Wooden Boat Wanderings

Kochi – Kerala, India, 2001.

We didn’t share any common verbal language. But somehow I ended up in this fisherman’s small wooden boat. Most likely it was due to a charade-like interaction. I had no idea where we were going, where I’d end up…or how I’d get back. We putted across the Arabian Sea and several kilometres later pulled up at a wooden jetty. The fisherman and his fisher-mates disembarked and headed towards a forlorn building. I followed. We entered and sat on a dusty concrete floor in a dark, barren room. Conversation ensued, not with me but amongst the fishermen. I sat, listened, wondered and exchanged occasional glances and smiles. After some time I was offered a package by a man with a not-so-pleasant visage. I can’t recall how, but it was soon made clear that he was wanting to sell me pot. I thanked him, but declined. After repeated failed attempts the atmosphere became tense, the man clearly annoyed, and soon aggressive. While I can’t recall exactly, I’m pretty sure it was the fisherman, pictured, who calmed the situation. Not long after, I breathed deeply and made my departure, unimpeded, out onto a foreign street, pot-free and camera still in hand, and followed my nose back along the coastline to where it all began.

Images and text Copyright Charlie Sublet.

Exhibition Bits

Recent exhibition, Human Nature – Some Things I’ve Seen, in full – artist statement, images and installation bits…

…click here.

Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for visiting.

Charlie (aka Hunter G)

Human Nature – some things i’ve seen

12.19 pm, Fri Nov 10, 2017 – Mister Sublet, with the laptop, in the lounge room – at home, Hobart, Tasmania.

Rightio, I’m back down south, far south, and it’s time for a relatively impromptu show. I came across a building that’s about to be demolished to make way for new fandangled eco/sustainable/intentional-community apartments, The Commons, and the developers (Small Giants Developments) have been kind enough to say “yep, you can use the space before the wrecking ball swings into the picture.” So a big thank-you to them. This new carbon positive project, The Commons, is being created in collaboration with Core Collective architects.

Human Nature – some things i’ve seen exhibition – Hobart, Tasmania.

Human Nature – some things i’ve seen will be a new mix of old exhibition images that:
– will play off the concept of The Commons and the revival of the existing building which once housed an electrical store;
– will be a continuation of my interest in the tension and interaction between the human and natural worlds, how we define our ‘place’, and our common bond; and
– will be the first public exposure of my works in my new hometown.

Exhibition Dates: Nov 16 – 29
Opening Event: Thurs Nov 16, 6 – 8 pm
Artist Talk: Sun Nov 26, 1 pm
Address: 126 Bathurst St, Hobart
Hours: Thursdays 9 – 2:30
Fridays 11 – 2:30
Sundays 11 – 3
Or by Appointment – charlie@charliesublet.com or 0410 757 202

Hope you can make it down at some point. There may even be a raffle to win one of my fantabulous matchbox miniatures!

And thanks to producer, Kyia Clayton (my do it productions), whom I met in the space when I first wandered in – she showed interest in my proposal, putting me in touch with Small Giants Developments. Kyia is currently producing the Tasmanian Eco Film Festival.

Ok, all the best and bye for now,

Charlie

Right, where was I?

1.25 pm, Tue Nov 8, 2016 – Monsieur Sublet, with the laptop, in the reading room, Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, France.

It’s been quite some time since we last communicated, and much has passed through my system…via Melbourne, Tassie, Europe, Africa, Tassie and back north again.

In this edition:

1) Le Temps du Regard Exhibition in Paris.
2) Home Studio Sale – Charlie Sublet and Helene Rajcak, Sun Nov 27, 2016, Paris.
3) Runner-Up Award – University of Tasmania’s 125^th Anniversary Exhibition, The Field
4) From the Archives – ‘Man & Dog’, Delhi, India, 2011
5) Random Bits – Annus Horribilis

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1) Le Temps du Regard Exhibition – Paris, France.

Apologies for the late notice, but I’ve just finished a show in Paris – a series of images from across Australia, exhibited at the ‘Centre Hepato-Biliaire’, L’Hopital Paul-Brousse. Thanks to Le Ministere de la Cuture, La Mairie de Villejuif, L’Hopital Paul-Brousse and curators Jeanne Gatard and Helene Rajcak.

Images available for sale. View the image gallery here.

                                     ‘Untitled VI’, 2016

2) Home Studio Sale – Sun Nov 27, 2016. 3 – 6 pm. Paris

Helene Rajcak (children’s book author/illustrator/painter) and I will have works on sale in our home studio at 17 Rue Poliveau, Paris, 75005. Google Map. All welcome. (contact me for the building entry code).

