Move on up...

So my exhibition opened wednesday night and it ended up working out pretty good- i thought...I was worried initally about having enough work to fill the space and especially when I had trouble organising framing- thanks to both Philip and Geoff in that department- but in the end the amount of work I had was just right and with alot of going up and down a ladder and some tips from Tom Borgas, i was ready to go...It was great to see everyone there and though i feel like I didn't spend more than three seconds talking to any one person, I appreciate all the love from all concerned... So as promised, for anyone who wants a second look without having to go into the gallery, or a first look if you couldn't make it on the night- here are the paintings, as they were hanging, from the exhibition. Any that have been sold will be marked as such and if you have any questions or enquiries, you can email me at dcmansutti@hotmail.com... Enjoy...

1. Atlas II, 2012, Spray paint/stencil on canvas $750.00

2. Primavera, 2012, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed $550.00

3. Surrender to the Void, 2011, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed $550.00

4. Everything in its right place, 2011, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed $550.00

5. Metropolis, 2011, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed $550.00

6. Tomorrow Never Knows, 2012, Spray paint/stencil on canvas, 2012 $750.00

7.Force of Nature, 2012, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed $550.00

8.Deeper Water, 2012, Spray paint/stencil on paper framed SOLD

9. The Thin edge of Nothingness, 2012, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed SOLD

10. There is a light that never goes out, 2011, Spray paint/stencil on paper, framed SOLD. So the show is on until the second week of February, so if you haven't had the chance, check it out, let me know what you think....

The thin edge of nothingness...

This was a piece of writing I have been putting together for a kinda catalogue for my show, it will be available there but I thought I would put it on here (or at least a version there of) for all you hardcore cats who been down with me since day one….Have a read, see what you think…

In the beginning, this whole stencil thing for me was not much more than a momentary amusement. I had seen the potential of Stencils via the work of Blek Le Rat, Banksy and Shepard Fairey amongst many others. Their work interested me a great deal as an observer but I didn’t consider that I was capable of producing work in the same league . I had considered that maybe I could look at it from another angle but shelved the idea and continued with what I had been working on. As fate would have it, after a project I had done for a class, I had offcuts of stencil paper, some cans of paint and started experimenting with cutting shapes and just generally getting a feeling for what stencils could do. Principally up to that point, I had been painting in oils and was starting to get a handle on painting larger scale abstract paintings. What had drawn me to it in the first place was the boundless possibilities. With Abstraction, there was no restrictions placed on me by reality or the outer world or even my conscious mind; I had the opportunity to make a connection with every person who saw my work. So I decided to combine the two techniques and when I found myself slicing into the stencil paper, I realized that while stencils had been confined to mostly the replication of the real world, Stencils and Abstraction initially seemed mismatched due to the fact that stencils were static and fixed. Jackson Pollock, who for so long has been a polarizing figure in the world of art, once told an interviewer that he had no interest in replicating nature, he wanted to become nature, to be its rival. When I looked at the idea of stencils and abstraction, I realized I too would have to become nature. To release stencils from the confines of their borders, I need to look at the way the stencils were cut and the way they were painted. Following early experimentation, I approached the cutting by just sitting down and without a preconceived plan, just committing to the creation of the stencil. When it was done, I used a similar technique with the application of the paint- no sketches or plans, just applying the paint where it needed to go, working intuitively. This created a result which took me somewhat by surprise. I had expected that I could put together a cohesive image, but what the stencils allowed me to do was create a greater feeling of balance, an elusive element so important in abstraction. With continued experimentation, I started to consistently achieve the results I was looking for and develop the technique. Due to the process described and the way the works are created, each one is marked as an edition, in the print making tradition- 1/1 obviously because the works cannot be replicated- no two are the same. So as the logical conclusion to all of this I have put together a show of a selection of work from 2011 to present, which I think shows the progression of my exploration of this technique. Included is the first work I did- Titled “Everything in it’s right place” and fittingly so because of it’s deliberate, almost cautious positioning and technique and followed by works like “Tomorrow never knows”, which was inspired by techniques I was using in oil painting towards the end of 2012 and “Atlas II” which ended up being a finalist in the Australian Stencil Art Prize in 2012.