Since it’s conception in 2003, the annual Semi-Permanent design conference has become a global phenomenon with it occurring in Sydney, New York, Auckland, London and of course Perth. This year sees this ground-breaking conference return to Perth with gusto, doing what few other conferences do: take a thorough cross-disciplinary approach to curating presenters from a wide array of different creative industries.
That means an onslaught of design, photographic, illustrative, advertising, media and publishing luminaries will be hitting Perth’s Regal Theatre on April 8 as Semi-Permanent 2008 rolls into town. Among them will be Amy Sol, an artist whose work is so delicately beautiful and unique that it instantly invokes another world – one which is distant and mythological yet muted and melancholic. Amy Sol took some time out to speak with OUTinPerth about the forthcoming conference and all things arty.
What are you talking about at Semi-Permanent?
I’m bringing my computer full of images and data about past work and current projects. I don’t have a speech planned out so I hope it doesn’t it have to be a speechy type thing. I just plan to share my work and some of the lessons I’ve learned in the last couple years. Although I’ve been an artist my whole life, I’ve only recently become very busy with exhibitions. I feel I’m still very early in my career. Regardless, I hope to offer some insight to the students and people interested in art.
Coloured pencils…oil sticks…vellum…pigments…the materials you use are wonderfully old school. Can you describe the process which brought you to use such wonderful materials?
I’ve spent so many years of my life trying to figure out paint and other raw mediums. Holding a brush in my hand is something I’ve come severely akin to, it’s something that’s stuck with me.
Other areas I’d like to take my work include character design and animation. So we will see how and if I can step into the digital medium. There’s a lot I have to learn and there is an absolute necessity to focus some areas of my creativity in the digital realm. But until I learn the tools properly, you probably won’t be seeing many full on digital paintings by me.
Your work largely recreates a mythical world, one populated with characters that verge on the fantastical. Where does the inspiration for your work stem from?
I’m sure it comes from my life long fascination with mythology, cartoons, stories, all forms of metaphor.
The art community is slowly beginning to recognise that artists such as yourself and Jeremy Fish are at the forefront of a new art movement. Would you agree with this statement? Why?
I know and love Jeremy Fish’s work very well, but I’ve never met him before nor been to one of his exhibitions. I discovered him through the internet along with many other great artists. I have not fully digested the idea of a new art movement that includes me. I spend most of my life creating in my own little world so it’s very displacing to think about my work from an outside perspective. Regardless, I am very, very grateful to create on a full time basis and to be invited to take part in Semi-Permanent.
Do you believe that there is a story emerging through you works? Or do you simply paint that which you feel needs to be painted?
For the most part, I paint what wants to be painted. Something will inspire, a thought will come and it’s like a thread of energy that needs to go somewhere. I will stretch out the idea – then the elements will slowly come together to form a painting. Sometimes I feel the need to tell a story but a story is something with a beginning and end. I would rather create a little a door into a story where an observer decides what happens. I tend to think of myself as an observer while I create.
Amy Sol will be appearing alongside 2006 World Press Photo of the Year Award winner Spencer Platt, Sydney pop artist Ben Frost, super cool marketing agency Lifelounge, graphic designers Debaser and gaming powerhouse Interzone. Semi-Permanent explodes at The Regal Theatre on April 8. www.semipermanent.com
