Innocence of the Apocalypse

A couple of years ago I saw the movie "The Road", a post a apocalyptic story about a boy and his father and their search for a better place in a world of poverty, depression, cannibalism and perpetual danger.

I felt moved by the child's character and the responsibility he was forced to take on in such a world - the only world he had ever known. Despite his maturity and his responsibilities he couldn't help but still be a child from time to time. This struck a cord with me and I was moved by his innocence.

My exploration of the theme of children in a post apocalyptic world began with a large hand drawn paste up, pasted in Collingwood in in 2012.

I then followed this with another large scale, hand drawn paste up in Brunswick - this time with more of an installation element.

After the large paste ups, I decided to focus on a smaller illustration so I could add more detail, this became the first illustration of the series as well as a very large paste up (photocopied this time and not hand drawn, in Toronto, Canada as part of Art de la Roo ).

After Art de la Roo, I began thinking more about this theme in relation to a space as opposed to being on the street. I was discussing this with projection artist Yandell Walton when we decided it would be a great theme to collaborate on. As artists our work is completely different, but we both have a strong interest in space as part of our work and this was the binding element for our collaboration.

I began working on 4 illustrations on paper which then became the 'static' children of our post apocalyptic world. 

Innocence of the Apocalypse went from illustrative paste ups to a completely immersive installation based collaboration. Projection, sound, installation, performance and illustration all came together in an empty building in Collingwood in September 2013.

Supported by the City of Yarra, Curvy and Kennards Hire and part of Melbourne Fringe the event was experience by approximately 350 people over 3 nights. Below is a beautifully shot video by Jim Arneman and detailed photographic documentation by Lauren Dunn
 
More at www.innocenceoftheapocalypse.com


Innocence Of The Apocalypse by Yandell Walton and I & The Others from Yandell Walton on Vimeo.

 

Abando fun

Last week Klara and I met up to explore and make work in another abando. Our last effort in Carlton was during the summer and we've both been keen to get out to explore and do it all again.

Wednesday was rainy - a real shit of a day for painting a wall in a space with no roof, but we were so excited and inspired by the old cotton factory/warehouse on Johnston St Collingwood that it seemed easy to ignore the weather.

This abandoned building fell victim to a fire some time back and the combination of charred walls, overgrown vines and oodles of thread were almost too much for me - I had to take some photos before I could even think about what to do on the walls.

 

 

We chose a wall in a room with this beautiful TwoOne piece and decided to use some of the thread lying around to give our work an installation element. We both wanted to create something that really took advantage of the amazing space and this was what we ended up with...

 

 Klara in action - not sure if this was before or after she fell through the top of a wooden crate...

 In progress...

From the inside out

Last year a good friend of mine came to me with a challenge - to create a piece in the front window of her home (which was originally a shopfront) that would block out the public from seeing into her living room, but not so much block the light.

After some contemplation and a bit of research I decided to do a paste up from the inside which meant layering in reverse. My mate Jim came along and documented the process and it went a little something like this


151 Darebin Rd Paste Up from James Arneman on Vimeo.

The very talented All India Radio supplied the beautiful soundtrack.