nicholas nicola etchings

NOTES - ittshould be mentioned that this webpage is still having content continually added.

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Furthermore, it also seems apparent the the webpage has developed the character of a scrapbook as a sense of order with the way the webpages are presented in the overall website has only been casually kept.

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Firstly, I should mention that most photos are by the artist.

Those taken of the artist are usually by passers-by or travellers and if the photographer is known he or she will be acknowledged. (If possible the date of when the photo was taken will also be acknowledged).

Many photographs taken of the Apostrophe’s Café exhibition were taken by the artist but as far as the artist knows a handful were also by Kristina Virgeningas and Ica Craven. It is difficicult to acknowledge which are which but it is more-or-less safe to say that those photos which include the artist were mainly taken by K V.

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Secondly, many of the source photos in this section - as those throughout the website - are meant to serve an archival role.

There is a risk that the posting of some photos may seem self-indulgent - as I notice I am putting on more photos than I originally intended - but I am also aware that some of these images in the long term could serve a more useful social-historical documentary role.

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HOME PAGE

* This website is initiated via a free website service that was called Synthasite and is now renamed as Yola.

The smoky/vapour banner at the top of each template webpage is their design.

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Apostrophes' Cafe

Front, spine and back cover of the book of what the film Moulin Rouge directed by John Houston was based on and which I really like. This great tragic French artist was astutely witty.

* Photo of the artist at William Blake's grave was by Ica Craven.

With Doug and 'Fenwick' at a typical after work pizza get-together 'somewhere in Glebe' musing on the possibility of another Black Fez Poetry night. Often we would go to a pizza place that had a couple who would perform with a slide guitar on Wednesday nights. Unfortunately they do not play anymore. Another little 'erosion' of a more communal social fabric of Sydney.

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Australia

Seven Miles Beach. Gerroa.

Adam's Eve at Gordons Bay who has done bush regneration at this cove.

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Central America

A4

A4 flyer for a Guatemalan event.

Rigoberta Menchu poster for Marickville town hall appearance as Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Nicaragua Cup. CISCAC Central America Solidarity Shop. Glebe.

Central America Protest. Hyde Park. Sydney.

Nicaraguan Peasant Painting based on Solentiname style and used for British postcard Peace for Nicaragua campaign during the time of the Us sponsored Contra war.

Esteli. Nicaragua.

Mexican Day of the Dead skeletons.

Pacific Ocean. Nicaragua

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'La Ruta MAYA' National Geographic

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Sydney

Speed's Milk Bar

Pinball bumpers

The last surviving milk bar in inner west Sydney. It sold hamburgers for $2.50. Sadly, it has now closed. This shop was in Leichhardt on Parramatta Rd and the Greek shop proprieter had heard of Speeds.

*An Angel at my Park

Special class out for coffee in Glebe. Sydney.

Special Education teacher demonstrating tap dancing technique to his special class students.

With Water and Courage.

Marrickville Festival. This image has no relationship to the etching other than to recognize that so much street performance provides a strong element of much welcomed magic realism to our surroundings.

Saxophone player. Acoustica Festival. Birchgrove. Sydney.

Ressurection Night

Greek Easter

Blacks Death In Custody March. Eveleigh St.

Protest march

Jimmy Little & Neil Murray performing at an ANTAR concert at the park next to Sydney University.

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Miscellaneous

* View from Mt. Sinai

Shopkeeper 'somewhere' in a small rest stop in the Sinai desert coming from Cairo going to Mt.Sinai; having stayed over night for protection due to a severe thunderstorm. The area had many Bedouins.

Indian Magicians.

Indian magicians

Other 'magicians' in Byron Bay; in this case doing magical things with their very bodies.

Brusnwick Heads bus shelter

Sketch of ByronBay headland by Doug (from the Black Fez) given to the artist on his 47th birthday.

In relation to the Black Fez here is a photo of the said friend who obtained the fez in Morocco that was taken to the Apostrophe Cafe Exhibition Opening Night. Stanwell Park Lookout.

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White Ox

Outside handbuilt porch. Dorrigo.

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Mythology

Below are mannequins which I came across recently at Reverse Garbage which is a large warehouse filled with goods that would be normally thrown out but are placed at this establishment so they can be purchased by the public at a nominal price and recycled by the public. For instance, it is a popular place for school art teachers. However, with the mannequins I thought here was an 'exhibiiton' within the bric-a-brac of the warehouse that would if they were made of marble be on display in a classical museum for these mannequins are representations of the ideal human form which humanity has aspired to represent since the antiquity of Ancient Classical times. Furthermore, along with the idea of lovers the way some of the mannequins were grouped I was reminded of another high art cultural manifestation: the ballet.

Africa

*The Curse Is Lifted.

In regards to Tufnell Park I wish to add that Ica and the artist while in London at this time in 1989 stayed with a friend Joe at Tufnell Park whose neighbour downstairs was a Polish-Englishman named Kryz (Chris) who led us to many a night at the nearby Pineapple Pub which was filled with many interesting characters and with its old decor gave one the feeling that one was spending the night in a village pub. Kryz is a fellow Arsenal supporter and on another visit by me to London in 1997 we saw the film Fever Pitch at a local cinema. (Ica is a Sunderland supporter). Below is a photo of the artist with Kryz at The Pineapple with a poem entitled Tufnell Park underneath it.

