A total lack of Art and Coffee on the Rocks Part 2 - A Bad Aroma

 I started to paint a quick oil sketch of a group of Indian dancers and was spotted by Channel 9, who were looking desperately for something to film before the festival opened. They dragged me off to a spot in front of the Opera House where they were going to film the weather report. Not a spot I would have chosen as it was looking directly into the rising sun, but I started a tiny study of Sydney Harbour, as they mentioned the Rocks Pop Up Project and 47 George st. I thought I had done a good job of being an ambassador for the Arts and the project.
There were few people passing by. Most were clustered around the tents several hundred metres away. I decided to finish my little Harbour study and then roam around in search of festival highlights to paint.
The study worked out quite well and a couple of people walking past made admiring comments. Then a group of people who had been friends of mine since my days in Pyrmont, stopped to chat.
All hell broke loose.


Society of Hatred For the Arts

I was bullied and harassed by the mindless goons operating as SHFA Rangers.
I was told not to paint in public.
I explained who I was and that I was the official Artist in Residence appointed to do exactly what I was doing and was not engaged in selling my work or harassing the public. Only people who stopped to admire my work and expressly asked for more information were spoken to.
One of the Rangers demanded that I put my wet oil paintings inside my trolley luggage so that they weren't 'on display'. They were not 'on display'- they were drying next to each other on my easel. Oil paint stays wet for up to a week, especially in winter, however sunny.
My 3 little paintings were scarcely blocking anyone's view as the largest canvas was only 30 x 15cm.
These two orange vested morons made a flurry of phone calls to their head nazi, who was apparently sitting in the penthouse suite of the Museum of Contemporary Art getting his jollies by watching the whole debacle unfold on his video screen. As a gigantic grudging concession I would be permitted to finish the little harbour view, providing I didn't let anyone watch me paint and that I packed the 2 wet oil paintings underneath my belongings in my bag.
Which of course smeared them, ruining the day's work.
They so didn't care.
I was told I had a studio at 47 George Street and I was to get back to my studio and stay inside during the festival.
I had an expensive French box easel and trolley luggage with things I had been planning to put in the studio later. Because of the festival my car was parked a long distance away. I was exhausted from coping with their haranguing and wanted to leave.
Could they stand by my easel to make sure nobody stole it?
No.
They were happy to stand there bullying me for a couple of hours, but they didn't have enough time to safeguard my belongings.
Creating art is a much more serious and dangerous crime than robbery.
I had no idea.
Obviously I'm a danger to society and have to be stopped at all costs.

They'd never seen a plein air artist before, and wanted to make sure that they never saw one again.
They won't.

Maximum points for irony - we were standing in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art. As I returned from the long trek to my car to pick up as much as I could from my former 'studio' I noted a busker occupying my spot, completely ignored by the rangers. He was singing. And very badly, too.
The rangers argued that the busker had a licence.
But then so did I.
"Artist in Residence", remember? 
Why appoint an Artist in Residence and forbid them to paint?
 I complained to the Rocks Marketing Authority Manager as soon as I reached the studio.
She said that she probably wasn't going to be of much use. She more than lived up to that expectation. While offering to "talk" to her troop of standover men, she could give no guarantee that the same thing wouldn't happen the next time I picked up a paintbrush outside the 'safety' of the studio.
She said something that made my blood run cold.
"People were in the Rocks to see the coffee not to see art"
Well that puts the nail in the coffin for so-called "Creative Sydney" doesn't it!
This attitude explains why Sydney doesn't have the cultural ambience of Melbourne or Adelaide, never mind aspiring to the standards of Paris or Rome.
As an Australian Artist I am used to being treated like dirt - it's part of the job. Imagine an Australian sportsperson being treated with this amount of disrespect. See, you can't, can you.
But what utterly disgusts me is the shabby pretence of "fostering creativity" while doing the utmost to stifle it.

As far as I can tell, these are the 10 rules of the City of Sydney:

Don't be an artist.
Don't be creative.
Don't produce anything. ( And if you do - don't let anyone watch you. Ever.)
Don't be eccentric.
Don't be sensitive.
Don't be unusual.
Don't be interesting.
Don't be unique.
Don't think for yourself.
Don't stand out.

Just don't.

(A total lack of) Art and Coffee on the Rocks!

