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S T R O K E O F G E N I U S

Jason Benjamin is a traditional fi ne

artist who loves painting in oils

S T I C K E R F O R P U N I S H M E N TLuke Temby, aka Cupco, is a new-school artist with

graphic infl uences

Sharon

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Insight S Y D N E Y

DEEP IN THE

ARTSTEP INTO THE STUDIOS OF T WO VERY

DIFFERENT ARTISTS – ONE “NEW SCHOOL”, ONE MORE TR ADIT IONAL –

AND SEE HOW THE Y ARE NEGOTIATING THEIR EVER-CHANGING FIELD

W O R D S J A M E S C O T T A M P H O T O S I A N B A R R Y

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Luke has been described as an underground artist. So it’s apt that Art Hole – his residency, studio and shop in Surry Hills, Sydney – is located in a basement. Although best known for his handmade felt dolls, the 41-year-old artist’s eff orts include manufactured plastic art-toys, screen prints, zines, patches, caps, bags and sequin- and bead-based artworks. More recently he has been creating felt heads and short animations.

His style is distinct, mixing Japanese manga-style pop art with Mexican Day of the Dead aesthetics, then wrapping it up with memories of childhood felt-based craft classes. Luke found himself surrounded by inspiration when a brief vacation in Japan became a six-year sojourn.

“I was planning to stay three months but just thought, ‘Th is is cool,’ and stayed for years teaching English,” he says.

Luke TembySew far, sew good

T HE NE W-S C HOOL A R T IS T

While living in an area known of Tokyo known as “Grandma Town”, Luke visited an exhibition by the US-based, toy-infl uenced art collective, Friends with You. “I saw them in a small alternative gallery,” he says. “Th ey have one foot in the art world and one foot in the toy world, and I thought, ‘Here we go, this is what I want to do.’”

It was his fi rst foray into art since high school and his fi rst step towards a career in art. Luke initially wanted to design plastic, mass-produced fi gurines, but found it onerous and slow. Th e process, he thought, involved too much back and forth around design and production and not enough time being creative. Instead, he turned to hand-sewing dolls out of felt. It had an appealing immediacy and was

L I T T L E C R E A T U R E S

Luke's art includes soft toys depicting

"cute" dictators and skeletons

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something he could do at home. Home was where he made most of his work, both in Japan and back in Australia.

“[I did that] for over eight years… often at my kitchen table,” he says, “so having Art Hole is very diff erent and the fi rst time I’ve had a proper working space.”

Temby is sharing Art Hole's space and workload with artist Neil McCann, aka Captain Pipe. It is both their studio and their commercial outlet. Th e area is littered with incomplete works, skateboard decks and a golf driving range. Artworks cover the walls and the air reeks of spray-paint, like a freshly graffi tied alley.

Although not strictly an exhibition space, he does feel “it’s a bit like a retrospective; it’s good to see everything together in one place," he says. "My favorite part of the process is the initial idea. After that my work can be slow, taking weeks or months, and the last 10% is probably the worst. It’s good to be in a studio with the work out where I can easily spot what needs to be fi nished.”

Th e commercial aspect is very diff erent as well. Art Hole is described as a “creative retail residency program”. Th e space is provided for artists to both work and sell in. Luke says the “great advantage is that you can learn a diff erent way of selling your work without all the pressures of commercial rent and such. It allows you time to fi gure it all out.”

Initially he sold his works on Etsy, a website for handmade items, but had to stop when his process started to involve more manufacturing. Upon returning to Australia he was introduced to the Damien Minton Gallery in Redfern, which led to a series of shows. Sadly, the gallery recently closed, leaving not only Luke unrepresented but the entire industry feeling squeezed.

It’s a sign of changing buyers’ habits, says Luke. “A gallery is like an album was in the old days,” he says.

“It’s supposed to be listened to as a whole, not as a bunch of singles. Nowadays it seems that not everyone has the patience to hear the whole thing through.”

As we go to print, Art Hole is relocating to L3 Central, a cool multidisciplinary arts space located inside a designer shopping centre with gallery pop-ups and rehearsal studios.

“Our work will fi t in there, both as art and for its price point,” Luke says. “Our stuff isn’t expensive.” Art Hole is located at L3 Central, 28 Broadway, Chippendale, NSW. See more of Luke’s work at cupco.net

Artworks cover the walls and the air reeks of spray-paint, like a freshly graffi tied alley

H U E ' S T H A T G U Y ?

Cupco is all about vibrant colour,

simple lines and multiple mediums

Sharon


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F I N E B O D Y O F W O R K

Jason Benjamin's landscape

paintings are highly detailed

J A S O N B E N J A M I N I S A V E R Y B U S Y M A N . Th e painter, known for his sparse, considered Australian landscapes and fl oral still-life works, is fi nessing paintings for a Sydney show. Born in Melbourne in 1971, he moved to New York in the late 1980s as a teen, on a baseball scholarship. Art studies took him to the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn but, impatient to paint, Jason left before graduating to work in a succession of small Soho galleries. It taught him about being a starving artist and art as a business, and exposed him to some amazing works.

“I got to see works that changed the way I looked at art, works that really infl uenced me,” he says.

Returning to Australia, and perhaps infl uenced by those hungry days, Jason became a chef by night and a painter by day. Th ough it worked well at fi rst, his art practice diminished as his chef’s career progressed. Eventually, after the birth of his fi rst child, he decided to paint full-time. It may have seemed crazy at the time, but it paid off , with his works now held in collections across the globe.

Jason’s career path is typical of “old-school” artists – he focuses on one medium, painting, and is represented by

Jason BenjaminOil and toil

T HE TR ADIT IONAL ART IST

fi ne-art galleries. He prefers to work in oils: “I like oil,” says Jason. “[Fellow admired Aussie artist] Tim Storrier has tried to convince me to go acrylic, but he’s the only one who can get the results he gets, so I keep saying ‘no way’. Oils are slow, like me. You have to be patient as you work, thinking ahead and moving on.”

For oil you need space, and his studio for the last 12 years, a converted car park, has plenty. Located in a mid-century

“Oils are slow, like me. You have be patient… think ahead”

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building, it’s squeezed between public housing and new developments – gentrifi cation is pending. It’s a “real” workspace, neat but rough, and Jason has four or fi ve works on the go at once, with many others stored in racks.

Paint is everywhere, along with other traces of his inspirations. Th ere are photos and piles of books. Th e daylight is beautiful, the light at night fl uorescent. Jason often paints through the night.

In the past, Jason’s work has sold from galleries in each Australian major city. However, like many artists, he feels the ground is shifting: “Yes, I’m making a living still, but it is changing and more challenging,” he says. “I’d be lying if I said it felt stable. Life is hard in the world at the moment and so is the art world. Being an artist is tough.”

Galleries are changing their game plans, too, with a move away from opening nights and towards in-situ,

artists-in-their-studios viewings. Yes, times are tough, but Jason feels the key is to be more strategic. Keeping an eye out for opportunities, and keeping a visible profi le in competitions such as the Archibald, may be more important than ever. He still occasionally worries his work isn’t market-driven enough, but one glance is enough to know it is real and it is beautiful. Jason is represented by Michael Reid Gallery, 44 Roslyn Gardens, Elizabeth Bay, NSW. Or, check out his work at jasonbenjamin.com.au

O N T H E L A N D Jason's urban

studio is a far cry from the rural

settings he paints

Sharon


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