof the garbage and dragged them to hisstudio to begin his shift to a new medium.For the last 10 years, Dahlsen has continuedto take walks along Australian beaches,127

Throughout the years, his work hasgarnered a lot of praise. Dahlsen exhibitedat the Florence Biennale of ContemporaryArt in 2003, where he won an award formixed-media/new media. His work alsowon the prestigious Wynne Prize (the mostrecognized annual Australian art prize,in existence for more than a century) atthe Art Gallery of NSW in 2000. And hewas selected by an international jury tobe a cultural ambassador and representAustralia at the Athens Olympics of theVisual Arts “Artiade Exhibition 2004”.Not only has Dahlsen’s work been exhibitedworldwide, including at the Australianembassy in Washington D.C., but hehas lectured about his art form in frontof hundreds of audiences ranging from30 to 3,000 attendees, and has curatedenvironmental art shows everywhere fromAustralia to New York. All this, and muchmore, because Dahlsen had the courage topursue a form of art that forced him to letgo of many of the predispositions he hadabout success in the art world and insteadbelieve wholly in his art and its mission.129

Art Calendar: I read that a fire destroyedyour studio in 1983, taking seven yearsworth of work with it. Did this eventinfluence your transition from painting tofound objects?Dahlsen: The fire incident, although amajor occurrence at the time in 1983,didn’t directly affect my transition toworking with found objects, as that periodbegan in my work in the mid-nineties. Itdid, though, rock my very foundations asa person and brought me face to face withmy mortality, which explained, for me, myimmediate openness to the spiritual path,which had been hindered up until thatpoint. I suppose it made the transition tobe easier, though, as I became less rigidas a person in hindsight. It was this pointalso which triggered me to begin to workwith my own issues revolving around myfathers’ suicide, which took place threeweeks before I was born. Looking at theseissues helped to transform me significantlyas a person, and I’m sure helped me tobecome more open and able to make the130

equired jumps when necessary throughoutmy life.Art Calendar: Were you concerned abouthow your collectors or critics would reactto the new work, or whether you wouldbe able to make a living at all with yournewfound medium?Dahlsen: I found that, although I saw thisas completely new work at the time, as Ihadn’t seen this kind of work before, I hadno doubt that it would find it’s place withboth the art world and my collector base.I was simply so excited with discoveringthis new visual language completely byaccident and with no influence by otherartists before me. In fact, I was surprisedhow quickly collectors embraced the work.I think that most of my collector base seesclearly that I’m sharing a positive messageabout beauty that can be gained fromthe aesthetic experience of appreciatingthese artworks, in the use of colour andcomposition, etc., as well as at the same131

time appreciating highlighting a presentdramatic plight of our planet and alsothrough the work giving examples of howwe can recycle and reuse in creative ways.Art Calendar: Did you market your workas “environmental” in the beginning?Dahlsen: I never really marketed it asany particular style at first. The term“Environmental” simply grew the longerI worked with it and had its obviouscommentary on environmental issues. Atfirst, I called these works “assemblages”and “Contemporary Landscapes.” By now,my work has naturally grown over theyears into this stronger concern for theenvironment. As such, I’m happy to betermed an “Environmental Artist.”Art Calendar: You spend a significantamount of time giving lectures about yourwork. Tell us about that.Dahlsen: Public speaking has occurred forme as a natural development with my work.132

I love to address audiences and feel I havea gift with delivering them. My many yearsin the past as an educator have aided this,with my lecturing at both the universitylevel as well as in the secondary schoollevel. Invitations to speak publicly keepcoming these days, which I enjoy. I love totravel, and I’m paid well for it, which is agood acknowledgment. Plus, I believe theeffect I have on my audience far outreachesthe carbon footprint I’m making with thetravel component of giving these lectures.I’m very fortunate to connect with peopleon such an intimate way in these lectures,as evidenced by how I regularly receivee-mails for weeks afterward from aroundthe globe by people who have been touchedby one of my lectures.Art Calendar: How do you structure yourlectures?Dahlsen: My lectures begin with my givingthe audience a blessing for “Oneness,” asthis is something I believe the world needsthe most at the moment. This is followed133