There will be photographs (on stone, ceramic and paper), children’s books, illustrations and paintings. View Helene’s books and samples of her illustrations/paintings. Samples of my works on ceramic, stone and in ‘matchbox miniatures’ are below. Click on an image for a larger version.

3) Runner-up Award – University of Tasmania’s 125^th Anniversary Exhibition, The Field

I was happy to receive the Runner-Up Award at this exhibition for my image, ‘The Price of Admission’. The show was curated by Amelia Rowe and judged by David Keeling (Two-time Glover Prize-winning painter) and Dr Jane Deeth (arts writer, curator and educator) who said they found themselves returning again and again to this image. You can watch Jane’s TedX talk, ‘What’s Wrong with Contemporary Art’ here.

     ‘The Price of Admission’, 2015

 

4) From the Archive – ‘Man & Dog’, 2011 (Delhi, India)

                                      ‘Man & Dog’, 2011

5) Random Bits – Taking liberties with Queen Elizabeth II, I can describe 2015 as my annus horribilis, with respect to the departure of several friends and relatives, including my Dad. Make the most of the time you have and let those you love know it. Here’s a pick of Dad et moi in my early years – presumably not an annus horribilis. Note the low angle perspective – pic taken by my brother on his Box Brownie.

                                     ‘Dad et Moi’, Circa 1971/2

Image from the article ’32-incredible-powers-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-you-didnt-know-she-had’. Ha!

Thanks for listening and all the best for the remainder of 2016 and beyond.

Bye for now,

Charlie

p.s. If you wish, you can follow this blog by clicking the FOLLOW button (towards the top RHS of page) to receive notifications when I update it with new happenings, newsletters and random observations.

It’s Time. I’m Off. – Massive Studio Clear-Out Sale

2.27 pm, Wed Jan 28, 2015. Seat 64, Coach 14 – Somewhere under the English Channel.

Yes, it’s true, I’m currently typing underwater. Held my breath as I left London – Hoping to make it to Paris.

In this edition:

1) Studio Clear-Out Sale. For One Day Only! Sunday Feb 8, 12 – 6 pm.
2) Pic of the Month – ‘Jeanne d’Arc’, Paris, France, 2015
3) From the Archives – ‘Yellow Pole’, Brighton, UK, circa 2008
4) Random Stuff – French artist, Helene Rajcak.

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1) Studio Clear-Out Sale: It’s Time folks. After 6 years based at The Abbotsford Convent, I’m setting sail for the Big Apple…(Isle) – that’s right…Tassie! For those unaware of where she lays, she’s about as far from the beautiful mad world as possible, amidst beautiful wild wilderness. Next stop Antarctica! So I’m having a massive sale of photographic images to share the past and raise funds for the future. All welcome so feel free to spread the word.

Prices: Discounted by up to 50%. Some below cost. Prices from as little as $5 up to $995.

When? Sunday Feb 8, 12 – 6 pm.

What’s for Sale? – Visit the gallery to see a selection of what’s on offer, including:

• Limited Edition exhibition prints from all my previous exhibitions;
• Non-editioned prints from small projects and random shoots;
• Test prints;
• Prints on acrylic and Prints on stone;
• Copies of prints held by The State Library of Victoria and other permanent collections;
• Frames, big and small.
• And also some prints from my Kimberley colleague, Hunter G. Remember this image?…

‘Iron Storm’, Halls Creek, The Kimberley, 2013

Where? Studio C2:48, 2nd Floor, Main Convent Building, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford. Refer Google Map or Melways Map 44 G5. And check out this fantabulous convent building map…(click to enlarge/download)…

Convent Building Map. Bits in red, Copyright Me, 2015.

And if you’re still having trouble navigating the nuns’ maze after you arrive, call me on 0410 757 202 from your near-but-far wilderness location and I’ll guide you in.

A sincere thanks to everyone who has been part of this intriguing wild ride over the past 6-odd years (sometimes with the emphasis on odd). I hope you can make it down to say hello, goodbye and buy, buy, buy!

2) Pic of the Month – ‘Jeanne d’Arc’. Paris, France, 2015

‘Jeanne d’Arc’ – Paris, 2015

3) From the Archive – ‘Yellow Pole’. Brighton, England, circa 2008.

‘Yellow Pole’ – Brighton, England, Circa 2008

4) Random Stuff – check out the work of wunderbar French artist, Helene Rajcak, who makes wonderful drawings for children’s books, paintings for exhibitions, and other stuff too.

