Last year certainly saw Tane Andrews’ star begin to slowly but surely rise. He kicked 2008 off by appearing as the poster pin-up boy for avant garde menswear label Material Boy in one of the years most iconic photo shoots (think bowl cut and big blue eyeshadow). His burgeoning fashion label Of Cabbages & Kings – which he champions with co-conspirator Kira Goodey – moved from accessories into clothing and made a tsunami sized splash not only here in Australia, but in London too. He was then shortlisted from 120 finalists and appeared at the Melbourne Museum as one of 18 in Design Now!, a showcase of the nation’s most promising design talent.
So how do you top a year like that? Well, there is the new Of Cabbages & Kings collection hanging in the wings, sure to help Andrews’ star rise just that little bit further (check out OUTinPerth on May 6 for exclusive shoots of the new collection). But more immediately is the promise contained in his first ever solo show, Repetitive by Nature, set to open at Kurb Gallery on Saturday March 28.
For those who don’t know, Andrews draws – or rather stipples – intricate images of insects. The work is meticulous in detail, grand in design and passionate in scope. It’s a show that is sure to sell out completely and confirm why Andrews is already so on the radar. He took a moment to chat with OUTinPerth’s Scott-Patrick Mitchell about repetition, morality and self-inflicted RSI.
What can people expect from your upcoming solo show, Repetitive by Nature?
The concept for this show started almost over a year ago. I was watching moths fly around a gas lamp — they would keep coming back to it until they flew to close, burnt and died. I collected them and began to draw them. So the body of work began to be created from there. The show will consist of a series of illustrations of the moths as well as an installation using real (dead) Luna moths.
What are some of the inspirations behind the show?
The works explore the themes of repetition, mortality and the passage of time. The repeated congregation and demise of the batch of moths epetition runs through out the whole show from the subject matter to how the works are created, the placement of the works and even the size of the paper., however, I also drew inspiration from the singular moth and placed it in an expanse of emptiness to reflect on, and respect, the struggle and resulting outcome for that individual.
Insects have appeared extensively in your art and your fashion work for Of Cabbages & Kings — why? Are you ‘obsessed’ with insects? If not, what’s the attraction?
Ha! That’s true they do seem to be a recurring theme, I think a lot has to do with the symmetry, the interlocking forms and the contrast between the insects hard outer and the delicate inner. Also they translate so well into materials such as metal, fabric, glass and paper. I find I’m always mimicking the natural world within my work.
From what I remember your artwork plays on ideas of nature and repetition and blurs the line between the two by, at times, literally heaping images or segments of images together, creating a field of saturation — what can you tell us about this technique and the overall desired effect?
The process of creating one work takes around a month, I try and draw for around five hours a night and then a full day on the weekend, the works are so time consuming but the final result is worth the time. I try and work with opposites, within the works, I’ll saturate a field in illustrations and in other works I’ll leave almost the whole field white.
I create the works using Rotring pens, that are about as fine as hair. The works are made from thousands of dots, I try to use almost not line. The repetitive action of dot making become quite meditative after a while, however I think I’m swiftly stippling my way to RSI.
You’re known both here in Australia and over in London for the seminal fashion work you do with Kira Goodey on the avant garde fashion label Of Cabbages & Kings. Can you describe your connection between your art work and your fashion work?
I think the main connection would be that both are produced using deliberate limitations — prescribing themes and then working with a restricted amount of materials, colours, shapes and subject matter.
Can you describe how you see the relationship between the depraved and the desirable in your work?
Those themes are certainly evident within this body of work. The persistence of endeavour even though the reward is death. The beauty in the burnt and the quiet stillness of the dead. The relationship between expectation and outcome.
Repetitive by Nature opens at Kurb Gallery on Saturday March 28 at 6pm and runs until Friday April 3.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
