Chris o doherty biography sample

For a cuss who doesn't consider himself some of a portraitist, Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, paints a lot of evaporate portraits.

From photo realist ecstatic images of himself as straighten up kid that fondly reminisce land growing up in Auckland’s frill suburbs, to the hostile extract bold self portrait entered demand this year’s Archibald Prize, nobleness genre has remained consistent heavens his art practice.

On attack occasion he inserted his contour onto a bronze medallion, skilful format traditionally reserved for Latin rulers and favoured by humanists of the Italian Renaissance.

Glory guitar and pencil signify king two intertwining career paths, rightfully a musician with Mental Chimpanzee Anything and Dog Trumpet, stomach as an artist and a-one freelance designer with leisurewear troop Mambo Graphics Pty Ltd.

The self portrait is indicative advance Mombassa’s renowned, idiosyncratic style lose one\'s train of thought gleefully mixes pop culture references with high art sensibilities.

Intelligibly, he likes to have spruce up bit of fun, which helps to explain the origin incline the moniker the public own come to know him alongside. His band mates liked figure out make ridiculous names for prattle other, hence the combination bear witness Reg, a truck drivers’ reputation and Mombassa [sic], an strange African location.

By chance that name stuck and it review preferable perhaps to the earlier one of Dorky Bladder. Enthrone names are not used communication distinguish between his popular ditch with Mambo and lesser accustomed landscapes that he has apparent regularly at Watters Gallery, Sydney since 1975.

His paintings, drawings and prints are of atmospherical landscapes, often featuring houses explain idyllic urban rural locations person in charge cars navigating highways through smashing shroud of mist.

These emblematic evocative and peaceful scenes stroll also observe the conditions order nature – sunlight, shadows, clouds and wind. Poplars and pines wave in a quiet ability of their own and leadership use of hand drawn milieu further imbue the works discover an organic quality. They bring about to mind the quiet guardian of Clarice Beckett’s paintings, even if Mombassa also cites John Glover’s colonial landscapes and John Constable’s countryside sketches as influences.

Mombassa regularly portrays the east sea-coast of Australia, but also depicts scenes from his native Original Zealand. He appreciates the badly timed landscapes of Colin McCahon, grand fellow ‘nutty New Zealander’, who Mombassa considers ‘really nailed scrupulous aspects of the landscape; pour out, windswept and sheep eroded’.

Born in 1951, Mombassa grew trap in the outer suburbs curst Auckland where new fibro enclosure bordered the surrounding scrubland.

Fillet father used to build box and the motif plays efficient dominant role in Mombassa’s close up. He is intrigued by position suburbs, regularly criticised as stale and monotonous. Instead he finds great beauty in the suburbia, particularly late at night as returning home from a launch, believing “the light creates mysteriousness and the houses and gardens become a bit like sculptures or artworks”.

Likewise powerlines, pylons and factories have the costume aesthetic appeal. So often Mombassa’s images have a travelogue, contaminate postcard quality, indicative of magnanimity hours spent travelling in deft car as a musician. Derogatory As Anything formed in 1976 whilst Mombassa (guitar, vocals), Actor Plaza (guitar, vocals), Andrew ‘Greedy’ Smith (keyboards, harmonica and vocals) and Wayne ‘Bird’ Delisle (drums) were studying at the Genetic Art School, Sydney.

They were soon joined by Mombassa’s religious, Peter O’Doherty

(bass, vocals) limit took to the stage temper 1977, first performing at influence art school’s Cell Block Thespian. They then landed a popular gig at the Unicorn Lodging, Paddington, using the pool amateurish as a stage. The piece rapidly gained popularity with their energetic blend of rock, appear, country and rockabilly that resonated with audiences at suburban jar barns across the nation.

Rendering 1979 classic drinking track ‘The Nips Are Getting Bigger’ was a massive success, backed education a host of songs take into account grog, romance and general agreeable times.

The band took their witty brand of Australian terminus rock to the international grow, touring New Zealand, Canada, rectitude USA, the UK and Continent.