From the book ‘La Lune Nue’. Helene Rajcak, 2006

Thanks for listening & I hope to see you drop by the studio for the last hurrah on Feb 8.

With love and best wishes. Bye for now,

 Charlie

p.s. If you feel so inclined you can ‘FOLLOW’ this blog by clicking the FOLLOW button (towards the top RHS of page) to receive notification when I update it with new happenings, newsletters and random observations.

Copyright Charlie Sublet (except where noted otherwise).

Newsletter – January, Two-Zero-One-Four

Welcome Back For Another Round….

Fri Jan 24, 2013 – in my studio, overlooking a magnificent liquid amber.

Wow, what a year past! One that finished with some wonderful random feedback from ‘fortyfive downstairs’ Director, Mary Lou Jelbart. Mary-Lou commented that my exhibition, Umbilicus (2006) was one of the outstanding shows of the past 7 years. That feedback is greatly appreciated at this time when I am re-entering the city’s fiery ‘civilised’ atmosphere after my wanderings in the desert. Many of the Umbilicus pics ended up in The State Library of Victoria’s, and Mercy Health’s, permanent collections.  See the pics here.

NB. This is my new newsletter format. Please consider hitting the ‘FOLLOW’ button (towards the top RHS of page) to receive notification when I update this blog with new happenings or  newsletters.

In this edition:

1)     New  Upgraded Website – online now.
2)     Heide Museum of Modern Art – commissioned Matchbox Miniature sets now available.
3)     WildLife project with award-winning ‘Kage’ (Dance Theatre company).
4)     Miss Jugoslavia and the Barefoot Orchestra Performance Shoot – Now Online.
5)     Bob Brown’s Official Address at The Kimberley exhibition – Updated version now online.
6)     From the Archives – ‘Car Yard’, circa 2001.

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1) New Updated Website – online now. I’ve migrated a lot of my old galleries and blog posts to this site (coz ‘Live Journal’ and ‘Hosting Bay’ provided ongoing shite service – not unlike Telstra :)).

There are plenty of new galleries too, so please have a good explore when you’re bored, excited or simply keen to procrastinate. You never know what you’ll find – like this moving set of old performing arts pics (many from the Melbourne International Arts Festivals of 2004/5).

‘Light Fantastic’ – 2006 L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival’. Produced by Laetitia Shand.

2) Heide Museum of Modern Art – Heide commissioned a new Matchbox Miniatures set of the Heide gardens, sculptures and architecture. These are now available in the Heide store or contact me directly via email  or on 0410 757 202.

Matchbox Miniatures are a set of 10 hand-cut miniature photos served on a bed of hand-torn paper inside an iconic Redheads matchbox. Each box contains a different set of images.

From a previous human/nature series

3) I recently completed WildLife, a collaboration with award-winning Kage (dance-theatre company). WildLife is a series of three large-scale paste-ups (approx 2.4 x 1.5 m) capturing the tension of the dancers’ intimate movement through the Australian bush and exploring issues of gender, equality, proximity and form. You can see the full series here.

‘WildLife III’, 2013

While the exhibition is officially over, the principal dancers, Kate Denborough and Gerard Van Dyck, are still hanging on in the last paste-up….until nature sees them fall…or perhaps bakes them on for eternity?! Visit The Abbotsford Convent to see the real thing, located on the reverse-side of the large map just inside the main entrance on St Heliers Street.

Also, Kage has an incredible new show opening soon (I was lucky enough to see the work-in-progress mid 2013). Seriously, check it out if you can – ForkLift.

4) Miss Jugo and the Barefoot Orchestra Shoot – Now Online. I recently photographed this performance at fortyfive downstairs. Whilst very difficult to photograph due to its beautifully crazed full-on/full-off nature of movement, music and lighting,  Miss J & TBO was excellent.  See some of the pics here and keep your eyes and ears peeled for Miss Jugo’s (a.k.a. Tania Bosak) future performances.

‘Miss Jugoslavia and the Barefoot Orchestra’, 2013

‘Miss Jugoslavia and the Barefoot Orchestra’, 2013

5) Bob Brown’s Official Address at The Kimberley exhibition – Updated version now available. For those who were unable to attend Bob Brown’s address or for those who just can’t get enough of the good Doctor’s inspiring words, hear the inspiring climax of Hunter G’s Trans-Continental Odyssey.

On behalf of talented photographer and activist, Hunter G: A big thanks once-again to Bob Brown (visit The Bob Brown Foundation) and also to Dave Meagher/Singing Bowl Media for filming this.

