Harbour View Article on upcoming show dirty pretty things

 

Today an article came out in the february edition of HARBOUR VIEW magazine. It's a fab free mag with a wide distribution, spanning all of the lower North shore and Eastern suburbs. 

The article reads as follows:

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS:  Mia Oatley

Mia Oatley has gained quite a following since graduating from the National Art School 6 years ago, when gallery director Richard Martin recognised her talent and invited her to be one of his stable of artists. Her first exhibition was shared with other NAS graduates, but it was Mia's edgy figurative work that proved the most popular. She subsequently took off to Paris for three years living and working with other artists.

During that time the gallery hosted her first solo show inspired by the people and places  in her new surrounds. Her poster like portraiture and street scenes combined bold colours and collage to great effect and resulted in many red dots. Mia's work is always evolving and her exhibition DIRTY PRETTY THINGS certaintly won't disappoint. She has captured an essence of spontaneity in these poses using her family and friends as models.

In the artists own words:

When I returned to Sydney after living in Paris for nearly three years, things had changed. after a recent break up with my French boyfriend and muse I returned alone. I knew that when I started painting again that a new direction in subject matter and approach would be inevitable. After romantic Europe I undertook my own form of "eat pray love" by spending a year single in my home town and began this series.

My sister posed on my mother's bed for me, the photo's were wonderful, becoming the basis of the first reclining nude series. It was a new beginning with old sentiments. I have always painted people that I have been close to, yet this time I realized that I was painting myself. All the women who posed for me did so in my own home and there is a relaxed eroticism about them. There is nothing more appealing than a woman in her own domain, in her own power, natural, free, and uninhibited by societies glare and yet more than anything, these paintings are about discovering my own power-teaching me who I am and am yet to become.

For more information contact Richard Martin Art

98 Holdsworth Street Woollahra 2025

This exhibition: 19th feb-2nd March

Opening Hours Tue-sat 11-6pm, Sun 1-5pm

Tel: (02) 9327 6525 www.richardmartinart.com.au

Make It Real

Pop artist Peter Blake told his students "Don't do a painting of a bottle of wine and a piece of camenbert . Do something that means somthing to you".

Andy Warhol said "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface: of my paintings and my films and me, and there I am, there's nothing behind it."

Two very different statements that I love for their insightfulness and their honesty. As Blake Said, when you create a piece of art that means something to you, your work is going to reflect that. The audiauce will feel it. The work will be more powerful......Naturally.

Andy Warhol's statement is great. There's no bullshit here. He isn't trying to tell us that his work is more meaningful or important than our first impression of the image. Often people feel that they don't have the education to appreciate or understand modern art. This statement cuts right through a lot of jargon and reminds us that we are visual creatures looking at an image after all.

Speaking of images here is one of me working in my studio on the last few paintings for my show.
I'm having fun again on the work, now that the pressure is off. The colours have brightened up, and I'm playing and letting the work happen without forcing it, like when I began making the work. The middle part was a struggle though.......nothing seemed to work, and I destroyed a fair bit of it after a weekend away. That really put the pressure on!!

Sometimes painting is a real battle, a war with my self, but not at the moment. It's working beautifully, let's hope all the way until the last stroke.

KAREN MAGAZINE article on Mia Oatley

Last December I did an interview for Karen Magazine, which is a high end fashion and beauty mag with a global distribution. Naturally I was thrilled to do the article, which is a feature profile on me,and also take the opportunity to promote my exhibition at the same time. The magazine is currently on sale at your local newsagent now! Go grab yourself a copy.

Here is a link to the downloaded PDF of the article
http://karenmag.com/file_server/Sites/filechute/KAREN_11_mia.pdf

1 month before the exhibition

At this time of year in the summer sun, while everyone's swimming down at Bronte, and after the holidays, finishing the last few pieces of work for my show feels like the last lap around the Olympic stadium for a marathon runner after a very long race.  Fortunately things are really pulling together, and the show is shaping up to be the best and most cohesive exhibitions to date, and is already gathering momentum with Articles in Voi Tutti, and Next week a double page spread in Karen Magazine will appear.

Here's a sneak peak of one of the pieces from the show.