Now that you have seen a bit of the exhibition, I wanted to let you know a bit about how all this work is made.
It all starts with me and my ideas about the world we share but it’s all brought to life by many different people.
My most important collaborator is Peter Hennessey, my life partner of 33 years. I wouldn’t be an artist without him. This show would probably not exist without him. He is involved in so many aspects of it. For the last year we’ve gone to bed talking about this show and woken up thinking about it.
The second person is Dennis Daniel, he does all the digital sculpting and animation. We have worked together for 25 years, and he brings enormous amounts to the work too and I treasure our artistic connection.
Beyond them are the people in my studio who are focused on creating the silicone works, the creatures and figures. Isabel Peppard is an amazing artist and filmmaker who has developed the silicon skins, Liz Rule does the hair and eyes, Alister Pirie and Roger Moll help to bring it all together. We do a lot of our sculpting digitally, but we’ve also worked with Eden Small, Leigh Marsh and Martin Moore.
They are all super talented people in their field and their skills and attention to detail makes the work here great.
There are a bunch of people outside of my studio that work with me regularly, like Mutsumi Nozaki who seams the silicone work, Fiona Edwards and Tox who do the moulds, and Scott Seedsman who does the spray painting. They are invaluable to the work, and I cherish them.
And then there are the people that I work with closely but occasionally on special projects like with Rhys Graham, Alex Cardy and Jillian Nguyen on the film or with Aimee Frodsham and Netty Blair and Tom Rowney at Canberra Glassworks, and Brian Looker who worked on the Diorama, as well as Emma-Kate Hart who did the neon.
The music is a big part of the experience of the work as well, and for this show I worked with Franc Tetaz, Jess Green and Bob Scott, and Jordan Gilmour.
It’s a big, big team and I haven’t even touched on the festival and the huge amount of work they have done in imagining and securing this site for the exhibition and facilitating the installation of the show.
That’s how shows like this are made. All these people are super talented makers and thinkers. I really value them, and I listen to them. One thing I can tell you, we all care deeply about this work, this experience you are having, and I love working together with them.