asically by a talk on my environmentalart. I deliver these talks in speakingengagements all over the world. My targetaudiences range from participants inseminars and environmental symposiumevents and at corporate functions,to universities, exhibition openingsand embassy events. I lecture aboutmy knowledge and concern aboutenvironmental issues, particularly inrelation to the power and effectiveness ofart transmitting important messages aboutour environment.I deliver these seminars for varioustimeframes, from 20 minutes to oneto two hours, depending on the targetaudience. The speaking engagements aredelivered with both PowerPoint and DVDpresentations, and involve an introductionabout myself and some basics about myhistory as an artist, leading on to discussionabout the importance of art, emphasizingenvironmental and ecological awareness.This leads into the PowerPoint presentation,where I project various images. Depending134

on the length and nature of the presentation,this can amount to anywhere between 70and 200 images, followed by a question andanswer discussion. In this time of imageprojections, I focus on the visuals aroundeight main aspects of this environmentalartwork.Art Calendar: You have chosen to be selfrepresented.How do you maintain such astrong focus on creating new work, whilebalancing it with the art of selling, bookingspeaking engagements, etc.?Dahlsen: Being predominantly selfrepresentedhas also just happenedgradually, toward the end of the nineties,and has continued to this day. I did marketmyself quite aggressively at one point, asI really wanted to make no mistake as tohow I positioned myself. In many ways,this has worked, as I tend to rely more onmy reputation these days. I’ve found thatresponding relatively early to the need foran Internet presence has worked wondersfor me with international exposure and135

demand, and has made the decision ofwhen to need to have dealers or gallerieswork for me a much easier decision tomake.Some of the challenges I experience as aself-represented artist are based aroundthe uncertainty of future projects, as Iam not committed to a set number ofexhibitions each year. But that said, I havefound it usually has a way of working itselfout, and I quite like the randomness ofit all. I could never become a productionline, which probably explains, in part, thevariety of work that I make as the yearsgo by.I maintain a strong focus on creating newwork, while balancing it with the art ofselling and booking speaking engagementsby attending to my personal life equally, withthe same amount of vigor and enthusiasmas I have for my art, so that I have theinner strength to not let the business sideof things weigh me down in my career.I think this is important, to have a good136

alance. To get plenty of exercise, havelots of harmony with nature and meditationto help with it all. I also live in one of themost beautiful places on the planet. TryGoogling ‘Byron Bay’ in Australia, and you’llsee what I mean! Although it like all placeson our planet, is facing potential unheardof climate changes, unless we change ourways immediately.Art Calendar: What’s next in your career?Dahlsen: I am open to surprises, andthey just keep coming. Teaching othersabout the importance of the environmentthrough delivering more lectures aboutmy art in public speaking engagementsdoes interest me, particularly as you cansee from my Web site that I have been ahugely prolific artist over the years, and Ihave lots to lecture about with heaps ofvisuals. I think this will go hand in handwith creating new work, as I’m also reallyenjoying the possibilities I see in my reentryinto painting. This excites me to noend at the moment.137

Art Calendar: Ultimately, what do youhope viewers get from the work you’reproducing?Dahlsen: A sense of Oneness witheverything.138

decade, a vast collection of litter from theocean has been crowding his studio.Dahlsen attended the respected VictorianCollege of the Arts in Melbourne in theseventies, and was enthralled by theabstract expressionism of Mark Rothkoduring a memorable visit to London’s TateGallery in 1981. After a stint in the UnitedStates, he returned to his home turf andtook up a position as artist-in-residence atEditions Gallery in Western Australia. Withhis traditional realm of paint and canvasalready giving way to explorations with newmaterials and techniques, the “accident” ofcoming across a bounty of waste plastic onthe beach was all the inspiration neededto transition to a new way of working. “Iwas immediately affected by a whole newpalette of colour and shape revealing itselfto me; I had never seen such hues andforms before,” says the artist, who hassifted, sorted and colour-coded his preciousfinds ever since.140

Of that early time, Dahlsen says: “Mychallenge as an artist was to take thesefound objects, which might on first meetinghave no apparent dialogue, and to workwith them until they spoke and told theirstory, which included those underlyingenvironmental messages inherent in theuse of this kind of medium.” As a seasonedartist, Dahlsen could be forgiven for dwellingon the aesthetic, but a deep environmentalconsciousness clearly has its roots in thoseearly experiences.“By presenting this art to the public it willhopefully have people thinking about thedeeper meaning of the work, in particularthe environmental issues we currentlyface,” he says.The “environmental” art of Dahlsen atteststo the staggering global problem of trash inour oceans, the majority of which is plastic.In 2006, the United Nations EnvironmentProgram estimated that every squaremile hosts some 46,000 pieces of floatingplastic. So vast is one area of concentrated141

