ART INSIGHTS Creating Wealth as a Successful Artist - John Dahlsen

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