New York pt.1

I recently spent a month in New York City, hanging out with Doug Aldrich and preparing work for our joint exhibition ‘Crossing Lines’, at Gallery 319 Scholes in Brooklyn. It was a great time, travelling to a different city, working in different surroundings and putting together a solid body of work for a new audience. The lead up to the show was spent making sure the work was on point, as well as organizing promotion and details for the opening to run smoothly. Could not have asked for a better night, an awesome space, a great turn out with all boro’s coming through from open to close and drinks provided by Brooklyn Brewery. I love NY.

Below are some photos of the preparation, hanging and opening of the show as well as a great video produced by Joseph Huba which does a good job of capturing the vibe of the work and show. Big thanks to Doug, Joe and everyone else in New York who helped make this come together so well! I’ll have a full catalogue of the work to view online shortly.

Expire x Iron Mind

Iron Mind recently finished up a tour of Australia supporting Expire, from the USA. After being busy straight through the holiday period it was great to get out of the studio and hit the road. Here’s a brief look at what was seen between sets.

monday

sketching

reading

jamming

Torn at the People’s Market

Over the holiday break myself and fellow 615 member, Mike Danischewski were busy working on a collaborative project to show at the COMA (Containers Of Modern Art) at the People’s Market in Melbourne. The project is on display until the 3rd of Feb alongside work by Meggs, James Hartley, Steen Jones and Melissa Findlay, so if you’re in Melbourne it’s well worth a look. If you’re unfamiliar the People’s Market is a great place to hang out. Here’s some words on the project and some images of the work.

“Torn is a collaborative project between Studio 615 members Mike Danischewski and Sam Octigan. Combining their unique aesthetics, skill sets and visual ideas they have come together to create a series mixed media works using re-possessed and recycled materials to specifically compliment the COMA and People’s Market. An experiment in collage, collaboration and craft, Torn sees both artists pushing their own personal artistic boundaries to produce a site specific installation.”

opening night photo: Lekewl

Land Of The Long White Cloud

Shortly before heading to Sydney for Of Two Minds, I visited New Zealand for the first time with my band Iron Mind. It was a short but very sweet trip and while I’d heard that it was a good place for sightseeing, I could not get over just how beautiful a country it is. The shows were great, the people were friendly and we managed to see a lot of the north island sights. Below are a few photos of what I saw and what we got up to. Great tour. Just before I left a package arrived from the good people at NoteMaker, including a sketchbook and new set of pencils to work with as I’m always sketching and taking down notes when I’m on the road.

live shots by Shutter Dallas.

that’s a wrap…

Back in Melbourne after spending some time in Sydney for my first solo show, ‘Of Two Minds’ at The Tate. Really happy with how the work looked on the wall and how the week panned out. Big thanks to everyone who came out on the night or stopped by later in the week, below are some shots of the opening taken by Chris Loutfy. Cheers, now onto the next group of projects…

For any purchase enquires click here to view a catalogue of the work.

Of Two Minds

I’m excited to announce my first solo show, entitled ‘Of Two Minds’ will be at The Tate in Sydney opening on the 14th of November at 6pm. The Tate is a great new space run by the guys at Lo-Fi Collective and I’m really happy to have been asked to show there. I’ll be at the gallery until the 19th so if you’re in the area come and say hello. Here’s some words on the exhibition.

“Of Two Minds is the debut solo show of Melbourne artist Sam Octigan.

Where his commercial work leads him to plan, design and at times over think an image, this body of work is an attempt to inject spontaneity, expression, experimentation and freedom into the process, while retaining his love of illustration and skilled draftsmanship.

Contrasting the intuitive with the calculated, Of Two Minds is a series of acrylic paintings on canvas featuring elements of Sam’s recognizable illustrative style, balanced with more abstract, fluid and energetic strokes and techniques.”

Check out this video put together by Michael Danischewski for an insight into the work and the facebook event page here.

Abandon Ship

Good friends Ben Ashton-Bell and Kym Tarpey have opened their own limited edition craft, home ware and artist print store and were kind enough to ask me to produce something for them. ‘Convergence Test’ is a giclee print limited to ten only, on archival 188gsm Hahnemuhle 100% cotton rag, signed, numbered and embossed. It comes with a nice letter pressed certificate of authenticity. Check it out here along with all the other great items for sale at Abandon Ship.

Some experiments with collage, texture and color for a future collaboration with 615 studio mate, Michael Danischewski.

Just Another Agency & Group Show

I’m happy to announce that I’m now represented by  Just Another Agency. After being involved in some of the great shows and events that Toby and Melika have been putting on over the past couple of years, I’m excited to officially sign with the agency and look forward to taking things to the next level with two of the most helpful and hardest working people in the business. It comes just in time for the annual Group Show that is a side event for the Semi-Permanent design conference. Above is some info on the show and below a preview of my piece that will be on display along with a lot of other quality work, as per. See you there!