Interview between John Dahlsenand Cassandra Parkinson, the ArtistCareer Project Manager of the NationalAssociation of the Visual Arts (NAVA).NAVA Magazine.June 2008NAVA: You’ve gone through several distinctphases in your career, creating a diversebody of work. What led you to change yourapproach?JD: A fire destroyed my studio in 1983,taking seven years work with it. It shookmy foundations as a person and broughtme face to face with my mortality. Itinfluenced my transition through a fairlydiverse range of art practice and madethe later transition to found objects easier,because I became less rigid as a person.After many years of painting, I becamemore open to exploring new materialsand technology, and to stretching myselfbeyond the realm of paintbrush and canvas.Being open to the benefit of ‘accidents’ in143

the art-making process has led to someof the most profound breakthroughs inmy work. My creative medium changed tofound object art after one such ‘accident’in 1997. I was collecting driftwood on aremote Victorian coastline, planning tomake furniture, when I stumbled on vastamounts of plastic ocean debris. A wholenew palette of colour and shape revealeditself.NAVA: To what degree does a commitmentto the environment inform your process asan artist?JD: In the mid 1990s, my visual languagedeveloped across broad areas through thefound object work, which encompassed suchdisciplines as sculpture, assemblage wallworks, public art, digital prints, installationart, painting and drawing. During that timemy work took on strong environmentalthemes, offering a vast field of exploration.I see the term “environmental artist” asbeing very flexible. Because I live withthe environment, I have no choice but to144

tackle environmental issues and representmy commitment to contemporary socialand environmental concerns in my work.This approach has grown naturally for methrough my work with found object visuallanguage.NAVA: What came first – the decision tolive in a seaside area or the decision tofocus on environmental art?JD: I live in a seaside town called Byron Bayand the decision to live here came beforethe decision to focus on environmentalart. As a result of living here, my creativemedium shifted. The landscapes in mylatest paintings are the same places whereI have roamed and collected detritus andmaterials for my assemblages and otherworks. In the past I used recycled materialsto convey the history and memory of a placeand to comment on the human experienceof place, beauty and environmentaldegradation. I have executed my newpaintings with a certain sense of urgency,because I have become increasingly145

concerned about global warming. But withthese works the environmental message ismore subtle.NAVA: How difficult has it been to strike abalance between your “local” life in a smalltown and that which engages with the restof the world?JD: I’ve found an easy balance with mylocal and broader commitments, whichhave unfolded naturally over the years. Ibegan to represent myself from the late1990s, coinciding with the growth of theinternet and more convenient travel, soit was easier to maintain contacts from adistance. Living in a regional area has helpedme reach out to the international marketand creating an early internet presenceworked wonders in gaining internationalexposure and demand. That made it easierto decide when to work with dealers andgalleries and it had unexpected results,such as having my work become part ofthe syllabus in parts of Australia, the USand the UK. It’s also important to have a146

good balance in your life, to get plenty ofexercise, have lots of harmony with nature,meditation and a quiet place to work. I livein one of the most beautiful places on theplanet. These things all benefit me as anartist living outside a major metropolitancentre.NAVA: Ultimately, what do you hopeviewers get from the work you'reproducing?JD: I hope viewers get a sense ofoneness with everything from the workI’m producing. Making this art is a wayof sharing my messages about the needto care for our environment and aboutthe aesthetic experience of appreciatingartworks. I believe humanity is at a criticalpoint, with the planet in a fragile ecologicalstate and global warming hastening majorchanges. I hope people enjoy my work atmany levels and can identify with eachpiece in various ways. I also hope theviewing public can embrace messages inother artists’ work, particularly when they147

148express strong environmental and socialstatements intelligently and with a highdegree of aesthetic complexity.