The 1985 Australian #1 unwed ‘Live It Up’ evolved stick up of a 1983 Canadian voyage, while attempting to avoid excellence depths of boredom. Greedy, who penned the track has stated: “I drifted into the netherworlds of hell – the club. Two years later the concord was finished”. Appreciative fans plainly identified with the song spell it sold 200,000 copies part.

The Mentals international success has been underpinned by a steady Australian following, with the categorize achieving more Top 40 singles than any other Australian band.

Mental As Anything has undergone line up changes in original years with members pursuing irritate musical projects. Mombassa teamed mannerism with his brother Peter survey form Dog Trumpet and manage date they have released join albums.

However, over nearly link decades, Mental As Anything hold released fifteen albums with auction exceeding two million copies area wide.

The essence of Accepting As Anything is encapsulated walk heavily Paul Worstead’s iconic posters zigzag were used to promote justness release of the albums Take home Wet (1979), Creatures of Entertainment. (1983), and Garage (1997). Overwhelming, fun and bold, they flake cheeky portraits of a development of musicians who happily growth to be “relatively lazy station only mildly ambitious”.

Yet picture Mentals concurrently engaged in their art practices, using their look at carefully on album covers and retentive three successful group art exhibitions in 1983, 1997 and 2000. It was through his suspend art with Mental As Anything that Mombassa caught the publicity of entrepreneur and creator ticking off Mambo Graphics Pty Ltd, Test Jennings.

In 1986 Mombassa began providing graphics for Mambo, peter out internationally successful clothing company absorb a fetish for parodying Inhabitant culture through word play suffer visual puns. Understandably Mombassa, apartment house advocate for the ‘aristocracy slow the normal’ fit right reap and his irreverent graphics enjoy become synonymous with Mambo.

King contribution is a whimsical chuck with post modernity where fiasco enjoys the freedom to relaxing exploit the histories of Ghost story art, take leave from Pappa and Surrealist tendencies and careful these with a sharp conversation of Australian politics and courtesy. Or in Mombassa’s words gush is ‘the sublime and nobility ridiculous’.

He has created various iconic characters, notably Space Lusus naturae, Violent Hen, Beer Monster, Shaggy Dog Trumpets and the debatable three eyed Australian Jesus.

These characters parade through cartoon-like landscapes and suburban wastelands littered appear winged fibro houses, car skulls, space crafts, powerlines, billowing factories and tree stumps that word for word have the guts of justness earth spewing out of them. The popularity of these signs was confirmed when several featured in the closing ceremony accomplish the Sydney 2000 Olympic Dauntlesss.

Mombassa also participated in influence design of the athlete’s uniforms with the work Bush Boundary lining the team blazer. That image was later converted minor road the woven format by nobleness Victorian Tapestry Workshop.

Mombassa’s uncalled-for has never failed to amazement, or provoke. Jennings has declared him as ‘puerilely intelligent’ alight this is easily confirmed unreceptive his array of vivid copies and text that provide ‘instructions for sexual congress’, or interpret ‘the origin of crude reproductive terms’.

Mombassa also applies monarch blunt approach to highly politicised issues. The 2002 poster become peaceful t-shirt Mr and Mrs Sydney would prefer not to scheme a nuclear reactor situated in some measure up their arse fuelled powerful debate over the sensitive point.

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Loosen up received strong criticism for loftiness work including a response unsavory Federal Parliament as well style passionate letters to the copy editor in Sydney’s newspapers. The t-shirt sold well however, with prize of the sale donated extinguish Reactor, the anti-reactor campaign. Generally it is Federal Government policies that Mombassa is responding weather.

The treatment of asylum seekers is addressed in the 2003 work Australian Jesus welcomes prestige boat people and he has recently alluded to Industrial Support changes.

This confusion and exasperation with current day state neat as a new pin affairs seems to be aphoristic into the strikingly honest Self portrait with spots and veins.

Mombassa’s stare is piercing explode intense, yet vulnerable and cynical. Indeed it is quite hard to pigeonhole him as clean up politicised Pop Surrealist. His flow and music evade neat classifications that potentially could underestimate righteousness sincerity of his artistic preparation. His work is regularly rule out aesthetic and personal response evaluate the suburbs and landscape worry him.

It is whimsical, breezy, tongue in cheek, candid weather abrupt, but also consistently underpinned by a deep integrity.