I've just been appointed as the inaugural Artfiles Artist In Residence at The Rocks Pop Up Project.
As Artist in Residence, I will be on or painting close by around the site from Wednesday to Sunday for the next 4 weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to check out my new space at 47 George St, which used to be an old Westpac Bank office. This project features an eclectic mix of creatives over at 47 and 77 George St, the Rocks. Gaffa, Red Room Company, artists, fashion designers, jewellery makers and even a tailor are just some of the residents breathing new life into the previously empty spaces.
I will take my French Box easel, turn up at a nearby location very early in the morning and create small, quick plein air paintings in and around the Rocks, Walsh Bay Wharves and Barangaroo.
Then later in the day I would be able to work these small pieces up into studio paintings at leisure in the studio space at 47 George St.
I could paint a large scale painting in front of the public, not only providing them with a source of entertainment and information but a chance to communicate, so that it is a “two-way street”. Most people have never seen an artist at work and find it quite fascinating to watch. As a ‘plein air painter’ I am a seasoned practitioner of an almost lost craft. Most of my work, including large scale canvases, not just sketches, has been painted in front of the public, whether workers or casual onlookers. It has been a major part of my normal artistic practice to do so for nearly 30 years, so I'm used to coping with distractions, interruptions and horrible weather. This is an opportunity for people to watch the creative process at work, ask questions and make comments without feeling intimidated by a gallery atmosphere. My subject matter is limitless : The surroundings - Heritage buildings, colourful and disreputable old pubs like the 'Hero of Waterloo', 'The Orient' and the 'Lord Nelson', ferries and water taxis, the cruise ships arriving and departing from the OPT. The people -Rocks residents, the bustle of the markets, shop owners, storekeepers and buskers.My first real "taste" of my new studio, both literally and metaphorically, will be on Sunday 31st July, whilst indulging in coffee from around the world at Australia’s largest coffee event, the Rocks Aroma Festival.
Update

Well that was the plan.

I have been bullied and harassed by the SHFA goon squad of Rangers so badly that I am removing all my belongings from the 'studio' and will never return.

I previously wrote

This is an opportunity for people to watch the creative process at work, ask questions and make comments without feeling intimidated by a gallery atmosphere. Well I have been the one to be intimidated.
The Rocks is no longer a place for an artist.
And if you are creative in public you will be treated like a criminal.

I had never attended the Rocks Aroma festival before.

I will make damn sure that I will never be silly enough to do so again.

Painting the Shirley Smith at Moores Wharf

Although I’d been Artist in Residence’ at the East Darling Harbour Wharves, and even in the Harbour Control Tower for almost a decade, it wasn’t until July 2011 that I was invited to become Artist in Residence’ at Moore’s Wharf, the Sydney HQ of Sydney Ports Corporation.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
The East Darling Harbour Wharves finally closed in October 2007.
I managed to keep access to the wharves during the demolition of the wharves & even during the early stages of the construction on Barangaroo.
I even retained occasional access to the Harbour Control Tower after April 2011 when it ceased to be used for maritime operations by Sydney Ports Corporation.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
Moore’s Wharf is a handsome 3 storey sandstone warehouse that was originally built in the 1830s by convict labour.
There are still some convict marks, such as arrows on some of the sandstone blocks which were quarried locally.
The surrounding suburb, Millers Point, is built on a ridge of yellowblock sandstone that is of high quality, although not quite up to the standard of the famous Pyrmont yellowblock.
Bizarrely, the entire building was moved stone by stone, a few hundred metres to its existing position, when the adjoining wharves were extended and redeveloped for containerization.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
In front of Moore’s Wharf, Sydney Ports Corporation has two highly visible, verging on garish, bright scarlet and yellow firefighting tugs, the ‘Shirley Smith’, and the ‘Ted Noffs’. They are part of a fleet of emergency response vessels and specialised equipment used for fire-fighting, oil spill response, salvage and providing assistance to stricken vessels.
The marine operations teams work closely with Fire and Rescue NSW to prepare for fighting fires which may not be accessible to the fire teams by land.


MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

Available for sale
You can see the crew in the background next to the Shirley Smith.
The weird crumpled red and black object, that looks slightly like a giant version of the sort of caterpillars found on citrus trees is a boom to enclose oil spills and similar hazards. Booms are kept near the boat, so they can be rapidly deployed. My first painting as ‘Artist in Residence’ at Moores Wharf was of a classic everyday task - the marine operations team cleaning one of the recently deployed booms.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale

Shirley Smith was built in 1987 and normally based in Port Jackson, whereas the ‘Ted Noffs’ is usually stationed at Port Botany, although occasionally both are there when I've been painting. They are manned 24/7, 365 days a year. They each have a capacity for delivering 16,000 litres of water per minute. As well as emergency response to fires, this water spray is also used for spectacular displays during celebrations such as New Year’s Eve, and to welcome the ‘maiden call’ of a ship into Port Jackson.
The tug was named in honour of Shirley Smith (Mum Shirl), an Aboriginal woman who dedicated her life to welfare services.


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 at the front of the White Bay Power Station
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- at the end of my first day of painting
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Sunset comes all too quickly in midwinter. The White Bay Power Station briefly turns golden in the last rays of the setting sun.
By the time I've packed up my easel, night has already fallen, making it even more difficult to put my large and very wet canvas into the back of my car without smearing it.

Also see my page in this blog :

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