Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Artist Nigel Sense is will turn the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in Darwin into his interpretation of a visitor centre for an art exhibition

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Artist Nigel Sense is will turn the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in Darwin into his interpretation of a visitor centre for an art exhibition · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You know, I love a chat, whether it's on air
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: or even during the ad breaks. And I'm very excited
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  Speaker 1: because joining me in the studio this morning is Darwin
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  Speaker 1: based artist Nigel Sense. He joins me in the studio
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  Speaker 1: right now. Good morning to you, Nigel.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, he's again.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks doing well, Thanks so much for coming in now.
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  Speaker 1: I say I'm excited because I love the work that
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  Speaker 1: I've seen of yours. You are, like I said, a
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  Speaker 1: Darwin based artist at the moment, it is so bright,
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  Speaker 1: it's so modern, it's so cool. Mate, you're a COVID refugee.
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  Speaker 1: Though you told me in the ad break.
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  Speaker 2: There we are.
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  Speaker 3: I knew nothing of Darwin, really, I just knew you
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  Speaker 3: guys had lucks of for breakfast and I love lucks
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  Speaker 3: of for breakfast. We came up, went to Prap markets.
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  Speaker 3: There was lucks of for breakfast, and then we stayed.
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  Speaker 3: We've even brought a place here now, so it's kind
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  Speaker 3: of like the home. I why not leaving when we
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  Speaker 3: travel a bit. I love it that people are just
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  Speaker 3: super friendly. It's a great place to be an artist.
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  Speaker 3: To be honest, people, I've stopped going to the pub
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  Speaker 3: on my home because people talk to me too much.
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  Speaker 3: I just want to go there and have a break man.
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  Speaker 2: It's really nice.
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  Speaker 1: Well this is a lovely thing about Darwin as well, though,
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  Speaker 1: as everybody ends up knowing each other. Everybody knows you
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  Speaker 1: know who each other is, and you do strike up
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  Speaker 1: those conversations. But you you said there that you know,
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  Speaker 1: you went to perap you had your luxA for breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: And that's where your art is going to be on
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  Speaker 1: display for the next for what period of time.
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  Speaker 3: It opens Friday this Friday the sixth, and it closes
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  Speaker 3: on the sixteenth of April.
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  Speaker 2: Now that's quite a big chunk.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It's called the visitor Center. Ye tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit about what people are going to
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  Speaker 1: be able to say.
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  Speaker 3: I think I wanted a vehicle, something to attach my
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  Speaker 3: work to. And I remember going to these visit centers
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  Speaker 3: as a child. You know, three hours, all I want,
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  Speaker 3: We'll go into the beach. All I wanted to do
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  Speaker 3: was go for a swim, and we stop at this
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  Speaker 3: visitor center. I'm probably like carsick.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: We get all these flyers, all these stuff, and then
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  Speaker 3: we never ever see it.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway.
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  Speaker 3: We do that every year, and I just thought this
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  Speaker 3: would be a great kind of vehicle for my art,
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  Speaker 3: because my work is always it's their diaries of my travel.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I.
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  Speaker 3: Wanted to I wanted to show anti landscapes, but I
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  Speaker 3: wasn't too sure how to do that. I thought with
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  Speaker 3: a new kind of contemporary setting of a visitor center
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  Speaker 3: might be an interesting way. And I can paint on
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  Speaker 3: tan and I could just be a little bit more
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  Speaker 3: loose and spontaneous than my Melbourne and Sydney galleries don't allow.
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  Speaker 3: So I can kind of I can paint and fail
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  Speaker 3: and we'll figure it out from there. I love that
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  Speaker 3: idea of just being af to just do my work
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  Speaker 3: without any kind of consequence.
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  Speaker 1: And so is it a bit of a tribute to
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  Speaker 1: your to your life that you've had so far in
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  Speaker 1: the territory, Yeah, it.
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  Speaker 3: Is, but it's they're like I have, I've done payings
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  Speaker 3: about Jymim Falls. But then again, there'll be like some
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  Speaker 3: little tile that I've seen in Penang that will come
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  Speaker 3: in there. So it's like this weird kind of Frankenstein
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  Speaker 3: landscape of.
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  Speaker 2: Just my diary of traveling.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, a nine hour bus in like somewhere
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  Speaker 3: in Mexico where I'm looking out the window board. I
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  Speaker 3: just see things and I write them down a little drawings,
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  Speaker 3: and they just become part of part of my work eventually.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm using like anti landscapes as a base to
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  Speaker 2: to do these works.
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  Speaker 1: Cool. So it's going to be there. Where is it
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  Speaker 1: going to be exactly?
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  Speaker 3: It's in the Northern Center for Connemporary Art. Yeah, sure, exactly.
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  Speaker 3: Dress that's all right, people.
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  Speaker 1: Well and perhaps become quite a little hub for for
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  Speaker 1: our wonderful art.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing. And I've had an art residency so
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  Speaker 3: I've been painting in there since I think just late December,
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  Speaker 3: which has been great. So I've had a big space
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  Speaker 3: the pain in there and just be surrounded by the work.
