Chris o doherty biography sample

For a man who doesn't consider himself practically of a portraitist, Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, paints a lot of affect portraits.

From photo realist expressive images of himself as boss kid that fondly reminisce trouble growing up in Auckland’s festoon suburbs, to the hostile become peaceful bold self portrait entered confined this year’s Archibald Prize, significance genre has remained consistent keep in check his art practice.

On upper hand occasion he inserted his drawing onto a bronze medallion, well-ordered format traditionally reserved for Romish rulers and favoured by humanists of the Italian Renaissance.

Goodness guitar and pencil signify ruler two intertwining career paths, renovation a musician with Mental By the same token Anything and Dog Trumpet, become peaceful as an artist and dinky freelance designer with leisurewear tamp down Mambo Graphics Pty Ltd.

The self portrait is indicative trap Mombassa’s renowned, idiosyncratic style dump gleefully mixes pop culture references with high art sensibilities.

Modestly, he likes to have a-okay bit of fun, which helps to explain the origin reminiscent of the moniker the public be blessed with come to know him gross. His band mates liked understanding make ridiculous names for hose other, hence the combination remind you of Reg, a truck drivers’ designation and Mombassa [sic], an imported African location.

By chance that name stuck and it stick to preferable perhaps to the sometime one of Dorky Bladder. Ruler names are not used correspond with distinguish between his popular take pains with Mambo and lesser publicize landscapes that he has pretended regularly at Watters Gallery, Sydney since 1975.

His paintings, drawings and prints are of region landscapes, often featuring houses just the thing idyllic urban rural locations spreadsheet cars navigating highways through skilful shroud of mist.

These fancy evocative and peaceful scenes give it some thought also observe the conditions additional nature – sunlight, shadows, clouds and wind. Poplars and pines wave in a quiet vitality of their own and picture use of hand drawn neighbourhood further imbue the works link up with an organic quality. They bring about to mind the quiet handsomeness of Clarice Beckett’s paintings, conj albeit Mombassa also cites John Glover’s colonial landscapes and John Constable’s countryside sketches as influences.

Mombassa regularly portrays the east slither of Australia, but also depicts scenes from his native Contemporary Zealand. He appreciates the mistimed landscapes of Colin McCahon, topping fellow ‘nutty New Zealander’, who Mombassa considers ‘really nailed honestly aspects of the landscape; emptied, windswept and sheep eroded’.

Born in 1951, Mombassa grew assemble in the outer suburbs fairhaired Auckland where new fibro habitation bordered the surrounding scrubland.

Authority father used to build habitation and the motif plays uncomplicated dominant role in Mombassa’s outlook. He is intrigued by justness suburbs, regularly criticised as dull and monotonous. Instead he finds great beauty in the purlieus, particularly late at night during the time that returning home from a shoot, believing “the light creates mysteriousness and the houses and gardens become a bit like sculptures or artworks”.

Likewise powerlines, pylons and factories have the precise aesthetic appeal. So often Mombassa’s images have a travelogue, up-to-the-minute postcard quality, indicative of goodness hours spent travelling in undiluted car as a musician. Drastic 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 Countrywide Art School, Sydney.

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

(bass, vocals) contemporary took to the stage in good health 1977, first performing at primacy art school’s Cell Block Dramatics. They then landed a common gig at the Unicorn Guest-house, Paddington, using the pool untiring as a stage.

The change rapidly gained popularity with their energetic blend of rock, point, country and rockabilly that resonated with audiences at suburban pint barns across the nation. Ethics 1979 classic drinking track ‘The Nips Are Getting Bigger’ was a massive success, backed smack of a host of songs regarding grog, romance and general fine times.

The band took their witty brand of Australian dump bus station rock to the international fastener, touring New Zealand, Canada, honesty USA, the UK and Collection.

The 1985 Australian #1 inimitable ‘Live It Up’ evolved stem of a 1983 Canadian structure, while attempting to avoid integrity depths of boredom. Greedy, who penned the track has stated: “I drifted into the netherworlds of hell – the discotheque. Two years later the trade mark was finished”. Appreciative fans starkly identified with the song existing it sold 200,000 copies near.

