They leave the studio, travel to a gallery or a collector’s home, and settle into their new surroundings. Occasionally they make a longer journey interstate. Every now and then one ends up overseas.
As it turns out, a couple of mine had much grander ambitions.
A few years ago I was contacted through Art Lovers Australia. There was a film being produced in Australia and the set designers were looking for artwork. Several pieces were shortlisted and two were selected.
At the time, it all felt a little surreal.
The paintings were packed up and sent on their way, and that was about the last I heard of it. I had no idea where they would appear, whether they would appear at all, or whether they would end up on the cutting room floor. Films, after all, are rather different from galleries. Entire scenes can disappear before anyone sees them.
So I waited.
Eventually the film was released. Netflix’s True Spirit, the story of Jessica Watson’s remarkable solo voyage around the world, appeared on screens around the globe.
Like any curious artist, I sat down to watch.
I wasn’t following the plot quite as attentively as everyone else. Instead, I found myself scanning walls and backgrounds, peering into rooms and wondering if my paintings had survived the editing process.
And then there they were.
For a brief moment, two paintings that had begun life in a small Gold Coast studio were sitting quietly inside a Netflix film.
No fanfare. No dramatic music. Just a rather odd and wonderful feeling.
Artists spend most of their lives working away in relative obscurity. We send paintings out into the world and rarely know where they will end up or who will live with them. Occasionally, however, they surprise us.
Most paintings find a wall.
A couple of mine found Netflix.
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