NB Exhibition prints are still available for purchase at ridiculously cheap prices: $250 for an image in excess of one metre wide!; $150 for 30 x 40 cm framed prints; or framed Limited Edition prints (100 x 70 cm) for $695. View the images and Hunter’s contact details here.

‘Iron Storm’, 2013. By Hunter G

If you’d like to follow Hunter G’s work: ‘LIKE’ him on Facebook; ‘FOLLOW’ him on Twitter; or ‘FOLLOW’ his Blog for photo-essays, stories and commentary. Hunter G’s exhibition work offers beautifully crafted photographic imagery. He also has a soft spot for the absurd, combining creativity and humour to spread the good word – whatever that might be.

6) From the Archives – ‘Car Yard’, Circa 2001.

‘Car Yard’, circa 2001

Remember, if interested, click the ‘FOLLOW’ button (towards the top RHS of page) to receive notification when I update this blog with new happenings or newsletters.

All the best for 2-0-1-4. Thanks for listening & bye for now,

Charlie

Copyright Charlie Sublet (except where noted otherwise). Most images available for purchase.

Room With A View Exhibition

Room with a View is a photographic exhibition exploring conflicting worlds and ongoing tension, choice and doubt.

Views through windows on the top floor of the old Abbotsford Convent were recreated as transparencies on the ground floor windows lining the courtyard of the same building.

Room with a View is part of the Spiritous Grant Program.

While the physical exhibition has finished, here’s an online version, including a few extras…

Windows, 2013

Shepherd, 2013

Forest, 2013

Asylum, 2013

Hallway I, 2013

Transmitter at Dawn, 2013

Hallway II, 2013

City at Dusk, 2013

Public Housing, 2013

Cranes, 2013

Succulent, 2013

Exhibition Details

Dates & Times:

May 1 – 31, 2013. Twenty-Four Hours. NB. Images change depending on time of day and perspective.

Where:

Ground-floor windows in the courtyard of the main convent building. Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford, 3067, Melbourne, Australia. Directions.

Who: 

Charlie Sublet is a Melbourne based artist and writer. His work has been acquired by the State Library of Victoria and he has received numerous awards, grants and residencies. Visit www.charliesublet.com for more information.

Sales:

All images available for sale. Prices vary depending on output type. The original exhibition included 8 Electrostatic Prints (which adhere to a surface using static electricity) and 1 Duratrans (usually used in lightbox displays but equally good on windows, etc.). Standard Type-C prints on paper also available. Please contact Charlie Sublet on 0410 757 202 or via charlie@charliesublet.com

Images and Text Copyright Charlie Sublet, 2013 and available for sale.

A view of the library from the left side facing Swanston Street (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vue panoramique de la salle de lecture La Trobe dans l’université d’état du Victoria, en Australie, prise depuis le 5 e étage. Panorama obtenu en assemblant 4 clichés en format paysage, pris avec un appareil Canon 5D muni d’un objectif 24-105mm f/4 IS. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Taken by Anthony Agius Category:Images of buildings and structures in Melbourne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• Emerging Writers’ Festival (theachristie29.wordpress.com)
• Imminent Kimberley Exhibition: May 20 – June 9 (hunterg1.wordpress.com)

Article – After The Deluge

A version of the following article and images appeared in edition 373 of ‘The Big Issue‘ magazine in Jan 2011. To see the full series of images visit the gallery. 

After The Deluge

Across the Christian world, from New York to Paris, Launceston to Lapland, I am the centre of attention, albeit briefly. I stand and wait obediently, bearing the weight of decorations and shadowy family tensions. I am the living, breathing and already slowly dying annual Christmas tree, dramatically severed at the base.

I am a role player, trying to soothe broken hearts and minds and create a semblance of calm amidst the enforced festive frenzy. It’s a difficult job but having kids around lightens the load, except when they pluck my fine fingers from my abundant arms.

The build-up to this once-a-year festival is frenetic and full of contradictory emotions. But much more striking is the post-festive ‘come-down’. It is mercilessly abrupt – like the chainsaw that felled me the first time. Now, once the festival of contradictions is over, I am forgotten. Wrestled from my hold I am unceremoniously and roughly dumped, usually on the nature strip, left to die a slow and lonely, yet at times strangely peaceful, death amidst the fresh green grass.

And that’s if I’m lucky. At other times you may find me torn limb from limb on the unforgiving sidewalk asphalt or, as humiliatingly occurred to me in Paris, left drooping and dejected outside a psychiatrist’s office.

