BLAK DOUGLAS - CAUTION! (CULTURE CROSSING)
BLAK DOUGLAS
CAUTION! (CULTURE CROSSING), 2018
100 x 100cm
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas
PROVENANCE
Redfern, NSW
Cooee Art, NSW
STORY
EXHIBITION STATEMENT - An elder once informed me - 'Son, there are three types of people in this world... those who can count, and those who can't'. Now I fail in mathematics dismally but I knew there was something deceitful when it comes to economics. Let me rephrase that... anyone who dons a grey suit, is on a Government payroll and deals with figures. In this suite of paintings, I've revisited the beginnings of my commercial career whence I'd hit old Sydney town for my first grand exhibition at Mori Gallery. The exhibition was titled 'A sign of the crimes'. The year was 2005 and I'd blown in from the wild west (Penrith) as ambitious as ever. The exhibition entirely featured modified road signage and often poignant and very quirky. When I began painting, my favourite Uncle- Don Brown (a celebrated artist himself) said to me...'what ever you paint, you've got to say something'. Recently I saw Uncle Don at a family picnic whereby he stated that the best paintings I'd produced were the road signs and that I should revisit them.So here we are. The beginnings of the revisitation. Let's touch on a few; 'How fast are you going now' is classically exemplary of that first solo exhibition. A stylised 'speed sign' but with the numeral 230 reflecting the years of the establishment of the colony. And that fact that, after such a period of time, we're STILL busting our arses to cap the inherent xenophobic monoculture that is persistently fertilised by wannabe Lebanese cowboys like Bob Katter. 'The Katter Grid' & 'Screamsland' may not immediately find a home on his walls but surely at least one Four X swishing, ute mustering, 'RM Williams' equipped QLD bogan would see the parody in these pieces. 'When in drought, ship out' is a pun / play on words re. a prevalent golfing adage - 'when in doubt, chip out'. In other words, don't try to be the hero and perform a miracle shot when behind a tree. In this painting, we see isolated Spoon Billed birds stranded from their wetlands whilst there be a 'no drinking' sign aside the road. Blak Douglas, 2018
EXHIBITED
Urban Walkabout - Blak Douglas, September 2018, Cooee Art Paddington
