13 April 2011

Tim Price, Northcote, Melbourne


















































Jake Walker - How long have you been painting/ how did you get started?
Tim Price - In year five I did extracurricular art classes after school. I made two big mistakes. I drew on someone else's painting because they fucked up the coast line they were trying to paint. Also, instead of giving my year five teacher, who I adored, a painting he loved of someone skiing, I gave him a landscape. I painted then because my mum enrolled me in the class and i was good at painting realistically.
JW - Its interesting that you started going over paintings early on even if not your own. You seem to work rework and over paint more than almost any painter I know. How does the process start and how do you determine the next move in a painting?
TP - The process starts with me hastily beginning a painting without thinking about it much. I'll just grab an image, like a photo or a drawing and start painting with little thought put into composition or meaning. Sometimes the resulting painting works, and most of the time it doesn't, so I have to go over it. Or start again. Or forget it. 
JW - Could you tell me about the painting above the stereo, it seems to have a few layers to it.
TP - It's painted from the movie Le Mepris by Godard. I started by painting the opening credits. Then I watched the movie, pausing every few minutes, and painting bits and pieces of the still over the top of what I'd already done. I'll keep going till the movie finishes. I wanted to paint the film rather than a still from the film. I was inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto's cinema photographs and by painters who make paintings by going over what they've already done, continuously.
JW - That’s an interesting idea,  that something is recorded and is present even if its been partially or totally obscured. I’m look forward to seeing how it evolves.
JW - Rumour has it that your studio and house is marked for demolition, when is that happening and where to next?
TP - The place is getting bulldozed next week I think. Then the landlord is going to have an easter egg hunt in the wreckage. I'm moving my studio to a shed at my new house. This is good because there's a section of the Merri Creek near my house that I'm keen to paint.
JW - Well thanks for having me over and good luck with the creek paintings.

Quilt and found painting work by Julie Monro-Allison