Music video I animated and directed for the song “Don’t Look Back” by Urbanity (Albare and Phil Turcio).
Music Video: Urbanity – Don’t Look Back
Art
Music Video: Sarah Blasko – Without
To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Sarah Blasko’s beautiful album ‘Eternal Return’ and the release of the deluxe digital only version of the album I was asked to make a video for the final track on the record “Without”. It was wonderful working with Sarah again. The animation is one long camera pan of a large single image I made, I think it would make a cool print.
Beyoncé Formation World Tour
I was commissioned to create animated content for Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour. My work screened on the 20 x 20 metre video monolith during the performance of her song Countdown, the animation was a collage of footage from her music videos and Lemonade visual album content.
For the first month of the tour the animation filled the entire screen, I then created revisions turning the animation into a moving border, framing the live footage of her on stage projected back onto the monolith. I attended the concert in Frankfurt am Main, it was incredible and completely surreal to see my work displayed at this scale, and Queen Bey performing in front of it.
Here are some photos of my work from the very first concert of the tour taken by Bryan Kwak, Apr 27, 2016, Marlins Park, Miami, Florida.
Music Video: Paul Kelly – Sonnet 18
On 23 April 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Paul Kelly released ‘Seven Sonnets and A Song’, a mini-album of Shakespeare’s greatest sonnets and a song from ‘Twelfth Night’ set to music. Here is the video for Sonnet 18 (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’) that I created. It was so nice working with Paul again, one of my very first major label music video commissions was for his side-project “Stardust Five” in 2006.
Landscape is a State of Mind – Group Exhibition, The Australian Embassy Berlin.
From Dec 11, 2015 until Feb 26, 2016 I exhibited artworks at The Australian Embassy in Berlin as part of the group show “Landscape is a State of Mind”.
Here is some overdue documentation of the exhibition (photographed by Harriet Clare). The other artists included Anna Steele, who is a painter, Harriet Clare who exhibited photographs but also works in collage, and Shannon Murphy.
Lucy Dyson. Far right, Harriet Clare
Anna Steele paintings
Lucy Dyson collages detail
Lucy Dyson collages
Anna Steele paintings, Harriet Clare Photography
And here is an assortment of photos of the exhibition being set up and the opening night
Amanda Annamalay, Harriet Clare, Lucy Dyson
Harriet Clare installing her work
LR Shannon Murphy, Second Secretary Amanda Annamalay, Julia Kaute Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, Harriet Clare, Lucy Dyson, Susanne Kalbantner Public Affair, Anna Steele
Shannon Murphy, Amanda Annamalay, Harriet Clare, Lucy Dyson, Anna Steele
Shannon Murphy, Harriet Clare, Lucy Dyson, Anna Steele
Anna Steele and her paintings
Harriet Clare, Julia Kaute, Susanne Kalbantner, Anna Steele
Danke schoen Archim! The embassy’s technician installing my work.
Anna Steele
“Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland 1861 – 2008” Brooklyn Museum NYC
In 2008 I made an animated music video for the song “Persist” by the Melbourne band All India Radio, the animation was based on the story of Topsy the Coney Island elephant electrocuted by Thomas Edison. My sister Marita provided illustrations and Isobel Knowles assisted me with the animating. The first time I watched the animation with an audience (at a music video program during the Melbourne International Film Festival), claps and cheers followed at the end of every video screened, however “Persist” was met silence so awkward I wanted to fall through the floor. Fast forward 7 years…
Last November I was in NYC for the opening of the exhibition “Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland 1861 – 2008” at Brookly Museum, “Persist” had been curated in the exhibition, along with works by Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, and Joseph Stella.
The animation was displayed on a screen, on a loop with the original and very graphic film by Thomas Edison “Electrocution of Topsy”, as a key part of the section that told the story of Topsy and her life at Coney Island. It was an honour to be part of the exhibition, and it was also wonderful to meet the curators from The Wadsworth Atheneum who had originally conceived of the exhibition and to hear how they came across my animated tribute to Topsy online.
The exhibition toured nationally showing at The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford CT, San Diego Museum of Art (July 11, 2015 – October 13, 2015) and McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, (May 11, 2016 – September 11 2016).
From April 2017 Persist will be included in an adapted version of the exhibition that over the next five years will travel to venues in underserved communities in the US.
A fully-illustrated, beautiful 304-page catalogue of the exhibition was published by Yale University Press, here is the write-up on my animation from its pages…
Deep Leads – The Orbweavers at ACMI
Recently, Melbourne band The Orbweavers presented Deep Leads, a night of music and archival film footage of Melbourne at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, three of my animations were also included in the screening.
The Poison Garden music video screened along with two other films I made especially for the performance, one for The Orbweaver’s song Periods Of Light and Rock, and another for their song Radium Girls.
Radium Girls tells the 1917 story of female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint at the United States Radium factory in New Jersey, the animation will be reworked and released as a proper music video some time next year.
I was in New York City at the time of the event so didn’t get to attend the performance and unfortunately there isn’t a lot of footage from the night, but here are some stills from the Radium Girls music video…
Music Video: The Orbweavers – Poison Garden
Earlier this week my new music video for The Orbweavers premiered on Tone Deaf and was selected as Rage’s “Wild One” music video (formerly Indie Of The Week). This project was a bit of a family affair, my older sister Marita being one half of The Orbweavers (her partner Stuart is the other half of the band), and once again my younger sister Molly lending her limbs in front of the camera. “Poison Garden” is out now on digital release on Mistletone Records via Inertia.
Music Video: Giant Sand – Transponder
Earlier this month my music video for “Transponder” by Howe Gelb’s legendary band Giant Sand premiered on Stereogum. The video came about when I finished Gemma Ray’s “The Wheel” music video, Howe Gelb’s vocals feature on that track and after seeing the video for it he got in touch about working together. The animation features my sister Molly, who lives around the corner from me and is a really great illustrator and artist. I got Joe to photograph Molly in burst mode in front of our kitchen wall while I directed her to bend, stretch and cry. While I was in the middle of putting the video together Howe was coming through Berlin on tour, so it was great to be able to include him in the video, meet him in person and see him perform, the man is a genius.
