Beyond words

2008-08-24T13:51:00.003+10:00

Current blogs I am working on:

Stillness in Flight
Drawing on Glass
Of Winter Stars

Also there is a website under construction.

Thankyou for coming here and looking at my work, there are plenty of old posts to peruse here.

the end of this thing

2008-08-23T13:45:00.001+10:00

I wish that I had some kind of photo which brought this to completion. Because it is finally completed. I moved out some months ago now, it just took awhile for me to find the space to wade through all these photos and upload them.
The reason I have done this is to bring this period of time to completion. This life. This way of doing things. This art I was making and the processes which I made it in. It is also the end of this blog now.
If I find a photo which fits this, I'll show you.
But for now we have the past fleeting in our hands and all manner of new things to come in this present.

Weather Exchange

2008-07-24T13:58:00.001+10:00

Recently I participated in an international project of weather photo exchange. I was partnered with an artist in Rotterdam, Netherlands who I didnt know, and each day we were required to take a photo of the weather and post it on a blog. I participated from Tuesday 8th of July until Sunday 20th of July while I was doing a residency at the Kings Cottage in Launceton. It was a pretty interesting project, but more than anything alighted new ideas inside me for the possibilities of collaboration.
Weather Photos

the boxes

2008-04-28T12:05:00.001+10:00

Objects of interest in this moving game, its a pity about the branding, i would like the boxes more if they were blank.

in the thick of it

2008-04-28T11:36:00.000+10:00

tŷ bâch twt

2008-04-27T22:07:00.000+10:00

(tŷ bâch twt is welsh for cubby house)

I had grand visions for what might have happened at the cubby house party, I envisioned walls made from sheets and cardboard, shadowpuppetry, sleeping on cushions and reading poems, drawing on paper and eating cookies with tiny cups of milk with tea, music and laughter.

When the sunday rolled round and it was time to play I was overwhelmed with the concept of moving house and the mess and boxes reading for packing and all I wanted was a desert. All I wanted was a desert. I wanted nothing in the room. I wanted nothing.

But my most beloveds came ready to play, and it was a beautiful thing to see. People pulled sheets from their neat stacks and hung ties and strings from the rafters, turned chairs and lounges upsidedown, and created a world of shadows and dreams. There were whispers and soundscapes and a subtle feeling of the end.

This grew into an uncomfortable feeling, and a desire for ones own home. There was a feeling of loss and displacement in the air, and a craving for a sense of home. By 10 o'clock everyone had left and gone home. It was a strange party, but as a conceptual art piece it couldn't have been more perfect, and a perfect end to a long artists residency in the warehouse.

It was as if I was moving my friends out, and the space needed to change before I could let go and actually engage with the task of physically moving my belongings out of the house.

I left the house and walked into the street and into the night with a great sense of release in my body.

Before Dismantling

2008-04-26T12:28:00.001+10:00

of near my room

2008-04-26T11:37:00.000+10:00

Documentation of the house

2008-04-26T11:07:00.002+10:00

street picnic

2008-04-25T11:33:00.001+10:00

prelude

2008-04-25T11:27:00.000+10:00

me and my rolls of paper

2008-04-25T10:51:00.001+10:00

aliment |ˈaləmənt|

2008-04-20T20:23:00.005+10:00

An exhibition by Noah Symons, Tamara Lunchbox, Oliver Van Der Lugt and Chay-Ya (from top to bottom). The work for this show spurned from the dinner preparations, exhibited on the wall of my kitchen.

Babylon Lexicon

2008-04-15T19:13:00.004+10:00

Babylon Lexicon is an annual exhibition of artists' books and book inspired art curated by Hot Iron Press. I posted over some of my artists books (from most recent show, a perfect stillness) far over the seas for inclusion in the exhibition (see if you can spot them in the pictures!)

It ran from 10 November - 8 December 2007 at the Goldring Riverview Gallery of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA/RIVERFRONT). My first international exhibition was much easier than I thought it would be, and just cost me the price of a very big stamp. It was really exciting to be apart of this and I recommend checking out the Hot Iron Press website.

