UPDATE:

Arthive has now closed. Thanks for your support!

Interview with iPortrait Artist, Sez Le Pie




Sez Le Pie is a painter, photographer, illustrator and a performance artist. She creates works within installation and graphic design, as well as testing her skills in the vast and current world of digital media...which is what iPortrait is all about.


Each photograph within the show features a character which Sez created. Conceptually her aim was to explore the facades people create on social networking forums, such as Facebook. Being the entrepreneur that she is, Sez also incorporated a sort of installation by projecting her Facebook page onto the gallery wall. Arthive visitors could access this page and post things digitally on the gallery wall.

On concept
. Often people adopt facades and reveal only a fragment of themselves, sort of like inventing a new character. I wanted my work to capture the kind of secrecy that Facebook allows people to have when presenting themselves to the world (in the web sense). My university Masters work was based around storytelling and the narrative within fairytales so the idea of role play/performance/narrative tends to be a persistent theme within my work.


On lighting. The consistent lighting scheme was mainly a product of the program I used to shoot the images with, however I did encourage some of my models to choose certain colours so there was a consistency once the works were all installed together.


On installations. I'm most passionate about large scale installations (probably for the challenge of it!). Unfortunately it can be quite expensive and difficult to find the space to make/install the works and often involves a whole team of people to help with the specialty skills I often require, so my passion is not neccessarily what is most accesible!


On interaction. The most important aspect of my work at present is to try and break down some barriers between artist/art and audience. I love watching people become involved with my work, either digitally through technology, as in iPortrait with an interactive facebook page, or as in previous works, where the audience is encouraged to touch, or needs to physically move around within the artwork.


On the art scene. I take my practise seriously but I believe art and the art 'scene' can often be a bit of a wank. I want to make art that is accessible for anyone who comes to see my work and that it is totally ok, if not preferable, to just have a bit of fun with it and hopefully create dialogue with the audience.
Interviewer: Emily Mitchell
Interviewee: Sez Le Pie
Sez Le Pie's Webpage: lepie.carbonmade.com

iPortrait

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3394339734013404Mark O'BrianMark O'Brian & Sez Le Pie
Rose Turner & Mark O'Brian3409Mark O'Brian & Grant Hunter341334153417
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i Portrait, a set on Flickr.
Opening Night photos from iPortrait exhibition by Le Pie

Art Vandelay



ART VANDELAY
Curated by Jessica Louttit


Opening night Friday May 27 from 7pm
Exhibition closes June 4

The month of May will see ARThive basking in something the whole neurotic family can enjoy as Jessica Louttit takes her obsession with Seinfeld to brand new heights & curates Art Vandelay, the exhibition about nothing showcasing the work of Mike Foxall, Ry Wilkin, Grant Hunter, Sarah Mould, Rose Turner, Ezekial Kigbo Jr, Bryce Collins, Stu McDonald, Chris Bradley, Darkoyo, Elizabeth Nagy, Angus Arley, & many sponge-worthy others in one huge Seinfeld fan flaunt!

Opening night will also see the gallery transformed into a tiny cinema showing back to back episodes of the series for you to enjoy whilst munching down on muffin tops, black & white cookies, Junior Mints & pretzels for any kind of donation to ARThive so we can continue to bring you these fabulous exhibitions & eventually retire to Del Boca Vista! Coming dressed as your favourite character is encouraged & there will be a prize for best costume as well as best 'Elaine dance' so start practicing your little kicks! Sweet fancy Moses!

iPortrait



iPORTRAIT
Photography/Installation exhibition by Le Pie

A series of eleven lo-fi portrait photographs and a digital installation. Iportrait explores themes of voyeurism and role play, fantasy and reality in a digital age. The photographs have been shot using an iPhone, exploring social networking sites and the facades people often create for themselves within these forums. The exhibition also incorporates the Le Pie Art facebook page projected onto the gallery wall in real time, viewers can access this page and post things digitally on the gallery wall. You can start posting things on this wall now by clicking this link
http://www.facebook.com/LePieArt

Opening Night May 13 from 7pm
Exhibition runs until May 21

Emily Mitchell writes about all things Mega


In this review, Emily Mitchell sits down with our current exhibiting artist, Mega to discuss his artistic practice and exhibition, Longing To Be Knotted Together currently on display at ARThive.



Mega's illustrations aren't for the faint hearted; aesthetically intense, culturally loaded and a little bit quirky. They will leave you visually satisfied!
Longing to be knotted together opened at Arthive on the 15th of April. It will show for an entire month which means there's no excuse for you to not be down here and taking a peek at this spectacular array of icons, cultural innuendo, and crawling insects, set within the jungle of Bali. The French born artist is a motivated one. He lives and breathes illustrations, graphic design and iconography. In the show, the humble jungle is juxtaposed against the loaded themes of the symbolic image. Mega makes it work, simplifying matters with a minimal palette, or a linking composition.
Curating the show himself, Mega suggested that the way the prints had been arranged was a direct allusion to the way he lived in Bali. He had placed two jungle scenes on each end and the mixed iconic works in between. This is the way he lives; the jungle surrounds him and images of icons, warriors and savage girls absorb his head.
Mega is inspired by his everyday surroundings, and living in the jungle of Bali creates no exception. He likes his life to be simple and true, enjoying authentic Balinese food and informal chats with his neighbours.  "Balinese hindu create small offerings displayed on banana leaves on a daily basis, sometimes three times a day, and to me this is art."
Mega keeps inspired by listening to loads of music, from old school funk and soul to new school hip hop. He works day and night and believes that "art is about perseverance and there are no reasons not to work, just poor excuses."

When quizzed about where his love for creativity began he explained,

"It all started when I was a kid. Back then I would spend days and days cutting magazines and pasting new layouts in order to create cool covers for my tapes. I did pretty bad in my art school. I had the usual bunch of bad teachers, who were more like frustrated unsuccessful artists than good educators. So I just stopped going to the school and started spending most of my time painting the walls of my city and the trains of my region. In a way I hated graffiti more than I loved it. I was more attracted by the typographical researches, the forms and colors, than by B-boy characters and all those “wild style” shitty letters that were considered to be cool at the time. I never bought any graffiti magazines, and always founded more inspiration in graphic design books. So, after a couple of years it became natural for me to explore the computer possibilities, as an extension of what I did on the walls."

The uncanny combination of the jungle mixed with cultural icons is what astounds the viewer when attempting to understand Mega's work. Without their typical context, it makes the focus on these icons much more exaggerated. The show is perfect for Arthive; fitting in with the fun, contemporary and edgy approach the gallery has in all of their exhibitions.

Longing to be knotted together is touring to Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Berlin, Marseille, Paris, and probably more. Be sure to check out Mega's website - www.ilovemega.com It features loads of amazing, detailed works and details about this exhibition.