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  Speaker 3: I think my work's got a lot more brighter. I
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  Speaker 3: thought i'd come back because we were nomadic. We'd sold
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  Speaker 3: everything and we were living overseas, and then COVID came
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  Speaker 3: and we had to come back. And all I had
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  Speaker 3: was a box of my in laws. And I opened
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  Speaker 3: the box and I was just full of junk, and
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  Speaker 3: I'm like, why did I even keep this? I could
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  Speaker 3: have kept something else that would have been better. But
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  Speaker 3: I think my work's got brighter because I needed it.
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  Speaker 3: Someone said, oh, this, this, this exhibition is really great.
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  Speaker 3: I can go in there and have a break from
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  Speaker 3: the world for ten minutes. And how nice of you
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  Speaker 3: to do that for us. And I'm like, I gotta
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  Speaker 3: be honest, I think I did it for myself.
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  Speaker 1: I really did, because it's great when others can enjoy it,
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  Speaker 1: I think.
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  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's collective grief. We're all going through this together, right, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: whatever is happening. So I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: My work's just got brighter and bigger. They're big works,
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  Speaker 3: They're bright. I think they're beautiful. It's just nice to
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  Speaker 3: come into the space, be surrounded by beauty and just
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  Speaker 3: kind of take a break yourself, give yourself an okay
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  Speaker 3: to have a break for your work.
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  Speaker 1: Is it is beautiful. It's so lovely and bright, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that, like, I'm very attractive to that really
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  Speaker 1: bright art. I think it's going to be a tremendous exhibition.
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  Speaker 1: I understand as well that you're experimenting with some new materials,
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  Speaker 1: territory icons. There's a skis these tents, which is the.
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  Speaker 2: Second time I've ever put up a tent.
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  Speaker 3: Sorry, but and the first time was that Barn Blady Blues,
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  Speaker 3: So that doesn't even account either.
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  Speaker 2: It does.
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  Speaker 3: And I thought tents were like flat on the sides,
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  Speaker 3: but they've got more flappy little areas. And I even thought,
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  Speaker 3: so this is this is this is an interesting experiment actually,
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  Speaker 3: but it turned.
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  Speaker 2: Out really well.
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  Speaker 3: Actually it's it's I don't know, it's just nice to
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  Speaker 3: depend on something. It's a little different. And I like mistakes.
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  Speaker 3: I think the world sometimes you can't make any mistakes,
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  Speaker 3: but in my heart, I really really love that. With
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  Speaker 3: the music as well, I'm kind of just trying to
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  Speaker 3: really go with those mistakes and they lead me to
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  Speaker 3: something that's I never thought i'd be able to do,
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  Speaker 3: especially the kis.
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  Speaker 2: The eskis turned out, I'm like.
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  Speaker 1: That, so what are they really? Bright?
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  Speaker 3: Painting is just flat, but he's kind of move around.
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  Speaker 3: So I call them like paintings for your table, you know.
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  Speaker 3: They're like they're like sculptures, but they're a painting sculpture.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think they've got a great application for more of
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  Speaker 3: my commercial galleries as well, which I would never have
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  Speaker 3: done that if I didn't have that room to just
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  Speaker 3: be allowed to do whatever. They just kind of said,
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  Speaker 3: do whatever the hell you want.
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  Speaker 1: To do, which is scary, yeah, but also wonderful. I
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  Speaker 1: think it's going to be fantastic, and so people are
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  Speaker 1: able to obviously head there from Friday to open stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Friday night at six it's free.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just come and just take a break from
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  Speaker 3: the world for ten minutes and you know, eat a
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  Speaker 3: luxe in there. It's fine, and just I'm there. I'm
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  Speaker 3: there painting. Next to part of the space is my studio.
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  Speaker 3: They've let me paint in there as well, so I'll
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  Speaker 3: be painting and producing work throughout the show. So they
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  Speaker 3: can come and talk to me and they can get
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  Speaker 3: what's a little thing in the corner of the painting,
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  Speaker 3: because they're all little stories.
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  Speaker 1: And they can find out more.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't shut up about my work, so no, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: I love it when people are passionate about what they do,
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  Speaker 1: and you can tell that you're so passionate about what
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  Speaker 1: you do. But I love that you're a COVID refugee
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  Speaker 1: as well, you and your partner. You've ended up here
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  Speaker 1: and contributing, you know, and you're going to have this wonderful,
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  Speaker 1: wonderful exhibition opening on Friday. I encourage people to get
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  Speaker 1: in there. And check it out.
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  Speaker 3: Come and say hello and check out. It's like fresh
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  Speaker 3: eyes that I'm seeing the territory for the first time.
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  Speaker 1: So ye, which is really nice. Nigel, lovely to chat
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  Speaker 1: with you this morning. We really appreciate your time. And
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  Speaker 1: so it is opening Friday and it's going to be
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  Speaker 1: fantastic at the Northern Center for Contemporary Art there in
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps Thanks so much for coming in awesome. Thank you