Newcastle artist Michael Bell talks about his upcoming show, Parade, a survey of 30 years of his selected artworks, with Jim Kellar.
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00:00 Hello, Michael Bell. We're sitting in your backyard with your studio up behind the house.
00:05 You've got an art show coming up, yes?
00:06 I have indeed, yes. It opens on April 23rd up at the brand new, relatively brand new,
00:15 Cessnock Regional Gallery attached to the Performing Arts Space in Vincent Street. It
00:20 opens on the 23rd of February between 5 and 7pm if you're free to come along. And it's
00:26 until April 14th, so on for about seven weeks.
00:29 You'll have some new work and some old work?
00:31 Yeah, yeah. It's a 30-year survey show, they call it, of 30 years of artwork that I've
00:39 made. Having said that, it's not comprehensive. I'm not showing everything I've made in 30
00:46 years. It's quite selective. So there are mainly paintings and drawings. I'm not showing
00:51 any ceramics this year or in this exhibition or any of the archival portraits. It's pretty
00:59 selective of what I've chosen. Probably all around about 40 to 50 artworks I'm showing
01:07 for this exhibition.
01:08 There is a work of the infamous Dog Beach as well?
01:12 There is, yes. It's a subject that I keep returning to and I've been working on that
01:16 subject probably for about 25 years now. So I'm showing three different versions of the
01:21 Dog Beach over that 30-year period.
01:27 Michael, you do mostly work in your studio here at home, yes?
01:30 I do, yeah. I'm very lucky to have a nice big studio in the back of my property here.
01:38 I love working in that space. I work in it almost every day.
01:43 When's your most productive time?
01:46 Mostly of an evening. Just at the end of the day when things are quietened down a little
01:52 bit and the weather's cooling off a little bit, I tend to work for about three hours
01:57 of an evening in my studio. That's the time I like when things are a bit quieter than
02:03 usual during the day.
02:04 And there's a bit of music going on usually in Michael's life?
02:07 For sure, yeah. Usually I have sometimes the ABC Evening Quiz on for about an hour and
02:17 other times I've got Spotify going. So I listen to all sorts of Discover Weekly songs on Spotify.
02:25 But it's quite random what I listen to. Sometimes it's just noise I listen to in the studio.
02:29 I don't really know what bands are playing, it's just background noise. But other times
02:33 there's bands I like to play and work to, like Old Talking Heads. Albums I play on Spotify,
02:41 but also current bands too that I'm quite interested in. Bands like Big Thief I've been
02:46 playing a bit in the studio. But yeah, pretty random.
02:50 You've even got a couple of music works in the show, yes?
02:52 I have, yes I have. Inspired by one of the great Australian songwriters and rock musicians
03:00 and author, Dave Graney, who I've been following probably for about 30 years. So I've made
03:06 a few artworks based on Dave's performances over the years. They've been very enjoyable
03:13 works to make. Dave hasn't seen them yet, I'll send him some photos of the works once
03:18 they're in the exhibition.
03:20 And one of your famous friends is opening the show for you, yes?
03:23 Yeah, very lucky. My good friend from art school and university days, an author called
03:31 Mark Mordew, a rock writer really, and a poet. His most recent claim to fame is written Boy
03:40 on Fire, Young Nick Cave. So it's become an international bestseller for Mark, I'm glad
03:45 to say. And he's very kindly making a trip up the M1 from Sydney and coming to Cessnock
03:51 to open the exhibition for me. So yeah, very grateful to Mark for doing that for me.
03:55 Great. Now all the paint is dried, show is ready to go, yes?
03:58 It just needs to be all wrapped up now. Yep, the truck's coming next week. So fingers crossed
04:02 that it'll get there safely and go on the wall without any problems.
04:06 Great, thank you.