It has taken me a little while to get around to posting up all of this older content that has come lately, but we are almost up to the present, and we are always in the present even if reminiscing.

Playing with light

2008-03-28T23:53:00.005+11:00

Photography by Max Milne

Photos from the exhibition at Bus

2008-03-28T22:42:00.009+11:00

A few photographs from the show (taken by Lucas Maddock), for more detailed shots of each piece on its own please scroll down futher to older posts. Thankyou to everyone who supported this project, including the City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program.

Book works

2008-03-28T22:33:00.007+11:00

Two books were produced as part of the Perfect Stillness exhibition and can be ordered by contacting me at chayya.clancy@gmail.com

Illustrious Botanae
(29 x 35 cm) $95

Artists’ Book, limited edition of 20. Printed on lana dessin 220gsm
drawing paper, sewn together with an antique industrial sewing machine and fabric.
Featuring twelve illustrations of the indigenous plant Gymea (sample above)

A perfect stillness where everything moves catalogue
(14 x 14.5cm) $10

44 page catalogue, produced in a limited edition of 200, printed onto conquerer
laid paper. Featuring photographs of the exhibition, line drawings and text. A part of and an extension from the exhibition.

LEFT

2008-03-28T22:01:00.009+11:00

For closer insight click on any images above that interest you and they will grow in size, making it easier on your eyes.

left
(2.3 x 2.4 metres)

Fabriano Artistico 300gsm hot pressed watercolour paper (Italy), oriental spice and hot ginger acrylic house paint, conte, graphite.

Featuring the silhouettes of Sohi and Claude, bamboo, ferns,
gymea lilies, japonica, protaceae, and birds

CENTRE

2007-11-09T12:58:00.000+11:00

click on the image above to make it bigger and more easy to be seen

centre

(1.1 x 2m approx)

Fibre board, orange scent and candelabra acrylic house paint, conte and graphite.

Featuring the silhouettes of Mandy and red parrot tulips

RIGHT

2007-10-24T16:12:00.000+10:00

right

(3.2 x 2.4 metres)

Fabriano Artistico 300gsm hot pressed watercolour paper (Italy),

acrylic house paint, conte.

Featuring the silhouettes of Ben

The circle

2007-10-24T16:02:00.001+10:00

Unrolled, rolling and re rolled up. My work went up on the walls of bus gallery with the help of my most wonderful friend lucas and all the patience that goes along with mounting enormous pieces of paper to a wall. People came to the opening, my little brothers were wearing matching clothing (blue satin vests, white shirts and board shorts - they dressed themselves!), my mum made fruit platters with almonds and cloves and my beloveds brought me flowers plucked and added to the show of drawings, books and dried magnolias.
It was a really beautiful show and thankyou to everyone who came and checked it out, also to all of those who helped put the production together and BUS for having me.

Im going to put up photographs of the show in installments. There were three pieces in the show, A PERFECT STILLNESS WHERE EVERYTHING MOVES which I named LEFT< CENTRE < and RIGHT.

There were two book works as part of the project, A catalogue named after the show and a book of botanical illustrations of the Gymea Lily titled Illustrious Botanae.

All the work is for sale and books can be ordered. Thankyou.

Counting fingers now

2007-09-17T15:46:00.000+10:00

Its only Eight sleeps until my show now, hands covered in white paint, to do lists listing on the walls of my studio. There are flyers circulating the streets and pockets of people, they are limited edition colour prints on ivory laid paper, you can find them around (I left a huge stack at Alice Euphemia near Flinders Lane). I hope to see you at the opening. There are three other shows opening at Bus that night that also sound quite beautiful.

The press release for my show is up here:
http://www.theprogram.net.au/eventsSub.asp?id=5078&category=0&state=3&selDate

Plus I just found a really amazing australian artist in here called Benjamin Forster, have a look at this drawing: http://www.emptybook.net/Images/Page2-3.jpg and then have a look at the other ones.

The White Room Exhibition

2007-09-05T16:52:00.001+10:00

Ive got an impromptu retrospective of work from the last year in a new artist run space in prahran. Im calling it "Looking over my shoulder". Featuring work from several different shows so there will deffinately be something you havent seen, its up for a couple of weeks so check it out if you have the chance.

