My Four Walls: inside our buyers art collections
In our new series, My Four Walls, we take a look at how our buyers have displayed the art they’ve bought on Bluethumb and see what other pieces they have in their collections. To kick things off we thought it was only fair to let you have a snoop around one of the Bluethumb teams’ homes before we ask to snoop around yours, so today I open my doors. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the marketing coordinator at Bluethumb and I love buying art.
My apartment is on the ground floor in Melbourne’s CBD and doesn’t get much daylight. To counteract this, my partner and I have covered our walls with the art we’ve collected together. It was only today I noticed there’s a bit of a theme. Not only do I live with the Bluethumb dog Grungle and his sister Totoro, but my walls are covered with animalkind.
Wall One: the bar
Let’s start with the most important part of the room – the bar. Hanging pride of place over our bar is a piece aptly titled We live as we dream, alone by famous Canadian artist Douglas Coupland. From his QR Code series, the painting can be read by a QR scanner and tell you its name. Unfortunately this artwork isn’t original (If it was, I probably wouldn’t be writing this as I’d be a rich househusband). My partner and I were living in Shanghai when Coupland’s (at the time new) series of work was being displayed in a local gallery. I think it was actually for sale but in the tens of thousands – way out of our price range. We cheekily commissioned a local artist to paint a replica.
To the left of the painting is an old photograph of Shanghai’s Bund. I guess the bar’s an ode to our old life of heavy drinking in China.
Wall Two: kitchen/dining area
I don’t feel this current arrangement does either of these pieces justice. Waiting by the phone is my first buy using Bluethumb, Kim Leutwyler‘s Queer Dinosaur. Part of her Trans Human series, Kim’s work often explores Queer Identity and has been capturing the attention of the art world and media. Fresh from being named a finalist in this year’s Archibald Prize and having her entry displayed at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, this week Kim was making headlines in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Making friends with Kim’s Queer Dinosaur is Australian screen legend David Gulpilil’s Golden Crocodile. Before my partner and I lived in Shanghai, Darwin was our home. For a time I worked at an art gallery and David, between film projects, was one of our main artists. It seems surreal now, but most days he would come to the gallery and sometimes we’d go for a beer. I love having this memento of that time.
On the shelf is a painting from Cuba our friends gave us from their travels. We lived together like a family for many years in Darwin, so another beautiful reminder of beautiful people.
Wall Three: the seating area
The painting over our sofa is by someone else I met at that Darwin art gallery. Ross was quite the character and an exceptionally talented artist. This painting is of Namarrgun, the Lightning Man from the Kakadu region of Australia.
To Namarrgun’s right are two prints by Bluethumb artist and Australian art rockstar, Pamela Irving. Pamela’s work can be found all over the world, including the permanent collection of the Museum of Art in Ravenna — considered the most prestigious mosaics collection in the world. Perhaps her most famous pieces in Australia are Larry La Trobe, an unassuming life sized dog statue and her Luna Park mosaic, both in Melbourne. The bottom print, Yolo Man & The Prick Shitter, is part of a new series created for The Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics at The Chicago Mosaic School (and now available on Bluethumb). Yolo Man and the Apocalyptic Alphabet is inspired by the mosaics at Torcello, Venice, The Baptistery Mosaics in Florence and the work of Milanese artist Enricho Baj. We chose this piece because Pamela said it was her favourite when we visited her studio in Bentleigh during an open weekend. If you’re ever that way, I highly recommend dropping in.
Wall Four: Totoro’s favourite hang out
The final wall has an artwork I know nothing about. If anyone recognises it, I’d love to hear from you. We bought it in the China Art Museum’s gift shop so I assume it’s a mass produced replica. It looks like ink on cloth, a sack like material, and is extremely delicate. I love the abstract composition of pond life. Totoro loves watching the record spin.
If you’ve bought art on Bluethumb and would like to share your art collection, please send us an email to help@bluethumb.com.au. Not only will we feature your beautiful walls on our blog, but we’ll also give you a $50 gift voucher to help you add to your collection.
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