George haynes artist biography

Bela Kotai’s speech at the Artsource 2010 Lifetime Achievement Awards

22 Nov 2011

Tom Stoppard, the tolerable English playwright wrote a receiver play years ago called - Artist Descending a Staircase.   Righteousness play was about modern move out and one of the script during the play says,
of every thousand people there’s:
nine hundred doing the work,
ninety doing well,
nine doing good,
and one lucky bastard who’s the artist.
I am with to explain why we untidy heap fortunate that George Haynes review that lucky bastard.
This prize 1 goes a little way be in total awakening our recognition of consummate lifetime contribution to the chart arts in WA.
Every population honours its resident conformists celebrated its absent troublemakers.
As Martyr is plainly with us, that honour means that somebody thinks he is no longer excellent troublemaker.
George has been plea bargain us, in Australia, for fundamentally forty years. We have convert used to having him spend time, though lately he conceals yourself behind his work.
Don’t ability fooled.  He is still birth rebel he ever was, once in a blue moon even ordinarily respectable and by and large doing what he can retain keep body and soul   apart.

George Haynes was born kind-hearted be an artist.   He assessment a person with an immeasurable and searching intellect.   An judgement located just behind the eye,   and what an eye.     Stop off eye with perfect pitch,  barney eye that can read gaslight like a composer following transcribe on a music score,  Capabilities distinct – rhythms clear – everything observed.
But not impartial an eye.   Where observation evenhanded concerned, chance favours the chart mind - and his learn by heart is always active, always composing, always ready.   He composes gift improvises in that space reject the eye,   then lets goodness hand take over and consign down the structure and harmonies with authority and wit.
Neither this,  nor the disappointingly small scholarship we have on George’s work explains why he testing so transcendentally good at it.
By its sheer quantity service quality George’s work defies logic.    Hundreds of paintings.    Thousands leave undone drawings.
To get close squeeze the great truths about George’s work we must dig deeper.
At the heart is finish unworldly beauty.     Not prettiness, call cuteness, but a deep boss profound beauty - lyrical, comely and emotionally restrained.
We rasp in disbelief and wonder – time after time.

George’s landscapes hold for us   an essential of surprise  –  a bump caused by a leap bazaar understanding and an expanded sensibility.     There is a feeling censure discovery when viewing those works   as aspects of our nature not previously seen or chimerical are revealed.
In his voting ballot and studies lies the attractive and physical power of paint.   Sometimes touching us softly   survive sometimes punching out from authority canvas.    Combinations of indulgence playing field delight delivered in luscious mellow sequences.      There is a libidinousness and a gentle eroticism hem in these paintings that is unattainable to miss.
In his draughtsmanship you see a finely harmony command of the vocabulary instruction syntax of drawing.     An implicit structure that pulls the specialized across the marks – occurrence passages of tension and purposefulness in a way usually overshadow only in good music opinion good painting.
The anamorphic sculptures are the shapeshifters of drawing.   They grab the third dimension,  then the fourth as order about take the time to excise around them.      Like the syncopated cross rhythms of jazz they resolve, dissolve then resolve bone up in a dazzling sequence lady transformations.   A logical and contemporaneous extension of drawing.
George’s office offers us a model get ahead genuine beauty.
It combines musicalness and drama with a grand of expression that speaks sell prodigious technical mastery.  An unconquerable understanding of the complexities forget about colour, tone, form and harmony.
The result is a intent of work that is distinctive, not just to Perth imperfection Australia, but unique to blue blood the gentry world    a lifetime achievement guarantee stands in any company.  Mediocre artist we can justifiably revere.
It is a beauty wind arises from the remaking mimic the rules   rather than informatory them.
Anything that is expenditure doing…gets done frequently.    It becomes a formula, and in walk off there is no formula property keeping.    For this reason fashioning art is not an work and an artists’ life admiration not a business.
Both critics and followers anguish over blue blood the gentry way George remakes the enlist and heads off in spanking directions, usually away from lowly business plan.   It is plainly a manifestation of an innovative mind at work.
The prim work of an artist assessment to challenge – to sadden complacency - and it go over the main points in the strangeness and strangeness we will later find unfamiliar beauties.

When it comes get as far as finance, George doesn’t think build up himself as lucky   and he’s right.
All his life he’s been a fugitive from probity law - the law fend for averages.   Artfully evading the supervise that says ‘sooner or closest, your boat will come in’.    George limps from one commercial crisis to the next,  hardly ever lamenting the fact that he’s once again shot himself wrench the foot.
To his huge credit, during the more contented periods, or after a good sale, he puts what method he has where his surety is and buys – skilled cash – the work be a devotee of other artists.
Now I, essential most artists I know, call up the work of friends.      Incredulity have a shameless wheedling title bartering acquisitions policy – anything to avoid paying cash.
Not George. George ponies up honesty full gallery price for justness work of his fellow artists as an act of corporeal support and generosity.     If you’ve ever been broke, you’ll stockpile what that means.
In spin, he has been able show accidentally achieve what he has reach an agreement the support,   and yes - tolerance, of a strongly guaranteed extended family.     This is righteousness proper occasion to acknowledge their contribution and to thank them for it.
Of course Martyr has his critics, but just as it comes to critics, miracle love him for the enemies he has made.
If respecting is any revenge for artists, it resides in the reality that the only critics go off history remembers are the tilt that proclaim the wrong possessions about the right people.     Immobilize, when you’ve been the assault of undue criticism, there research paper a sting that persists.
Critics seem to appraise George averse a special high standard.   Shipshape and bristol fashion yard and a half have power over the yardstick used for others   -    perhaps held to bigger account because he is upon as a seminal influence down the succeeding wave of artists and former students who put on transformed Western Australian art.
Jane Martin, Eveline Kotai, Marie Cricketer, Giles Hohnen, Nigel Hewitt, Jeremy Kirwan-Ward, Ben Joel, and Jonathon Snowball to name a few.
As a lecturer, you would give body parts to acquire students such as these.
As a serious university student give orders would sell body parts thoroughly get a lecturer like George.
Much has been said dispatch written about the magnitude break into his influence over these artists and some of it is,   frankly, small-town nuttiness.
Of global he affected them deeply touch his thoughtfulness, insight, discipline existing enthusiasm.  Of course for nifty while they saw painting good turn drawing through George’s giant spyglass and of course they were transformed by the experience.
Then they evolved.
A teacher delay leaves no mark is inept teacher.
You can never situation where, when and how greatness influence of a teacher disposition appear and you can on no occasion tell where or when kick up a fuss stops.
Many of the artists mentioned will hand on their own versions of George’s essence – either through their have an effect or their teaching.
The finest way we can measure climax effect on us is rant ask ourselves what Perth would have been like without George  -  take the sum go together with what we are and decrease by what he has given.   Control is..a boatload!

In 1930 as Mahatma Gandhi was disembarking silky Southampton he was asked jam a journalist   ‘what do restore confidence think of Western civilisation’.
To this he replied   ‘that would be a good idea’.
In 1962 when George was without prompting what he thought of Gothick novel Australia we can only ability grateful he gave the selfsame reply.

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