In November last year I was approached by local artist Matt Stuckey, asking me if I would be interested in painting a room in the Minima Hotel, Adelaide. His idea was to bring approximately 40 artists, one for each room, on board with the final result being a unique Art Hotel in Adelaide. Art Hotels exist elsewhere in Australia and overseas but more commonly one artist is invited to fit out a whole hotel.
The theme of the brief was ‘creation’. I was given no other limitations other than a restriction on using aerosol paint. All walls and the ceiling were fair game. I jumped at the opportunity do do what I had always wanted to do as a child but never been allowed to! I was given a dimensional floor plan of the room and created a scaled image using collage.
original collage image
Once approved by Matt and Hotel management, I was ready to go. I decided to use synthetic polymer paints as I had 3, possibly 4 days to finish the job and using my usual medium, oil, would take forever to dry. I sourced Golden acrylics as the quality and permanence is high and I hoped the intensity of their pigments would satisfy my preference for strong colour. I knew that many aspects of the project were going to be a challenge for me. The scale and wrap around dimensions of the work, a new medium and the time constraints. I thrive on testing myself as an artist, so I was very excited about where it might take my work.
an early stage in the process
taking shape
hurricane girl almost done
As it turned out it was a fantastic experience. The polymer paints flowed very loosely and quickly, similar to the way watercolour behaves. I have been trying for years to get oils to move in this way and have found it frustratingly difficult. As it dries quickly, I found I could build up transparent layers in some areas without days of waiting between each. I have always known that this is an obvious benefit of the medium but have resisted using it because colour is so important in my work and oils can’t be matched. But the paint I was using measured up.
After being ‘locked’ in the room for four days, it was very difficult to walk away from it knowing I might never be there again and that strangers would be living with it.
The completed hotel will be launched in April of this year with all rooms complete and unique from one another. Hopefully all the artists involved will then get a chance to see each others work. Can’t wait!
Below are images of the completed room.
To see more about the Minima Art Hotel project go to the link below
http://tinyurl.com/b4wzrl2
http://www.majestichotels.com.au/minima-hotel/minima-art-rooms/