“Questions on Plastic Bags” Interview withthe artistBy C.W. Thompson(Publication forthcoming)What inspired you to make art out ofplastic bags?Two things really, the first was the strongenvironmental messages I could conveyand the second was the great colours andforms I could create out of the material.I developed works using recycled plasticbags as the primary medium a few yearsago, “Blue River” was one of these worksusing this medium. This work was a finalistin the 2003 Wynne prize at the Art Galleryof NSW and signalled a slight departurefrom my more recognizable assemblageworks, in which I used plastics andother detritus collected from the Easternseaboard, “Thong Totems” which won theWynne Prize in 2000 is a good example.149

I am with this work, apart from wishing toexpress obvious environmental messages,particularly interested in the brilliance ofthe colours and textures available to me inworking with this medium. I am constantlysurprised to see the variations in theseplastics, very much like how I am alsointrigued by the beach found objects I havecollected over the years.I imagine these plastic bags, which mostlyhave a lifespan of many years, are in facton the verge of extinction, as it is only amatter of time before governments imposesuch strict deterrents to people using themthat they become a thing of the past. Afitting end to what has become such ascourge to our environment on a worldwidescale.The Irish Government imposed a 10 centlevy on the use of these bags some yearsago and saw the consumption of thisproduct decrease by approximately 90%within a year, a reduction of many billionsof plastic bags per year!150

Once again, I am able as a contemporaryvisual artist, to use these recycled materials,to create artworks, which I hope express acertain beauty as well as containing theirown unique environmental messages.This is my way of making a difference,and at the same time I’m sharing apositive message about beauty that canbe gained from the aesthetic experienceof appreciating art, as well as givingexamples of how we can recycle and reusein creative ways. These artworks exemplifymy commitment as an artist to expresscontemporary social and environmentalconcerns.What is it that makes plastic bags sucha nuisance?Over consumption and their discardabilitymake plastic bags a nuisance. Dangerto wildlife including fish and animals.Environmental vandalism caused bythe careless disposal of them into theenvironment and landscape.151

The one plastic bag that was blown by thewind looked great in the sequence in themovie American Beauty, but that was anisolated event. This is all substantiatedin a report by the Australian GovernmentDepartment of the Environment, Water,Heritage and the Arts. In 2005, Australiansused 3.92 billion lightweight single use highdensitypolyethylene (HDPE) bags. 2.14billion of these came from supermarkets,while the others were used by fast foodrestaurants, service stations, convenience10stores, liquor stores and other shops.Most of these go to landfill (rubbish tips)after they are used, and some are recycled.In 2002 around 50 to 80 million bags endedup as litter in our environment. While thenumber littered has probably been reducedsince then, it is likely that a large numberstill enter the environment. Once littered,plastic bags can find their way on to ourstreets, parks, and into our waterways.Although plastic bags make up only a smallpercentage of all litter, the impact of these152

ags is nevertheless significant. Plasticbags create visual pollution problemsand can have harmful effects on aquaticand terrestrial animals. Plastic bags areparticularly noticeable components of thelitter stream due to their size and can takea long time to fully break down.The Australian Government is workingwith industry and the community toreduce the environmental impact of plasticbags. However, everyone shares someresponsibility for this problem - from plasticbag manufacturers and importers who sellthe bags, shop-keepers who give themaway, and the customers who use them. Itis up to all of us to help find the solution.In recent years, many people have startedto use reusable bags, such as the 'greenbags' you can buy at most supermarkets.Because of these efforts, the number ofHDPE bags used in Australia has fallenfrom around 6 billion in 2002 to 3.92 billionin 2005. However, there is a lot more thatcan be done.153

Are paper bags any better?As paper does come from trees... I thinkultimately a bag made from some kindof recyclable material or made from asustainable practice material would be thebest.In the US there are many initiatives tooutright ban plastic bags – as an iconicthough troubled item, do you think thebag could ultimately disappear frompublic consumption?I would hope so, we have only relied onthem for the past 50 years or so. I believepresently humanity is at a critical point intime, with our planet currently existingin a fragile ecological state, with globalwarming hastening unheard of changes,all amplifying the fact that we need all thehelp we can get. Removing mass producedplastic bags from circulation, would be agood step in the right direction, simplyretraining people to not overly consumeand to recycle where possible.155

This tension between inorganicabstraction and emotionallycharged organism lends theseworks particular resonance,given their inception in thepolitics of environmental art.They play out, in elegant andeconomical aesthetics, theunstable boundaries betweenthe natural and the artifi cial.- Dr. Jacqueline Milner156

