Many artists look at things from their perspective and bare their soul by interpreting what they see.
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And when they exhibit their work it is often a feeling of being almost naked and putting everything on show.
But Wollongong artist Donald Keys is presently working on a project that is very different to what he has done before.
And the feeling as he heads towards the first exhibition of work in “The Current Crop” series is different to anything he has previously experienced.
Keys has completed 10 of 20 works in a non-commercial series he has been working on for 12 months.
“Most of my exhibitions are..landscapes and scenes and things like that. But this project is a chronicle of the current crop of artists that I admire,” he said.
He has a year to go in a collection where none of the paintings will be for sale. He wants the collection to stay together. They are all portraits of other artists whose work he likes. And he has tried to incorporate their work.
“In each of these paintings the style of that particular artist is represented behind them,” he said.
Keys is capturing on canvas the present crop of artists whose work impresses him.
He described it as being like a time capsule. And he already knows who his 11th and 12th subjects will be. To celebrate being at the half-way point he is already planning the first exhibition of the series.
“The finished project featuring 20 portraits will be showcased at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in Nowra from March 25 to May 13, 2017,” he said.
To prepare he took the paintings to Austinmer Beach on Tuesday to photograph them together. Knowing the weather would be perfect he saw the golden start to the day as a great opportunity. But the sea breeze wanted to lift the artworks like sails and make them soar through the sky in a manner Lawrence Hargrave would have enjoyed with his box kites a century ago.
It may have been a sign that interest in Keys’ latest work is set to take off.
He improvised and placed the portraits face up on the well trodden sand..as if to relax and reflect on what he has achieved.
Keys then lay back among the artworks as if to consider what lies ahead.
Sally Ryan and Carlos Barrios have agreed to be his next subjects. They follow in the footsteps of the first 10 who were Christine Webb, Paul Miller, Fan Dongwang, Vince Vozzo, Edmond Thommen, Mia Oatley, Anita Larkin, Auguste Blackman, Justin Pearson and Mertin Gokalp.
It all started when Gokalp was doing a portrait of Keys.
“He was painting me and I decided I might paint him while he paints me”.