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#mrboxie

#mrboxie

Since getting to Sydney I’ve been getting asked a lot about the little box people, when I’m back in Melbourne I’ll write out the adventure that brought them about. But till then here is the Artist’s Statement from my last show which shows the evolution of my projected meanings onto them. As for what you see, it’s completely up to you.

If you have an Artshub membership you can view a journalists write up on them here. http://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news-article/news/visual-arts/thieves-244806

Contained.

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Ever since we were kids cardboard boxes have been a thing to play with, a ‘toy’ that is enabled by endless imagination. The people in cardboard boxes within my paintings

have been used to explore isolation, self-imposed and dichotomised by technology. They have explored the urban pattern, the geometries of the cityscape and the ability to blend in and camouflage oneself into a man-made architectural environment. They have pinioned travellers and their experiences of the landscape second-hand filtered through their cameras and other technological devices. But these boxes are different. These boxes are exploring that kid’s toy used as a place of refuge, isolating and allowing the psychology to take over. The box becomes a mask to hide body language and emotions. Imagination gets taken over by personal narrative. Inside the box is a warm, your own body heat reflects off the inside and back at you. The outside distractions, of sight and noise are muffled by the absorption of the cardboard.

It is a meditative outfit, a quieter place in a quiet home. A safer place in a safe home – yet there is this little glow that sometimes escapes from the box, bringing the outside world in, waiting for that ping.

The box is anti-heroic, anti-masculine. It speaks to an interior life well explored. One thing that becomes apparent over time viewing the paintings is that they are self-portraits.

#createyourfuture

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Contained

‘Contained‘ at RUBICON Gallery, Level 1, 309 Queensberry St. Melbourne

September 2nd – Opening 6 – 9pm – September 19th – Opening Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12-5pm

SOLD
$640 Framed
SOLD
SOLD
SOLD
$640 Framed
$640 Framed

At the end of the last exhibition I was cornered(pun intended) by a few people who said they didn’t think the work was as intimate as it could be considering the situation, and that I was skirting around something and not facing it head on – although the works were dark, they weren’t intimate, they weren’t as engaged with the core of the exhibition as they could be. Considering that I had considered the title going from Close (as in closer) to Close (Closed) this was a bit of a painful revelation. The above paintings are the result of contained, don’t be surprised if the next exhibition is something completely different. After some recent close brushes I have a very new focus and it’s a subject I have not looked to before.

With my painting I am always trying to find the balance between happy mistakes through bold brushwork against perfection, I think there is a lot to be said for the ‘imperfections’ in paint, the little marks, scuffs and drag marks, areas where the medium has dripped – they are what I adore about it. It’s magic, you create an illusion for people to disappear. On this minuscule size, brush marks and dust can be the death of a whole painting.

The mistakes are like it’s life marks, that show that it’s been made by a human, who is not a computer, not a reproduction – and I like the idea that you can stand in front of the painting, and if you are close enough see where I have moved my hand. I love standing in front of paintings in the NGV and ‘feeling’ where the artist has moved – Next time you stand in front of a Rembrandt, take a second to remember that he stood in the same space you are…

To give the portrayal of an object without putting in every single detail of the object is my aim. If you go and look at some of Picasso’s later works, the abstracts, when you stand in front of them in person you can see the gouges as he has struck at the canvas with his brush and tore it across the surface to create not just a line but something more, an emotional outlet, a feeling, a strike. It is only in person that you can really, deeply appreciate a painterly art work. I hope you enjoy these works and get to see them in person. They are at RUBICON Gallery, Level 1, 309 Queensberry St. Melbourne VIC 3051 September 2nd – Opening 6 – 9pm – September 19th – Opening Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12-5pm

P.S. Don’t forget to look out for the little #mrboxie sculptures left around North Melbourne, you can find clues to there whereabouts through my Instagram https://instagram.com/harley_manifold_artist/

 

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– TONIGHT – SOLO SHOW LAUNCH

I am so happy to announce that my solo show is now open. With the publicity generated through articles in The Age, news coverage by Channel TEN and Nine news as well as 3AW things are looking good. Not to mention all the pre sales that have clocked into the 5 figures.

