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www.facebook.com/pages/Kevin-Tran-Art/231199427012?ref=ts

ARMORY LOG: 6 days until opening night

Today I was able to sit down and reflect on the past two weeks of mayhem: 12 days of non- stop painting, 5 all nighters in the studio, 3 trips to the digital printer for my printed flyers, 5 trips to the local Bunnings for packaging supplies, 5 trips to the large format scanner business, 6 trips to the fine art printer, and endless mugs of full strength coffee. I really need to thank the people who bent over backwards to help me through this week, in particular my good friend John Encomienda, my brother, my girlfriend and my mum. Without their help I know I wouldn’t have been able to get through all the things I needed to do and would just like them know I really appreciate all they did for me.

The 5 all nighters in the studio were intense. After a regular full day of painting, I would head back to the house for dinner, then pack my supplies (food, water and of course coffee) to last through the night. Hitting the studio around 9pm, I’d down my first cup of coffee then plug my ipod in and off I went. It was freezing in the studio and every 10 minutes, I’d be fending off the swarms of mosquitos circling me and my paintings. At 1am, I’d inject another caffeine dose into my system and chomp down my second dinner for the night. The twilight hours between 2am and 5am were a little spooky but always went by so fast. The caffeine would make me really alert and sometimes a little paranoid after hearing unexpected sounds around the warehouse. After no time, I would hear birds outside and through the windows of the studio, I could see the sky changing colour. Physically, my body would be aching, my back (still sore from the snow trip) would be stiff when leaning over my paintings and I’m sure that my hands and fingers were on the verge of RSI after adding areas of detail and repetition for hours on end.

On Friday, I finished all the colour matching with my fine art printer and took home the final 7 prints I will be exhibiting next week. I’m really happy with how the colours came out and the rich detail of the scans. The print quality is exceptional as always and I can’t wait to see them all framed. That brings me to my next dilemma- how to get 7 really large artworks framed and presentable before I set-up the show on Thursday morning. It’s definitely too late to get them professionally framed and my expenses for this show have already blown out to over $5,000. I’m going to do a little research into alternative display options tonight and make some calls to get quotes on materials tomorrow morning.

On the promotion front, I know I’ve left the invitations and flyers really late this year but hopefully, with the help of blogs, facebook, friends and word of mouth, I can stir up a bit of interest and entice a few people to come down to the opening night on Friday. The printed flyers will be ready to pick up Monday afternoon and I’m planning to hit the cafes, bookstores and music stores of Surry Hills, Paddington and Newtown.

I’m feeling great about the 7 works that will be exhibited and really eager to see the reaction to my new work. Can’t wait to get through this last week and relax with a couple of beers at opening night.

And here is one of the many sunrises I saw heading back up to the house at 6 in the morning- always a really peaceful time of the day.

ARMORY LOG: 25 days until opening night

So I’m back from a great snow trip, bruised, battered and sore. Injuries aside, it’s time to get down to business and finish off these paintings. So far, it looks like I’ll have about 10 paintings to exhibit at the China Heights show opening September 3. They are quite large works so they should be able to fill out the cosy gallery quite nicely. With an extremely important week ahead, I bid farewell to the thrills and spills of the snow trip and say hello to busy days and late nights.

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS:

Today marks exactly 1 month until opening night which means the next 4 weeks are going to be extremely busy. This week I’m trying to clean up all my paintings and wrap up a few freelance jobs. Next week I’ll be aiming to select the pieces I’ll be showing at the exhibition and then take them to a large format scanner to get them professionally documented. The week after that, I’ll have to write my application for an overseas artist residency I’m really keen to take part of (application deadline 18th August), then design/ print my flyer for the show and round up a few friends to help me distribute them around Sydney. The week after that, I’ll be doing test prints at my fine art printer trying to match colours to the originals. Hopefully, if all works out well, I’ll have everything printed and ready a few days before I need to set up the show- so I’m hoping there aren’t too many problems or mishaps along the way.

I really can’t complain at all though, because on Friday I’m off on my yearly snowboarding trip! But only for a few days. It’s been snowing pretty hard lately so it’s shaping up to be a really good season. I’ve been watching youtube videos of Halldor Helgason & Torstein Horgmo all week and can’t wait to try out a few things.

Here is a sweet video I can’t stop watching:

BIG: SYDNEY’S SMALL STUDIOS

“Sydney has a network of small, smart and truly independent studios influencing the design landscape. Big uncovers some of these studios and takes us inside. Quirky, cramped, elegant, but always inspiring, Sydney’s small studios are full of ideas and spirit.”

I’ve been invited to take part in an exhibition by designer Stephen Goddard and photographer Keith Saunders that documents small creative studios around Sydney. Photographs of my studio space here at Newington Armory will be on display alongside 12 great sydney studios including Alex Miles, Alphabet, Daniel Malecki, Future Classic, Justin Fox, Leuver Design, Naughtyfish, One8One7, Paul Tooth, Stephen Goddard Design and We Buy Your Kids.

The exhibition runs from Friday 30 July – Sunday 29 August at:
Object Gallery – Project Space, 417 Bourke Street, Surry Hills

For more info, check out the object gallery website:

www.object.com.au/springseries/event/big-sydney-small-studio

A NEW MUSE: INTERVIEW

Founded in 2008, A New Muse is a great online magazine that feature emerging and established talent across art, design and fashion and share insights into their worlds. They were kind enough to ask me a few questions about my current body of work on their blog which you can read here:

www.anewmuse.net

WEEK FOURTEEN: ARMORY LOG

It’s been freezing down in the studio but things are moving along nicely.

WEEK ELEVEN, TWELVE & THIRTEEN: ARMORY LOG

So I’ve been busy the past 3 weeks with an even mix of freelance design jobs and late night benders but I’m happy to announce I’ve started a couple of new paintings I’m excited about. I’ve decided to hold back on the progress shots from here in so there are a few surprises at the show. I’ve given myself a deadline to finish off all my paintings by August 1, which gives me a few weeks to sort out details and do some promo before the opening night on September 3.

Really time to knuckle down now.

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE: CREATIVE SYDNEY 2010

Scratching the Surface from [weAREtheIMAGEmakers] on Vimeo.

Amazing. Props to Beastman, Max Berry, Numskull, Phibs & Roach

CHINA HEIGHTS: 3 SEPTEMBER 2010

Some great news! Really happy to say I’ve locked in a date with a great gallery called China Heights for my next solo show. 3rd September 2010 will be the official opening night where the public can come down to Surry Hills, crack open a beer or two and see the new works I’ve been making over the past 3 months. China Heights is run by two really nice guys, Edward Woodley and Mark Drew who are both talented artists themselves.

Just thought I’d share some photos of the space. There will be some great shows coming up throughout the year, so keep checking out their website or facebook to see what’s on.

www.chinaheights.com
china heights- facebook