“Environmental Art”University of Western SydneyBy Dr. Jacqueline Milner(Publication forthcoming)“A bleached and fractured worldsurrounds the artist. To organizethis mess of corrosion into patterns,grids and subdivisions is an aestheticprocess that has scarcely beentouched.”Robert Smithson in Sedimentation Essays(Cited in Jeffrey Kastner (ed) & Brian Wallis, Land andEnvironment Art, London: Phaidon Press, 1998, p 27)Henry David Thoreau, the 19th centuryAmerican public intellectual acknowledgedas one of the founders of the modernecological movement, made a point ofemphasizing the political significance ofwhat he called ‘the art of walking’. Thoreaubelieved that venturing forth into thelandscape on foot, eschewing destinationsand concrete objectives, was an unqualifiedgood in itself. Not only did walking liftone’s spirits: more importantly, it served157

as a constant reminder of the mutualdependence of humankind and nature, ofthe imperative to protect the environmentfrom harm.More than a century later, the British artistRichard Long literalized the ‘art of walking’by transforming his walks through thelandscape into artworks. In these poeticrenditions of land art, Long documentedthe subtle and ephemeral traces of his actsof walking: the faint line left in grass afterhis feet trampled it, the simple patternscreated after he removed pebbles from hispath. In contrast to the massive excavationexercises that comprised the earthworks ofpioneering land artists such as AmericansRobert Smithson and Michael Heizer,Long’s works strike a decidedly gentlenote: a quiet but nonetheless insistent callfor a different kind of environmental workgrounded in the ethics of care.When Australian artist John Dahlsen beganhis littoral walks over a decade ago, hewas in some respects honouring Long’s158

tradition of exploring the relation betweenhumankind and the environment throughdaily, ritual, embodied interaction.In the case of Dahlsen’s practice, however,the ecological dimension was more explicit,for during these saunterings along thecoast of his local area in Northern NSW, theartist would collect the flotsam and jetsamwashed up on the shore. Unlike Long’sengagement with the natural environment,Dahlsen was actively harvesting from‘nature’ the many- times-removed productsof human manufacture: the raw materialextracted from the earth, processed intocommodity, used, discarded, and returnedby the tide to human use.For a time, the very act of walking andcoastal care comprised Dahlsen’s work,recalling not only Long’s land art, but alsoother environmental-conceptual worksthat focused on the cleaning and caretakingof everyday environments. (Theseinclude the works of Merle Lader Ukeles,whose performances entailed sweeping,159

scrubbing and foregrounding the sanitationof particular urban settings, and HelenMeyer Harrison and Newton Harrison, whodocumented the pollution of the Sava Riverin Yugoslavia, before devising a counterpollutionstrategy.) Soon, however, Dahlsengrew inspired by the objects he collectedto create sculptures and assemblages, sothat his practice came to combine walkingwith object and image-making.The objects yielded by the tide prompted akey question for the artist: how does onegive form to the formlessness of detritus?Dahlsen was well aware that the organizingprinciples he chose would determine themeaning of any work he created. He beganby sorting the found objects into material,natural or manufactured, then into colourand size, his process a self-reflexiveexamination of categorization.These categories suggested particularworks: totem poles constructed frombuoys or thongs, wall-based collagesof driftwood, and, eventually, coloured160

plastics assembled into abstract fields thatcame to evoke landscapes. Unlike mostenvironmental artists, Dahlsen made hiswork not from conventionally ‘natural’materials — soil, grass, stones, for instance— but rather from the ‘artificial’ materialsthat nature has reclaimed and sculptedthrough erosion. His works activelymobilized the unstable boundaries betweenwhat is human-made and what is natural.These works not only transform rubbishinto objects of value, raising questionsabout the assignation of cultural worth.They also compel the viewer to make linksbetween the cycles of production and useof everyday functional objects, and thoseof art. What distinguishes a piece of plasticground to crystal-like translucency by timeand water, from a work of art? Can art shiftour thinking on matters of sustainability,or is it complicit in the exploitation of theearth’s resources for human consumption?For many of the original land artists, themove to sculptural form carved out of161

