RSJ Barker

untitled #3, acrylic and ink on paper, 420mm x 29

My most recent exhibition, “Timelessness” was held at the Sheffer Gallery, Chippendale, Sydney 2008. In early 2009 two other exhibitions with similar titles, “Timeless” by the Sydney woodblock printmaker Cressida Campbell held in Brisbane, and a group exhibition at the MCA as part of “Primavera” with the title “To Make a Work of Art Timeless”. There is/was and never will be any connection to these exhibitions other than they were all in Australia and they all had a similar word in the title.

untitled outback #6, acrylic and ink on paper420mm x 297mm

In fact, the only reason why such a word would be used for an exhibition would be for the sheer audacity of using it as a conceit in itself. The idea of timelessness, timeless, or even the clunky “to make a work of art timeless” phrase is just a cynical wink in the direction of purveyors and fans of fine and pure kitsch.. The word itself has it’s own stringed arrangement. Anyway, I digress. I may explore this coincidence at another point. That could be something for a later date.

The RJSBarker exhibition “Timelessness”,on the other hand is really about the popular, evergreen and universal themes of death, decay, putrification, rebirth, growth, life, death and birth. The exhibition itself is the precursor to the forthcoming exhibition with the equally misleading working title of “Effortlessness” scheduled for release in late 2010. The content of both “Timelessness”, “Effortlessness” and selected recent works will form the body of the final exhibition of the series with the working title of “Pointlessness” scheduled for 2011-2012.

Untitled #5 church & state, acrylic and gouache on paper 29.7cm x 42.0cm

I’d been sketching the C. Bruce Dellit War Memorial on the southern edge of Hyde Park near the corner of Liverpool Street and Oxford Streets, Sydney for quite a while between 1991 – 1993. I also spent a lot of time working on drawings of nearby St Mary’s Cathedral. The reason for that was because there wasn’t much around that area that I thought had much dignity at all in terms of urban architecture. All the old buildings had been torn down. The Paris Theatre, The Hordern Building, the Atlantic Café on Elizabeth St had all gone. The new buildings in the area were all bland 60’s and ’70 rubbish indistinguishable from each other. So it was the War Memorial and St Marys and from time to time the Archibald Fountain. Even poor old St Mary’s though still didn’t have it’s spires after a hundred years and still didn’t quite make the rank of a proper cathedral because of this obvious shortcoming. So I just sketched close ups of the doors or the rose windows. The spires were eventually installed in the dead of a Sunday morning - a year or two after I moved out. By peak hour Monday nobody’d even noticed anything had changed. It was like they’d always been there.

untitled landscape #10 acrylic on paper 29.7cm x 42cm

I was able to maintain a certain amount of drawing and sketching while working at the Arts Council of NSW - for whom I regularly traveled to remote areas to listen to arts council members talk about the cultural needs of remote communities in NSW. During that period of traveling through the central west and far north NSW, throughout the south coast and the Riverina and the Hay Plain I was able to compile raw material to work with back in the studio which I’d later work these up in my studio and combine them with images of the local churches, the War Memorial, the fountain or local plants together with stencils, stamps, rubbings or whatever it took to complete my final composite images.

untitled landscape plains, acrylic and ink on paper, 420mm x 297 (h

Most of the drawings on paper did not go into the exhibition and remained within the portfolio. This was mainly due to the fragile condition of the drawings and the cost required for framing which was needed for archival protection. In the end the decision to keep them out of the show was the correct one. While there was a few smaller drawings their scale and the media/paper was more robust for exhibition purposes and the cost of materials much less.

Although I’m not religious I was drawn towards the graphic representation of these types of buildings and subjects more than anything else. Using even the simplest reference to a church or a memorial gave a small insignificant drawing a quasi-religious theme and subsequently a level of gravitas that amused me.

Anyway, getting back to the exhibition “timelessness” I’d wanted to have the exhibition as I’d been working consistently for the previous 3-4 years without exhibiting. After moving to Bondi from Darlinghurst I settled into the usual mode of an artist who’s gone from the city to the beach and I started painting seascapes. I managed to stop myself after a short period and got back to the subject that appealed to me most. Death. Oh, and life too!

Untitled # st francis #4, acrylic and gouache on paper 29.7cm x 42.0cm

This gallery was located in the Haymarket next door to the Capitol Theatre. It was a double fronted shopfront with a high ceiling and north facing windows. My exhibition for Gallery 19 comprised of 50 drawings and paintings many of which were based on urban and rural landscapes combined with a series of images based on the theme of St Francis of Asissi.

"Untitled - St Francis of Assisi at the Memorial's Doors, Hyde Park", acrylic and ink on paper 148.5mm x 210.0mm

As well as being the patron saint of animals, St Francis is also considered to be the patron saint of artists. St Francis’ concept of re-creating nativity scenes while modifying his own life in order to reflect that of the life of Chris are considered to be amongst the first recorded evidence of installation or early forms of performance art.

"Untitled - St Francis of Assisi - paddington", acrylic and ink on paper 148.5mm x 210.0mm