Following up from his opening last Friday night for his solo show “Changelings” we managed to grab Perth artist Adrian Baldsings  to give us the lowdown on his show at the newly (re)minted These Days gallery.

Not being too familiar with Adrians work beyond one or two images around the net,  we were impressed to see that his bio consisted of a pretty extensive list covering numerous solo and group shows, the Kerb gallery D & K art award and numerous installation pieces around Perth – and now, though we hadn’t appreciably aware of his amazing work before, we’ll be making sure to keep an eye on it in the future.

So if you’re in Perth, make sure you get on down to These Days gallery to take a look at this body of work, and read on for the intriguing background behind his latest show …

Tell us a little about an artist that you believe has had an influence, or impact on your work?

Jean Michel Basquiat had unadulterated writing within his work. Some may say its raw and childlike – what I garner from his approach is an aggressive direct touch and also a prolific output. His work is set in the sphere of immediacy and  reportage – I think of his work as out of the art world aesthetic, yet it draws you into the whole narrative of art in order to reinstate the primitive urge.  Basquiat was known to say something to the effect against  the Euro centric artworld of the time; that there are “only artists and bullshitters.”  So I found  that by steering my practice towards this sense of sweeping angst, centres the artist’s defensive existence amongst all the distractions and  rationale.

Coincidentally my subject matter all stems from the moment of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York . I was drawn into dealing with my confusion of  that moment and have moved from making literal imagery to what may be described as the personal and ongoing recollections, that allow me to break through to deeper and more self revealing tissue .

I have had the question asked “Don’t you think that was along time ago?” and “When are you going to move on” … but I don’t align my self to Goya’s 2nd and 3rd of May,  1808 …painted in 1814 or Gericault’s Le Radeau de la Meduse, in my rebuttal  … or Whitely’s American Dream, but I do reference the idea of distance in time, and that works as such are my defense to deter me from falling into desensitisation, due to media gluttony and frivolity.

What do you do during the week to help maintain your creative flow? Is your work a sporadic entity or do you plan specific pieces or projects, and what are some of the thought processes behind your creations?

I plan each show as a mode  This allows me to be comprehensibly situated. Though the work is always arrived at with reference to early work , scribbles of ideas waiting to be given fullness.

Weaves are employed as metaphor for a matrix of ideas, and as a device that connects through all my work. Whether it be caution tape , remnants strips of artworks, magazine print  or woven, painted patterns. To connect the work back into 9/11 I try and maintain a sense of ” the threat of collapse” …

How have you found the general lead-up to getting your work ready for the show? As a first solo, have you found it to be an interesting learning curve, or have you been able to apply previous experience to make it an easier activity?

My previous methods to presenting work were based on a typical formula of being motivated from concept to work for presentation at a predetermined date and venue. This mode of production requires maneuvering up to a deadline, making the mode dependant on professionalism and attention to practicality. There seemed to be an urgency within the idea of a set period I wanted to test. The thinking that informs the production of a body of work rides more so on decision-making, bound by a nervous axis; time and effort spent …time left to spend, leading to faith in the maxim “works better under pressure”. So with this recent collection of work I set out to consciously allow the work to travel its course from daily distractions and worldly needs to inviting lengthy moments of reflection. Enjoying a luxury as such felt extreme.

My reason for trying my practice in this mode was about measuring an experience, which included guiding my motivation from the expectations of a time limit. It was a simple change from a common pattern to try another. The results will be useful, yet I cannot advise better for one over the other. Though a sense of meeting a deadline still hovered.

Can you tell us a little about your involvement with These Days gallery, and how you came to be exhibiting there, as well as the general leadup and preparation for the show?

I presented a Show titled ” Liability” that started with documenting  vacant building sites I considered for either a installation or studio space . As nothing at the time was accessible due to liability issues I connected the threat of collapse of structures and the threat of collapse of art as necessary culture into an agitating production. The main character was the high key colour “Safety Orange.” The modulation of woven materials flowed through the most of the pieces. That project was realised in early 2009, and thankfully much of what was sitting empty is now occupied or under renovation. As a result, “These Days ” Gallery is one of those that occupy otherwise dormant spaces in Perth/Northbridge.

I’d done the planning, was finishing things up, and was looking for an appropriate housing for the show. As the work had reached its final stages, including invitations, running sheets and written reflection, I began. I was well and truly ready to show and wanted the flow on from the experience of making the work to carry through. These Days had just restructured from Mixtape Gallery, and was about to put the launch show on … fortunately there was an opening for me immediately after the launch…

Where does your theme for the exhibition spring from, and what does the term Changeling mean in terms of the work that you are presenting?

Changelings; a child believed to be a substitute for another by stealth, especially an elf-child left by fairies.

Changelings refers to the near discarded scribbles that build up in journals and scraps of paper. In the Doors song of the same name, the lyrics “I live uptown, I live downtown, I live all around – I had money, and I had none, I had money, and I had none – But I never been so broke, That I couldn’t leave town”,  was played via high repetition, and made its case by phrasing the mode of the collection.

In the lyrics of this rocking boogie song, there is empathy to the  life of an  artist – “I Had money, I had none”  – and, given a moment, most people can find a commonality within the poetry, but more intelligently, the lyrics imply an uncomplicated acceptance of the rawness of simple circumstances. It all points to a collection of perceivably insignificant sketches, which are the basis of the final work, I explain their nascent status as Changelings, my progeny of whims, of which I could discard as inconsequential.

Other definitions of changelings I delve into; newborns with genetic defects as “changelings” and thought to be possessed and possibly discarded to distance the “demons” from communities. Unfortunate and inhumane as that archaic behaviour may have been, I am providing myself with that gap that my first scribbles may have fallen victim to. At the outset I had misconceived the definition, self aware that my glossary is meager, I looked for explicit knowledge to not compound my ignorance. My interpretation without advice was that it was more of a metamorphic quality, perhaps a chrysalis and that was the motivation that I had for the characters in my work.

What are you hoping to achieve with your solo show, and where do you think it will allow you to take your work to next?

As a latecomer to “the scene” my position is about allowing the work to divine what it is that is to be. I really like the firsts ..the first solo show ..the first purchase of a work..the first failure… these are exciting as naivety is present… then you become all experienced as such and start maneuvering like an agent for yourself promotion…trying not to be to jaded -faded or graded.

Its always … always at the point where the show has opened and a day or two has passed, that you’re pondering something that resembles satisfaction. Previous cycles have told me that this is the point where you begin to sense an a abyss  looming . Its this moment that I think the fear of boredom triggers the next survival instinct in practice.  Though, I am harbouring one of my favoured possibilities:  is it the art or the artist? Which one is the conduit for more thought over the other?

Maybe I’ll do a mini survey for the next show …

Check out more info on Adrians show currently running at These Days Gallery in Perth.