The White Room, 39 James Street, Prahran (comes directly off Chapel Street, down the windsor end of things). http://thewhiteroom.net.au

The lillies

2007-09-05T16:48:00.002+10:00

Previews of the illustrations that will be apart of the book work i am making for my upcoming show at Bus Gallery.

A perfect stillness where everything moves

2007-08-28T16:23:00.000+10:00

This is the ad that appears in the latest art almanac, the shiny september version, photography of the drawings is by Max Milne (http://home.exetel.com.au/m2photography/ ). My show is proudly supported by the City of Melbourne. Thankyou.

Gymea lillies

2007-08-22T16:22:00.000+10:00

Ive been drawing these lillies, Gymea (the indigenous name) or flame or spear lilly (Doryanthes excelsa is its botanical).
Apparently aboriginal people used to roast them over the fire and eat them, and the stems can be up to 6m high but more often around the 2 to 3.

This is where Im going

2007-08-22T14:59:00.001+10:00

Gaps of time between us, and now our interaction is pushed forward into the current moment we are both standing in.

Set free to the movement of the Nightingale

2007-05-02T20:25:00.000+10:00

This drawing features my friend Sohi, two fake birds called Yietta and Unknown, a chair and the Japanese Aralia plant Tim gave me. It was too hard to take a photo of the whole drawing so again here are details from it. This drawing and the two below (Aralia and Okra to Autumn) are part of the works on Paper show at Brunswick Street Gallery currently on and running until 10 may.

Aralia and okra

2007-05-02T20:16:00.000+10:00

The first drawing is the silhouette of a Japanese Aralia plant over several layers of house paint on drawing paper.
The second drawing is called Okra to Autumn and is the silhouette of dried okra and autumn leaves repeated, deconstructed, drawn over. There are areas of detail and areas of generalisation. Was a really interesting process. Think Im going to do more of this kind of thing.

faustina y ricardo

2007-05-02T20:11:00.000+10:00

This is a silhouette drawing of my friend Faustina and a green lowrider bicycle named ricardo. It is mainly 6B greylead on drawing paper and some orange scent house paint. Its quite subtle so difficult to photograph.

work in process

2007-05-02T19:56:00.000+10:00

ive been documenting the dying process of cut flowers with silhouettes and drawn detail. i think a lot about this process and making connections and generalisations with the process of flowers with all life. This drawing is on a large slab of wood, more lines to be drawn soon.

taking photos of new exhibition

2007-05-02T16:04:00.000+10:00

Works on Paper 07

2007-04-17T20:35:00.000+10:00

Im putting up a couple of new drawings in the Works on Paper show at Brunswick Street
Gallery next week, a drawing and printmaking group show.

The opening is on Friday 27 April at 6pm
Show runs until 10 May.
Brunswick Street Gallery can be found at Level 2 of 322 Brunswick Street in Fitzroy (opposite Bar Open)

A tangle of things in the works. Id give you a sneak preview but I dont have a camera anymore. Ive been spending more time inside the making and less time in the documenting. Outcomes coming and some already being, still.
My exhibition HOLDING a moment still to VIEW IT is still up in the window at 107 smith street fitroy for another few weeks, until the end of april. I plan to swap the existing drawings with some new ones at an unexpected moment.
Im thinking about making a new zine this week called DRAW A LINE with some drawings from my sketch book for the market on saturday.

Holding a moment still to view it

2007-03-26T12:47:00.000+10:00

An exhibition of new silhouetted drawing experiments by me.

Field trip

2007-03-26T12:25:00.000+10:00

On deciding for a field trip because I was tired of tracing the lines of my insides, I walked down the hill and drew this fig tree, rain falling intermittently.

The angle of apples

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me and my teeth

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(Click on this and it will get huge)

Being still inside this movement

2007-01-17T15:55:00.000+11:00

I have shown you this drawing and the processes leading to it before. But I muddled with the colours a little and thought it was worth showing you again. Click on the image to see an enlarged version on the screen, you can see the texture of the line making.

