Monday, July 27, 2009

Moving on

A new phase has begun in my life. I am a full time student (again).

Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design.

I've been doing design and visual arts for quite some time now, so people may ask why.

For starters, because the Government has decided that at my age and with my qualifications, experience and knowledge, I need re-training to be able to re-join the workforce.

So, when I told them about my interests in the arts, they have agreed to subsidise a small part of this program.

So, why not?





Saturday, July 18, 2009

Australian sky - NFS

To wake up in the morning and to see the magnificent blue turning into all the colours of the rainbow. To pinch yourself and realise you're not dreaming. To realise you're not in Heaven, but so close.
Hell is there somewhere, you can feel it, you can remember, there is warmth coming from everywhere.
To feel you're not alone in all of this beauty.
To hope that people touched by this are being transformed.
To believe that all the bad in the world is just misunderstanding.
And then to know that man kills man with bombs.
To look up the blue sky turning into all the colours of the rainbow and to ask yourself:
Why?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

My speech at the opening tonight



Dear friends

It is with great pleasure and humility that I welcome you to my show today.

This show is about my no-return journey into the wonderful world of the arts.
As you all know quite well by now, I started painting out of the blue exactly two years ago, when my beautiful daughter Ana married my beautiful son (in law) Peter.
Happy anniversary, Ana and Peter!

I started by throwing house paint onto canvas and some of my works hang in some of your houses and they can still be seen at Jock Gilbert Real Estate.
It was a liberating experience that I continue to enjoy from time to time, as you can see here.

But this show is about my experiences with oils.
I started using oils as I realized that I wanted to say more than I did up to that point.
The experience, as you can see in my works, has had ups and downs, but it was overall extremely rewarding.
It has highlighted my shortcomings, places I need to re-visit, places I need to go to, but most important, the fact that I can get where I want to be if I work hard.

I came to Australia seventeen years ago with my beautiful wife and my beautiful children, with a few suitcases and five American dollars in our pockets.

I was granted a skills migration visa, so I was here to help filling the gap in the skills shortage.
For seventeen years I helped manufacturing companies move their operations to low cost countries. I did this quite successfully, to the extent that I made my position redundant at every single company I worked for.

Now, as my children have grown up and they can almost stand on their own feet, I’ve decided that it is time to stop destroying so many lives and start filling a different gap in the skills shortage in Australia.

The focus on money, possessions, economic downturn, has led to a situation where the arts have been all but ignored. And yet, making and appreciating art is one of the major things that define us as humans. It is also something that cannot be moved abroad.

This show marks the starting point of the road of no return I am taking. I know it will be hard, I thank my wife, family and friends for your generous support and I promise not to disappoint.

Thank you again for coming,

I love you all.



My speech at the opening tonight


Dear friends

It is with great pleasure and humility that I welcome you to my show today.

This show is about my no-return journey into the wonderful world of the arts.
As you all know quite well by now, I started painting out of the blue exactly two years ago, when my beautiful daughter Ana married my beautiful son (in law) Peter.
Happy anniversary, Ana and Peter!

I started by throwing house paint onto canvas and some of my works hang in some of your houses and they can still be seen at Jock Gilbert Real Estate.
It was a liberating experience that I continue to enjoy from time to time, as you can see here.

But this show is about my experiences with oils.
I started using oils as I realized that I wanted to say more than I did up to that point.
The experience, as you can see in my works, has had ups and downs, but it was overall extremely rewarding.
It has highlighted my shortcomings, places I need to re-visit, places I need to go to, but most important, the fact that I can get where I want to be if I work hard.

I came to Australia seventeen years ago with my beautiful wife and my beautiful children, with a few suitcases and five American dollars in our pockets.

I was granted a skills migration visa, so I was here to help filling the gap in the skills shortage.
For seventeen years I helped manufacturing companies move their operations to low cost countries. I did this quite successfully, to the extent that I made my position redundant at every single company I worked for.

Now, as my children have grown up and they can almost stand on their own feet, I’ve decided that it is time to stop destroying so many lives and start filling a different gap in the skills shortage in Australia.

The focus on money, possessions, economic downturn, has led to a situation where the arts have been all but ignored. And yet, making and appreciating art is one of the major things that define us as humans. It is also something that cannot be moved abroad.

This show marks the starting point of the road of no return I am taking. I know it will be hard, I thank my wife, family and friends for your generous support and I promise not to disappoint.

Thank you again for coming,

I love you all.

This is it



This is it - today's the day - I look outside - it's raining. A good sign for this year's crops. I'll have a drink tonight for all of you. Thanks for your kindness and support. Cheers!