that entails. The term also refers directlyto the amorphous extrusions created whena plastics moulding machine is cleaned atthe end of a production run.Dahlsen began collecting these cast offs,destined either for landfill or recycling,while researching a public art projectfor a plastics manufacturer. The brightlycoloured and completely random formsare extremely suggestive, generative of allkind of interpretative possibility. Dahlsentreated them at first like readymades —sculptures in their own right. He then beganexperimenting with their potential as stilllives: a quintessentially contemporary stilllife subject, given their synthetic quality,their disposability, and their integral role inthe petroleum industry, a key perpetratorof environmental disaster.Robert Smithson once claimed that “art canbecome a resource that mediates betweenthe ecologist and the industrialist” inreference to his many (unheeded) proposalsto mining companies to participate in163

projects of land reclamation.Dahlsen’s retrieval of the waste productof plastics manufacturing partakes ofthe same spirit, serving to remind us ofthe interconnectedness of environmentalissues, but also attempting to reclaimwaste and the destruction of nature in thebeauty of art.Dahlsen’s treatment valorises purgedplastic as an object of acute visual interestand cultural importance: the blobs arerendered large, exalted on a plinth. Thecolours are flat and close in tone, thecompositions crossing the genres of stilllife and abstraction: the materiality of theplastic flattens into pattern, then springsback into organic matter.This play between abstraction andfiguration, between synthetic/organicmatter and immateriality in the purgepaintings, has been applied in Dahlsen’smost recent works to landscapes —dark works whose subtle references164

to environmental degradation all butdisappear before forcefully catching youunawares.This tension between inorganic abstractionand emotionally charged organismlends these works particular resonance,given their inception in the politics ofenvironmental art. They play out, in elegantand economical aesthetics, the unstableboundaries between the natural and theartificial, reminding us of Wendell Berry’sparadox that “the only thing we have topreserve nature with is culture; the onlything we have to preserve wildness with isdomesticity.”…165

ReferencesPart I1,2Murray, Sandra. Essay: “John Dahlsen - Paintingand Drawing”, Lawrence Wilson Gallery University ofWestern Australia Catalogue, 1991.3Asian GeoGraphic, “Flotsam and Jetsam - How OneMan Put the “Environmental” Into Art,” Number 53,Issue 3, 20084Jeni Faulkner, Coffs Harbour Advocate, 18 March 20045,8Hampson, Catharina: Review: “ContemporaryLandscapes Review”, Fox Galleries Brisbane Cat. 19996Dr. Jacqueline Millner. University of Western Sydney.December 20067Steven Alderton, “Artspeak” The Northern Star15 December 2007Part II8This chapter was Inspired by Gary Kewish, “BusinessSuccess Unleashed” - Part 2 – pages 53 - 100166

Part III9Based on a transcript from an interview between AlisonLaird and the artist.10Report by the Australian Government Department of theEnvironment, Water, Heritage and the Arts PagesArticles, pages 127-165National Association of the Visual Arts (Australia) -Interview between Cassandra Parkinson (Artist CareerProject Manager) and John Dahlsen Artist, June 2008New York Magazine (Art Calendar Article), “JohnDahlsen– Australian Environmental Artist Creating aSense of ‘Oneness’,” Louise Buyo and Kim Hall. July/August 2008Asian GeoGraphic, “Flotsam and Jetsam - How One ManPut the “Environmental” Into Art,” Number 53, Issue 3,2008“Questions on Plastic Bags,” Journalist C.W. ThompsonDr. Jacqueline Millner, University of Western Sydney,December 2006167

Art/Business$34.95The Artist’s Must-Read Guide for SuccessART INSIGHTSCreating Wealth as a Successful ArtistJohn DahlsenJohn Dahlsen is a leader in his field of environmental art throughoutAustralia and in the US, Europe and Asia. His art is considerd highlycollectible, and as a public speaker Dahlsen has spoken about hiswork, his career and business strategies for artists at national andinternational engagements for over a decade.ART INSIGHTS provides specific advice for artists seeking success andwealth creation. This easy to understand guideto success includes:Part I Alchemy: My Career in Environmental ArtPart II Business Strategies for Artists: The Artist as Business PersonPart III Career Insights: Reflections, Reviews and Q&AISBN: 978-0-9806926-0-0Contact John Dahlsen at www.johndahlsen.com