Sanctuary exhibition

2006-12-21T14:58:00.000+11:00

Here are some photos from my recent solo exhibition "Sanctuary" at the Workshop on Elizabeth Street. Thankyou to everyone that came and checked out my work!

Sales inquiries welcome at chayya.clancy@gmail.com, and dont forget I have an awesome little catalogue / hand made book for only $5.

Wonder what is going to happen next...

shadows of lilly pillys

2006-12-20T16:56:00.000+11:00

Mapping a new script

2006-12-20T16:55:00.000+11:00

Spotlighting the drawing with the projector lamp lighting, Mandy Warr took these two beautiful photographs of my finished drawing "Mapping a new Script" which was the main feauture of my latest exhibition.

This drawing has gone through many lives and layers. Four people and their silhouettes were involved to tell this story. The images here are from the finished drawing (the outcome of the process).

Up on the wall at the Workshop

Process

2006-12-20T16:44:00.000+11:00

Process is vital to my work as an artist and human being.

In this project I wanted to map out a relationship between two people and their lines on paper. I had to this point drawn quite a few individuals and their silhouettes, but drawing two people at the same time was a challenge I hadnt yet begun to explore. It was a lot harder than I envisaged. The dynamic of artist and model changes to artist viewing the relationship between two humans and trying not to affect the natural bond whilst translating it into a visually balanced aesthetic, and obviously having to affect the dynamic somewhat. Orchestration without being contrived...

The first drawing I did was quite beautiful (see above) but didnt capture the story I wanted to tell, so I sanded it off and drew another picture over the top using different models. Conceptually I love the idea of there being layers in this drawing, a history, a movement, taking it further. The first drawing looked at the vulnerability and abandonement in relationships and the finished drawing played more with the idea of hope and potential and a solid connection between two people.

The drawing in the post "Mapping out a new Script" is the final outcome of this exploration.

2006-12-04T21:04:00.000+11:00

my drawing manifesto

2006-12-03T14:21:00.000+11:00

Life is a constant learning and rescripting of lines.

I think in lines. Masses of looping lines forming figures and languid speech. I am into drawing as seeing, extending an experience and finding a way through and forward.

Tracing silhouettes is a beautiful way to capture movement and the essence of a person in their motion. A way of mapping out a new script, and exploring stories between people, inner processes and their lines on paper.

I am really excited about this idea of drawing at the moment. Every drawing is a challeng, translating three dimensional bodies and movement onto a two dimensional plane. Stop motioning, being still inside motion, as the model pauses for me to trace their outline.

I have been drawing self portraits for five years. Te ones I am showing in this exhibition are from the last four months. I am interested in how inner and outer perception affects the drawings and how drawing affects perception.

Drawing myself, using a small mirror, and often while riding a tram, is an effective way of grounding and being in each experience as an experience. It allows me to feel and move through my processes. Of coordinating the hand with the eye and of creating a calm inside, the sanctuary.

Photographs just see to happen, they are not something I really plan. My camera finds itself in my hand, recording patterns and finding beauty amongst this city landscape. Process is integral to my art and life. Photos become a way of recording process in a very literal way.

Chay-Ya Clancy.
(This was the statement that I included as part of my exhibition, thought you might find it interesting to read.)

Sanctuary opening

2006-12-03T14:02:00.000+11:00

My exhibition "Sanctuary" opened a couple of days ago. Two life sized silhouette drawings (2.4x1.5m and 2.4x3m), a grid of 161 self portraits, drawings of roses and photographs of magnolias, powerlines and dead flowers.
All the work is new and previously unseen in the public eye. Their eyes are full now. And there are crystals in mine. Dried sleep in the corner of my eyes, blurred visions in patterns. Exhibitions are hard work. Do check it out if you are in Melbourne. The work is up at the Workshop (www.theworkshop.com.au if you need directions) which is a beautiful place to hang out with an abundance of indoor plants and lovely bar staff who make great mocktails with fresh lime. Everything is for sale and happy to go home with other people.