I am left, abandoned and paralysed, to face the weather and suffer the ignominy of passing mongrels lifting their hairy legs to mark their territory – me. Now I belong to them, and the streets. Oh, what a fall from such ceremonial heights. From being the centrepiece, the beacon and the Mecca to which the worshippers of consumption make their annual pilgrimage, to now this – a forgotten, forlorn, ignored, shunned and even despised outcast. I am the post-Christmas Christmas tree, felled from great heights.

Needle by green-brown needle I lose my clothes until I am bare, barren, nothing more than skin and bone. My plentiful and once graceful fingers lie curling on the ground, strewn hither and thither by the winds and passing feet.

Occasionally there is an exception to this depressing end on the streets. The homeless folk along the Canal du St Martin in Paris kept me in good company for many weeks after one Christmas, appreciated and clothed in tinsel, living whilst dying amongst a flock who also know what it means to live and sometimes die on the streets. They gave me care, attention and respect, even if their canine friends didn’t.

But either way I s’pose we all end up in the same place. Hopefully I’ll eventually be mulched, to support my millions of growing but doomed cousins around the globe. 

An Indian Odyssey – Sacred Cows

An Indian Odyssey – Sacred Cows

Rishikesh, June – July, 2011

It would be remiss of me not to have a section on India’s ‘sacred’ cows (which often die a slow painful death due to ingesting plastic bags of food left for them by devotees – no-one ever said they were particularly smart, just ‘sacred’).

Shiva, The Destroyer (in order to create anew), and Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu (‘Preserver of the universe’), helped the cows’ popular rise to fame. Shiva’s vehicle was a bull, representing the brute and blind power, as well as the unbridled sexual energy in man. Krishna was (or perhaps ‘is’) a cowherd…and amorous lover (he apparently had 16,108 wives!).

I grew quite fond of these imposing yet generally gentle beasts during my time there. On one occasion I was repeatedly licked by a cow. It was a very strange sensation – like a thousand cats’ tongues in unison.

Just hangin’ out and chewin’ the fat with some of the locals.

After lunch I usually take a stroll through town to work off some of the calories.

A brahmin bull looking for treats from a holy man.

Oi! What are YOU lookin’ at?!

No-One, Um, I mean Nothing…just absent-mindedly staring at the grass.

I can feel a suede jacket coming on! This fur felt so good.

Some impressive but delicate bits…

Not sure if the cow in the background is more impressed by the substantial gear traveling alongside or simply by the fact that she can lick her own nostrils.

No shame here – you take it where you can get it.

What’s the goss girls?

Refugee from the fashion world.

But Oh, I am soooo cute.

I was once too, but not so anymore – notice my battered and broken horns…and the lovely bit of onion sitting in my nostril, on purpose of course – I keep it there as an ayurvedic nasal stimulant.

Mexican stand-off?

A massive bull with a necklace of money passes through town with curious onlookers in tow.

Just walking along and sudd…

The girl in the background knows I’m up to something.

Oh yeah, tear of joy.

If I stretch my neck any further it’s likely to break.

Hold on, I’ll lift my leg to make it a bit easier for you.

That scene above was too hot…somebody, anybody, get me some water…pleeeease. Quickly.

Hangin’ by the Ganges – doing our daily prayers.

Rumps.

Pepsi Girl.

Surely there’s something other than plastic in here worth eating?

Ah yeah, here it is on the tip of my tongue. ‘MMmmmmm.

The Hand of God – I always wondered what the body looked like that was attached to the hand in that famous painting. Looks like he’s in good shape for his age.

Feeding the bull on the Laxman Jhula bridge.

An Indian Odyssey – The Beatles Ashram

An Indian Odyssey – The Beatles Ashram

Rishikesh – June/July 2011

The abandoned Maharishi ashram where The Beatles stayed in the 60’s and wrote the White album. It’s a massive overgrown complex with astounding architecture – a real shame that it’s falling into ruins although the abandoned atmosphere makes it pretty special.

The main entrance.

Atop one of the multi-storey accommodation blocks with the forest slowly advancing over the years.

Destroying to create afresh.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Some of the very funky meditation domes. The acoustics inside are very impressive when you bang out an "Om".

Meditation dome and sleeping quarters # 19.

A shrine to Shiva, God of Destruction (in order to create anew)

LSD

All you need is Love.

The encroaching forest.

Frayed electrical cord.

Below, the Bat Quarters…

The bats hang out in the extremely dark meditation cells which are not dissimilar to solitary confinement cells.

‘Om’ – the sound of the universe