Gary Willis
Gary Willis describes himself as a "Dead Beat Modern Art Type" - a bottom feeder! For his first ten years as an artist he claims that he had no direction, everything was spontaneous and he tried whatever seemed to be a good idea at the time.
He then travelled and discovered Bhuddhism - to the extent that he became a Buddhist monk.
He believed that past becomes fiction, and future now is fact.
He continued on his artistic journey and did whatever came next.
I would say that he would have like to have been a big star and spent time searching for that lost chord.
I believe that it is important within a diverse search to have something that connects the work and provides a pathway from which you can view the eventual body of work.
One piece of work stands out to be quite inspirational.
This work was inspired by his time living in the Aboriginal community.
It is an example of creating something directly by what he was seeing around himself.
The piece of work depicts the shape of a man lying on his side with a feathery light image in his centre.
It combines the creativity and inspiration from both his Buddhist and Aboriginal teachings.
Look for the light within yourself.
I believe he was trying to express that there is hope within everyone.
Gary has had a fairly disorganized career, skipping from one idea to another in a rather haphazard manner.
I think this man is a frustrated actor - always looking for something different - always trying to be someone else.
During his career he has tried many varied styles and mediums in an effort to please other people (and also make a living).
Consequently he has many different styles and techniques and has used them randomly - there seems to be no one particular style that identifies his work.
He is constantly trying to assimilate into other cultures, not content to be who he is.
Maybe this is the path which some artists have to take, always trying to find the medium with which they feel most comfortable.
Or maybe it is a deliberate learning path to experience as many different techniques and mediums as possible in order to constantly stretch and expand their horizons.
Gary is now back in Australia and seems to be more comfortable within himself - he is painting what he knows and so his journeying has not been in vain, but has been a trail of self discovery.
He then travelled and discovered Bhuddhism - to the extent that he became a Buddhist monk.
He believed that past becomes fiction, and future now is fact.
He continued on his artistic journey and did whatever came next.
I would say that he would have like to have been a big star and spent time searching for that lost chord.
I believe that it is important within a diverse search to have something that connects the work and provides a pathway from which you can view the eventual body of work.
One piece of work stands out to be quite inspirational.
This work was inspired by his time living in the Aboriginal community.
It is an example of creating something directly by what he was seeing around himself.
The piece of work depicts the shape of a man lying on his side with a feathery light image in his centre.
It combines the creativity and inspiration from both his Buddhist and Aboriginal teachings.
Look for the light within yourself.
I believe he was trying to express that there is hope within everyone.
Gary has had a fairly disorganized career, skipping from one idea to another in a rather haphazard manner.
I think this man is a frustrated actor - always looking for something different - always trying to be someone else.
During his career he has tried many varied styles and mediums in an effort to please other people (and also make a living).
Consequently he has many different styles and techniques and has used them randomly - there seems to be no one particular style that identifies his work.
He is constantly trying to assimilate into other cultures, not content to be who he is.
Maybe this is the path which some artists have to take, always trying to find the medium with which they feel most comfortable.
Or maybe it is a deliberate learning path to experience as many different techniques and mediums as possible in order to constantly stretch and expand their horizons.
Gary is now back in Australia and seems to be more comfortable within himself - he is painting what he knows and so his journeying has not been in vain, but has been a trail of self discovery.