I have made a catalogue for the exhibition. Which is really like a zine of drawings. It is printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper, hand sewn with inked titles. Limited edition of 100 and signed my me. It is only $5. Let me know if you want one (chayya.clancy@gmail.com).
The opening was lovely, thankyou to everyone that came and to Kaka Bulan (Supina and Bea) for playing beautiful music. I'll let you know if I find any photos.

shadows over silhouettes

2006-12-03T13:24:00.000+11:00

Playing with my own shadows over the top of a silhouette drawing. The interplay of drawing with white, projected light and reflected light (photography). Its pretty fun. I am really excited about the idea of animating some of these drawings with film eventually.

This is the early development of a silhouette drawing I did with Mandy (as seen in previous photos) for my current exhibition that is up at the Workshop.

The practise page, next to the good copy (you can see them together below).

This is on cheap brown card, so the paint sunk right into the paper and dulled it down (the brightness you can see here is me mucking around with the levels on the computer). I really like the two drawings together as one piece. The movement between the "practising" and "this is on really good paper" in both the model and the artist. There wasnt enough room in my exhibition to put both up so you get the extended version here.

stretching moments

2006-12-03T11:55:00.000+11:00

This is an old photograph. I took it when I was intently looking for answers, trying to find a method to stretch these moments of clarity into an existence. They come, the moments, and then they fade when you forget to remember them.

Life is a constant remembering, and dipping into this learning. Take it in both hands, take up this challenge. Clarity is right here when you want it.

dried lillies

2006-11-24T15:57:00.000+11:00

a motion inside this

2006-11-23T14:50:00.000+11:00

The last couple of days I have been collaborating with my beautiful friend Mandy. We have been dancing and drawing and filming and trying out lots of things. I have been making a silhouette drawing on yellow paper for my exhibition next week and we have been talking about future animation/ drawing collaborations, it is very exciting. I am loving silhouettes and the way you can map and script out stories with lines.
(Photos by Mandy Warr)

production

2006-11-20T15:19:00.000+11:00

a strange idea to take photos of utensils instead of using them for their purpose.
a distraction perhaps, or an immersion in the documentation of process.
i like process. the way things build up, unexpected diversions, the patterns in things and their shapes...
these are photos from my studio, and work on the big drawings.

hours of roses

2006-11-16T16:00:00.000+11:00

I have been listening to warm beats and kalimba on the steryo in my studio, drawing roses, greylead on cream paper. My hands are aching from all this concentrating. But I love it and never want to stop. I am back, my drawing arms have untangled and loosened themselves out of the grip of this forgetting. I will try and remember not to leave again.

silhouetted preview

2006-11-14T14:16:00.000+11:00

Ive been working on life sized silhouette drawings for the last few months. A beautiful way to document movement. Tracing around the tangible outlines of a precarious moment. This photograph above is a section of one of the drawings im doing for my upcoming exhibition.

ginger pancakes

2006-11-14T14:04:00.000+11:00

Ginger pancakes and pear jam. Flipping it to a well known rhythm. Out of time church bells, losing meaning on the wind. A subtle breakbeat to this breakfast cooking. The religious chiming sounding like the clanging of metal spoons on kitchen pots. Perfect with my noises of sifting, mixing, flipping and frying.

Over, under above and through

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living this

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one line

2006-11-13T10:21:00.000+11:00

Drawing with one line, not taking the pencil off the page, is my new favourite thing. The line seems to drip and liquify. I like how it connects all the spaces between.

Sanctuary

2006-11-12T20:01:00.000+11:00

The next installment. My second solo exhibition for this year opens in two weeks at the Workshop in the city. Beautiful, raw and tactile drawings of humans and the spaces between them.

All work is new and has been created with the layout of the space in mind. I have been playing with the idea of creating a sanctuary within the city landscape. The Workshop is a bar that overlooks city streets and is filled with a masses of green indoor plants so it is a really interesting space for my work.

Exhibition will feature life-sized silhouette drawings, a grid of self portraits and other secrets. Come and explore.

SANCTUARY opens Tuesday 28 November 7-9pm.

featuring a super special performance by Kaka Bulan (the wonderful Supina and Bea) playing music as silhouettes. And if they are in season, platters of white peaches.

Show runs until December 17.

The Workshop. 413 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.(upstairs, enter via A'Beckett Street)http://www.theworkshop.com.au/