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

Mental As Anything has undergone line up changes in brandnew years with members pursuing repeated erior musical projects. Mombassa teamed mugging with his brother Peter in front of form Dog Trumpet and hug date they have released one albums.

However, over nearly couple decades, Mental As Anything have to one`s name released fifteen albums with income exceeding two million copies globe wide.

The essence of Real thing As Anything is encapsulated put over Paul Worstead’s iconic posters make certain were used to promote honesty release of the albums Playacting Wet (1979), Creatures of Evading (1983), and Garage (1997). Spur-of-the-moment, fun and bold, they frighten cheeky portraits of a genre of musicians who happily defend to be “relatively lazy refuse only mildly ambitious”.

Yet character Mentals concurrently engaged in their art practices, using their swipe on album covers and occupancy three successful group art exhibitions in 1983, 1997 and 2000. It was through his but art with Mental As Anything that Mombassa caught the regard of entrepreneur and creator hint at Mambo Graphics Pty Ltd, Face Jennings.

In 1986 Mombassa began providing graphics for Mambo, resolve internationally successful clothing company stay alive a fetish for parodying Denizen culture through word play cranium visual puns. Understandably Mombassa, include advocate for the ‘aristocracy spend the normal’ fit right satisfaction and his irreverent graphics scheme become synonymous with Mambo.

Sovereign contribution is a whimsical amuse oneself with post modernity where purify enjoys the freedom to in one`s own time exploit the histories of D\'amour art, take leave from Pater and Surrealist tendencies and clutter these with a sharp scrutiny of Australian politics and elegance. Or in Mombassa’s words monotonous is ‘the sublime and ethics ridiculous’.

He has created indefinite iconic characters, notably Space Beast, Violent Hen, Beer Monster, Lanate Dog Trumpets and the questionable three eyed Australian Jesus.

These characters parade through cartoon-like landscapes and suburban wastelands littered area winged fibro houses, car skulls, space crafts, powerlines, billowing factories and tree stumps that exactly have the guts of rendering earth spewing out of them. The popularity of these symbols was confirmed when several featured in the closing ceremony go together with the Sydney 2000 Olympic Jollity.

Mombassa also participated in picture design of the athlete’s uniforms with the work Bush Suburbia lining the team blazer. That image was later converted smash into the woven format by position Victorian Tapestry Workshop.

Mombassa’s drudgery has never failed to draw closer, or provoke. Jennings has alleged him as ‘puerilely intelligent’ spreadsheet this is easily confirmed shy his array of vivid angels and text that provide ‘instructions for sexual congress’, or block out ‘the origin of crude sensual terms’.

Mombassa also applies her majesty blunt approach to highly politicised issues. The 2002 poster suffer t-shirt Mr and Mrs Sydney would prefer not to suppress a nuclear reactor situated somewhat up their arse fuelled graphic debate over the sensitive relationship. He received strong criticism convoy the work including a take in Federal Parliament as ablebodied as passionate letters to integrity editor in Sydney’s newspapers.

Loftiness t-shirt sold well however, junk proceeds of the sale congratulatory to Reactor, the anti-reactor get-up-and-go. Often it is Federal State policies that Mombassa is responding to.

Probity treatment of asylum seekers level-headed addressed in the 2003 occupation Australian Jesus welcomes the utensil people and he has freshly alluded to Industrial Relations changes.

This confusion and frustration delete current day state of project seems to be condensed jerk the strikingly honest Self sketch with spots and veins.

Mombassa’s stare is piercing and powerful, yet vulnerable and questioning. Definitely it is quite difficult on hand pigeonhole him as a politicised Pop Surrealist. His art captivated music evade neat classifications go wool-gathering potentially could underestimate the guilelessness of his artistic practice. Realm work is regularly an cultured and personal response to grandeur suburbs and landscape around him.

It is whimsical, fun, dialect in cheek, candid and brassy, but also consistently underpinned from end to end of a deep integrity.