Ears is a champion of community based arts, and its a rare walk through the streets of Sydney without coming across one of his works adorning a wall or piece of public space. His upcoming show this week in Melbourne, Head Space, at the No Vacancy Project Space in Federation Square, is an absolute visual delight.

Between running Sydneys Oh Really Gallery, and practicing his ever evolving art at Stupidkrap Studios, Ears has also recently embarked upon a new project to which he has begun to put at the front of his creative drive. This new initiative, Free The Beats, is an innovative new independent music initiative, and is aimed at giving bedroom producers new avenues and audiences for their music to be heard.

Mel Balkan, a close friend of Ears, caught up with the man for a chat barely twenty four hours after his arrival. This weekend past, Invurt also also humbly invited him to our studios in Prahran to put up some artwork in our lounge area. We couldn’t be happier, or more grateful, that he not only agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to give us some great words about his work, but to also leave behind a permanent display of his beautiful talents … so read on, enjoy, and discover the visual music of Ears painting …

What’s the most important thing, to you, about creating artwork?

The most important aspect of making art, for me, is the process – for sure. I’m not a conceptual artist, the work is ontological. So the ideas and feelings that filter into my work are the result of process.

Constant experimentation, and play, is what keeps it all interesting for me.

At your first solo exhibition in Melbourne, Lost Lines, back in 2008, your body of work focused on a gestural mark making that explored stories and imaginings within the city. Is your up-coming show”Head Space” a gradual evolution from your first show here, or has your art form taken a completely different turn in that time?

I guess my work has always been gradually evolving with the same thread. The city remains an influence, but I wouldn’t say that the work I’m making, presently, is a narrative by any stretch.

Lost Lines was pretty playful, and fun. It had a lot of fun images, such as one with a man with bubble gum balls for a brain, etc. The work this time is definitely heavier, and more personal. Its also starting to open up in terms of colour and experimentation. I feel much happier with my confidence, in a painting context, now, than I did with Lost Lines. That show was basically lots of drawing on wood, and colouring things in with bold colours – very illustrative.

I’d like to think that Head Space is more about painting than drawing … but I still have a lot to learn about painting.

Would you like to talk about your actual, mental head space, and how it’s manifested itself into your upcoming show?

Sure – Head Space seemed appropriate as a title because I feel that my work is becoming increasingly psychological, and representative of my mind. Basically, its been a hard year for me stress wise. Running a gallery (Oh Really in Sydneys Newtown), keeping up with the bills and surviving as an artist. On top of that, some health issues, that are also stress related, are all forcing me to refocus, and change my lifestyle and priorities.

I’m thinking about moving to the Blue Mountains, actually, for some peace of mind – and to unravel things, and take a breath.

 
Can you tell us a bit more about your love for Brett Whitley’s work, and its influence on your own work?

I have always felt an affinity with the femininity, and sensual quality to his mark. I guess the drawing component of his work was also a big draw card, since it appealed to the cartoonist in me. His heavy handed, confident lines, and gestural marks have always been a reference point.

I actually really love his early abstractions as well … I’m not sure that body of work gets enough attention, but his use of earthy colours, and warm palettes, really appeals to me – and, just his compositions.

Confident, yet delicate.

 
Have there ever been any really inspiring responses to your artwork that stand out in your mind?

Yeah actually.. one comes to mind. I used to work in a cafe, washing dishes, to pay my rent and I was painting on the streets of a night time. One day this young boy (about nine) was sitting with his mum in the cafe, and he had done a drawing of my work on his napkin, along with some characters that my friends were putting up. I asked him why he drew it, and he said he has seen it everywhere around the place his lives, and loves seeing them – and that it made him want to draw too.

It was amazing to think that doing public art is having this type of effect on young people.

I have a funny feeling that you might paint everyday – would that be right?

You’d be wrong, actually! I do, however, draw everyday for at least a little while. Usually twenty minutes to an hour. My art making practice is fairly spontaneous and random. I can go weeks without touching a paint brush, and then feel ready to explore new ideas or visions that I may have dreamt up, and then go hard at it for a month straight. Generally, I work in short bursts, and struggle to do the whole nine to five, full-time painter thing. I don’t like the rigid structure … when I have a show on, then ill be working everyday to meet the deadline, but if I had the luxury of time and no deadlines, then I’d much prefer to go at my own pace.

I feel, sometimes, that its healthier to go to the park, see a movie or do something else to refuel, and to give your self some distance from the work.

One thing, personally, I’ve always enjoyed about your artwork, is that it seems fearless, and flawless, in all of its whimsical glory – do you ever feel slightly fearful about approaching blank wall’s and blank canvas’s?

Ah, yeah, the blank canvas syndrome. I usually lash out as soon as I have the canvas on the wall, so I don’t get frozen in limbo staring and considering the first move.

Once the white has been violated I feel pretty happy to play, but starting is the hard part. I used to work with washes and abstract colour play as an under painting layer to begin with, but i think that was a bit of a safety blanket to make approaching the work easier.. and to avoid the challenge of the painting… easing into it in a sense.

I’m not relying on this approach as much anymore.

 
I read a quote recently by Sam Atyeo – “People don’t live until they paint.”  How do you feel about this quote, personally?

Haha – I like this quote … It’s a romantic ideal, I suppose, that painters live in a state of ecstasy doing what they love, and feeling the constant rush of creative success through taking risks, and the discovering of ones self.

Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Its a lot of hard work, a lot of being broke, and to me it seems like those exciting moments of creative bliss are pretty few and far between – but we get addicted to the alluring rarity.

So I guess that its true, but not in the way you might think.

So, then, what is one of your favourite quotes?

A line my grandfather used to say… ‘Wish in one hand, spit in the other – see which one fills up first.”

 
Is there anything else you’d like to talk about in regards to your upcoming show, Head Space?

Yeah, sure. Head Space is a pretty varied body of work. There are some references to my last show, Warpaint, which used dark backgrounds to isolate the portrait, but for the majority of the show I have played with colour a lot more, and used photography to base some of the portrait compositions on, placing my favourite characters in a space, rather than just floating in flat colour.

I’ve also created an installation of small works on found wood, and old draws, to showcase some more playful illustrative work born out of my sketch book, and I’ll have a recent sketch book on display in the gallery, along with a printed book of some of the work I’ve done over the last few years …

 
Take a look at Ears website here. Also check out the event information for the show, the Facebook event page for Head Space! Just Another Agency also have a cool studio visit and feature on him as well, check it!