Laurie
Nilsen
Mandandanji Neighbours 2008
Nilsen’s
witty new body of work has been inspired by the iconic imagery
of Andy Warhol’s celebrity screen-print portraits.
Nilsen has responded with his own glamorous array of repetitious
emu heads. Employing a combination of acrylic and screen-printed
techniques including hand painted features, his emus appear as
bizarre family portraits. Indeed emus are Nilsen’s totems.
The Mandandanji Neighbours series have been individually titled
with various tribal group names in a direct reference to Hortons
Map of Aboriginal Australia. Beginning with his own Mandandanji
tribal name from South Western Queensland where he was born and
raised, Nilsen links foreground and background colours with neighboring
tribal group names, as a form of recognizing extended families.
The premise being that emus appear and wander all over Australia
- as has the artist.
Another
work The Ten Goolburis is a blatent reference on Warhol’s
The Ten Marilyns, harking back to his ongoing interest
in exploring popular culture through Indigenous sensibilities.
The
works have been produced as multiples in two sizes
70x70cm at $890 each
48x48cm at $630 each
Set prices available
Laurie Nilsen New Works
(acrylic and pastel on canvas) 2008
These
are essentially illustrative works – Nilsen is a masterful
draughtsman – depicting portraits of individual emus. The
results, some of which he has captured on his mobile phone, reveal
quirky and mad profiles of strange outback birds.
Laurie Nilsen: Birds on a Wire Ashley Crawford Australian
Art Collector Issue 42 Oct-Dec 2007 pp149-153
I’m
a Widow by Choice
At first glance, people may see a large Red Back spider, a species
related to the Black Widow. Both these spiders are notorious for
eating their male partner after mating. The scale of these works
usually inspires a giggle, which is intended; however, there is
as well a more serious underlying message.
This
artwork highlights women’s issues – hence the title
I’m a Widow by Choice.
It’s about women having more say in decisions affecting
women. For instance, on the topic of abortion - How would a male
know what it’s really like for a woman to abort, for whatever
reason? That’s women’s business - not decisions to
be made by men on moral grounds.
Laurie
Nilsen Artist Statement 2007
|