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This was my 2024 Archibald Entry…A Self Portrait… I'm finally ready to part with it
This painting has been painstakingly hand made from scratch by myself out of plywood and timber moulding. I designed it so the 15 panels interlock and can slide around like a slide puzzle.
It took 2 1/2 months to build and paint! Haha many tears and sweat were shed but I persevered as of anything custom-built you run into problems/puzzles to be solved, but I'm so happy with the result it's definitely worth the many sleepless nights.
With nods to Andy Warhols Marilyn Monroes diptych where by repeating one image again and again there is no focal point, so it forces the viewers eyes to wonder and dart across the canvas. And also Rosalie Gascoigne for the frame.
I liked the idea of a slide puzzle for some 80s nostalgia, as I was born in ’81’ and also I think it encompasses me I never like to do like others, I think outside the square, but it also adds meaning to the painting because it doesn't matter how you slide the panels. We are all the same.
I purposely removed my eye and hair colour, so the skin colours would shine.
I had a beautiful conversation with my 10-year-old daughter about race and skin colour after she came home from school saying one of the boys in her class was teasing another boy from India, saying his skin was the colour of the spots on the banana and laughing. It made her feel sad, and she wanted to stand up for him. She came into my studio one day, when I had the panels all laid out and she started pointing to the darker tones, saying how beautiful I was. And then to the peach and pink shades… it made me happy. She just saw me regardless of my skin colour maybe if we can teach our children to look at skin colour through loving eyes we’d see a change.
I painted them flat like a paint swatch which adds to the strength to the painting, but also because as a child I loved when I got to bring one home from the shops.
I saw a meme that flashed up on my Instagram feed of three labradors one yellow, one chocolate brown and one black, captioned “When you find something you like so you get it in every colour…” I had seen this before with your favourite top but it was different to see it with animals.
I thought to myself how cute, then thought how funny and then how sad that it wouldn't be the same if it was a picture of three humans with different skin colours… and that thought was the catalyst for this piece.
It has been created with layers of stencils and spray paint on timber but is a fully functional puzzle! Albeit is a bit rustic as it was hand made using a jigsaw.
To move the panels: place your finger in the circle finger grip at the bottom right of each panel, and also use your other hand to guide them.
They are numbered (1- 15) at the bottom right hand corner of each panel. The stop/equal sign stays in place at the bottom right hand corner via magnets, which holds all the panels in place :) The colours shade left to right, top to bottom for the effect of a paint colour swatch.
Medium: Acrylic paint and aerosol paint on hand made ply wood sliding timber panels and frame it has been finished with satin varnish, signed on the front ‘Debstar’ my street name :) and is ready to hang.
Dimensions of Canvas: 106cm wide x 106cm high x 5cm deep
Weight: Approx. 17kg
Free Shipping Australia Wide
This was my 2024 Archibald Entry…A Self Portrait… I'm finally ready to part with it
This painting has been painstakingly hand made from scratch by myself out of plywood and timber moulding. I designed it so the 15 panels interlock and can slide around like a slide puzzle.
It took 2 1/2 months to build and paint! Haha many tears and sweat were shed but I persevered as of anything custom-built you run into problems/puzzles to be solved, but I'm so happy with the result it's definitely worth the many sleepless nights.
With nods to Andy Warhols Marilyn Monroes diptych where by repeating one image again and again there is no focal point, so it forces the viewers eyes to wonder and dart across the canvas. And also Rosalie Gascoigne for the frame.
I liked the idea of a slide puzzle for some 80s nostalgia, as I was born in ’81’ and also I think it encompasses me I never like to do like others, I think outside the square, but it also adds meaning to the painting because it doesn't matter how you slide the panels. We are all the same.
I purposely removed my eye and hair colour, so the skin colours would shine.
I had a beautiful conversation with my 10-year-old daughter about race and skin colour after she came home from school saying one of the boys in her class was teasing another boy from India, saying his skin was the colour of the spots on the banana and laughing. It made her feel sad, and she wanted to stand up for him. She came into my studio one day, when I had the panels all laid out and she started pointing to the darker tones, saying how beautiful I was. And then to the peach and pink shades… it made me happy. She just saw me regardless of my skin colour maybe if we can teach our children to look at skin colour through loving eyes we’d see a change.
I painted them flat like a paint swatch which adds to the strength to the painting, but also because as a child I loved when I got to bring one home from the shops.
I saw a meme that flashed up on my Instagram feed of three labradors one yellow, one chocolate brown and one black, captioned “When you find something you like so you get it in every colour…” I had seen this before with your favourite top but it was different to see it with animals.
I thought to myself how cute, then thought how funny and then how sad that it wouldn't be the same if it was a picture of three humans with different skin colours… and that thought was the catalyst for this piece.
It has been created with layers of stencils and spray paint on timber but is a fully functional puzzle! Albeit is a bit rustic as it was hand made using a jigsaw.
To move the panels: place your finger in the circle finger grip at the bottom right of each panel, and also use your other hand to guide them.
They are numbered (1- 15) at the bottom right hand corner of each panel. The stop/equal sign stays in place at the bottom right hand corner via magnets, which holds all the panels in place :) The colours shade left to right, top to bottom for the effect of a paint colour swatch.
Medium: Acrylic paint and aerosol paint on hand made ply wood sliding timber panels and frame it has been finished with satin varnish, signed on the front ‘Debstar’ my street name :) and is ready to hang.
Dimensions of Canvas: 106cm wide x 106cm high x 5cm deep
Weight: Approx. 17kg