Come and enjoy the show.

No Vacancy Gallery – 34 jane bell Lane (off Russel st. side) Melbourne. Tonight 6 – 9

SOLD

Self Portraits in Plaster Study for The Tunnel 12.7 x 17.5 cm Oil on Board 2014 Self Portraits in Plaster

$250
$250

 

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Hands On

I am so excited to show you the first glimpses of some little sculptures I have been working on over the last few weeks. I have LOVED starting this and am excited to do more, bigger, smaller and with different materials! I have never sculpted before so this has been…trials and errors. Lots of them, I actually managed to make a mold of the carpet on my studio floor after my first ‘mold’ didn’t hold together ( I followed the instructions on the internet, as if the internet is ever wrong haha). The carpets value went up by $180 of mold material, I was even impressed.

And if I have done this right, now you are reading from the new blog on my website…

Self Portaits in Plaster Self Portait in Rust Patina Self Portait in Rust Patina Self Portait in Bronze Patina

Each is roughly 30 centimeters in height and is covered in an amazing Patina with either real Bronze, Metal or… Glitter. There will be a few more for the show opening on February the 20th in No Vacancy Gallery in Melbourne…

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Sinking Ships Float

I am very fortunate to have been given a finalists berth in the ANL Maritime awards, which opens on the 4th of October in Melbourne at the Maritime Sea Farer’s Centre, Flinders Street.

The VesselsAbove is a very quick snap, before I wrapped it and sent it in! Let’s hope this one floats, excuse the pun.

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Free. Yes that’s right, this is for you.

Unlike someone and the NBN, I’m giving this to you. I have been for a long time, frustrated, that only a few of my friends and collectors could afford the work I do. So, this is the first in a series of things I will give away. I’ll announce more in the coming weeks. I’m super excited about the other things I have got planned to give out. I am really, really excited that nearly anyone will be able to have my art.

boxperson2

If you want to keep updated on the rest of the giveaways, find the follow button at the bottom right of the page or send me an email and I’ll keep you updated!

So this is my first giveaway, all you have to do is right click on it and it’s yours to download print, share or just look at! If you want to turn it into a stencil all you need to do is print it on something and cut out the bits you want to spray in… Just be responsible with where you spray it! If you want to do a two tone stencil just ask in the comments section and I’ll explain more.

Feel free to add or subtract from it, just no commercial uses please… It’s under creative commons which you can check out below.

Creative Commons License
Infinity Loop by Harley Manifold is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.harleym.net.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available via this sites contact page.

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New little studies

$1500 SOLD
$1750
$1750
$1600
$1800

In the last two or three months, my technique feels like it has taken a giant leap forward – and then gotten stuck haha. But a leap forward none the less… They never reproduce on the internet as well as I would like, but I hope you enjoy.

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White Shoes & Sunglasses.. going to need some sunglasses for this one…

Study
Study

 

So usually I don’t paint bright, nor do I use pure Cadmium Orange or Cadmium Yellow, especially not in the same painting… So this is a departure for me, a very, very bright departure… It will be interesting to see where this one ends up, It is making me SUPER ANXIOUS having all these colour things as well as tonal contrasts happening in one picture. I am trying to tell myself it’s like when I was young and had only worn black shoes ever then finally I got a pair of white and I couldn’t stop anxiously staring at my feet going ARGH! haha. It’s from a power station in Melbourne looking along the tracks, can you tell where?

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…:::Plein Air:::…

Plein AirPLein Air

Managed to get some rare plein air time in this morning, was a bit smoggy. The clouds were less intense than the light on the ground. And I met the bottle man, who if you look at the second picture places bottles in rows on the ground in the same spot and everynow and then either smashes or replaces them…And here was me thinking it was a VCA arts student doing it… Which seems more interesting than the painting itself!