I would have to say that Kryz is quite an intellectual with a masterly understanding of English literature and topics pertaining to politics; (amongst other things he - prophetically as it has turned out - made us aware of the notion of jihad well before it became a well known term); cricket and football who I remember talking to him about William Blake. (Ica supports Sunderland). When Ica and I met Kryz he was a tubedriver but he is now a teacher who, alas, no longer resides in London. The photo was actually taken - presumably by a pub patron - on a visit to Tufnell Park in May, 1997 after a nine month overland sojourn by the artist from Bali to London. (The artist was accompanied by Kristina on this trip for many months until they went their separate ways in western China).

Kryz in thinker pose and the artist. Paying homage at Tufnell Park while Kryz is probably reciting

William Blake.

Storm in a Teacup

He said the proper way to make a cup of tea

In his Tufnell Park

flat

amongst the bedlam of his kitchen with its piles of unwashed crockery

and William Blake books and classic Polish music

was to warm

the

pot

then

put

in

the

hot

water

for

the

tea

Don’t

You

Australians

know

anything

about

civilisation?

Along with his good-humoured sarcasm

he

had

drunk

too

much

Guinness at the Pineapple

and

was

on

the

warpath

like

some

one

man

JIHAD!

On the matter of William Blake let us consider the following:

When Blake speaks of 'knowledge' he means spiritual knowledge; in contrast with the 'vegetable ratio' of the five senses:

'He who sees the infinite in all things, sees God. He who sees the Ratio only, sees himself only.' At the present time 'knowledge' , in popuar thought, is identified with science. Blake knew that the inner universe of consciousness has its laws, no less objective and no less binding than 'the laws of nature' ; a truth which modern psychology is becoming aware.'*

*page 16. Kathleen Rain. A Choice of BLAKE'S VERSE. Faber&Faber. London.1970.

It is an attitude that I find most favourable (and I suspect that Marcel Duchamp would agree with William Blake's perception).

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A Blakean portrait. David is an authority on WIlliam Blake as well as most English & Irish literature ( including Oscar Wilde). He has an excellent 'guest poem' in Holiday Poetry titled the Nikiad.

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Perry Keyes Between the Posts

Perry's beloved Souths.

View the video below of Edmund playing guitar at David's 50th birthday party.
Following on is another Sydney musician Jim Conway playing his blue harmonica.
Finally there is another short video clip featuring Neil Murray.

http://www.myspace.com/jimconwayharp

http://www.neilmurray.com.au/

As stated on the introductory page these videos are all well under a minute due to technical reasons pertaining to this particular website. Thank You.

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Cooks River

* Kandinsky Tree

Trees on which Kandinsky sketch/etch is based.

Cooks River

star plant

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OFFCUTS

Delphic Oracle

The 'Delphic Oracle' herself.

Neilson Park

E.S.L Family Dinner VIDEO CLIP - below - at the bottom of the page - is a video of a small Sierre Leone child who dances brilliantly at an annual school E.S.L family dinner put on for parents and students. (Filmed mid-year 2007 and it is advisable to watch to the very end. I should add that this video is not an experimental work per se other than in the idea that it offers a very thin marginal 'slice' of Australia's migrant social history that is overlooked - thus the reason for its inclusion). Ciao.

Dante’s Beatrice at Cooks River.

(Even in heaven one must keep fit).

Trish

Trish and friend.

Surry Hills Markets

Wedding Cake Island

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PINNACLES

One of a number of circus vans in a former car park in Bielefeld, Germany; all used for housing. Bielefeld is the sister city of the town of Esteli, Nicaragua. Bielefld has a resident - Ernie - who likes to ride around on his bicycle naked. It also has a very popular flea market by which you only have to supply a baked cake in order to have a stall. I have a German friend in Fremantle who is from Bielefeld and she stayed in this circus van.

Postcard of Ernie

Bielefeld Saturday Markets

Bielefeld flea market

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ICONS

Krisitna, Nicholas, Ica (with temporary beard).

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St. David with halo and messianic hand gesture.

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U.S. War Boogie-Woogie

Dead Kennedys Holiday in Cambodia

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USE BY DATE

Below are some rather 'first-go' crude attempts at utilizing the Use-By-Date on the milkbottle idea.

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FOUND OBJECTS

Here are some other 'found objects' (which at some stage maybe formalised onto the found objects webpage). These objects are to be seen through the sublime/cultural recontextualizing spectacle glasses of Duchamp/DADA of the early twentieth century. Anything and everything being 're-objectified' as a piece of art served to undermine the preconceived 'absolute' notion of what 'art' is and in a way leads one to further appreciate what one personally values as 'art.' Although there is a case for 'absolute values' art can be very subjective for what is ordinary in the everyday world to one person is an extraordinary art object to another. Also one may feel compelled now to see something 'anew;' to consider how art can possibly abound endlessly all around us and how also in fact the Universe itself within which we reside is a 'found art object'. (One could continue with this line of cultural reasoning but if it finds resonance with the viewer he/she can more-or-less pursue it in his/her own mind - it too is a 'found object' - yes? Ciao). Lastly, Thomas McEville makes the point that in regards to the Fine Arts tradition it was the likes of...'Marcel Duchamp and others whose goal was to demystify the art experience and root it in conditionality.'1.

1. page 135. Thomas McEvilly.Art & Discontent. Theory at the Millenium. DOCUMENTEXT McPherson & Company. 1995.

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Surry Hills market urinal (bedpan) In recognition of Marcel Duchamp.

Gumby

Ball between the posts for South Sydney to beat West Tigers by a field goal in the dying seconds of the game at the S.C.G. May 2009.

2008 Heritage Match

Red Rocket. Surry Hills. Shop window robots. The Rocks.

Mishka the aristrocratic Russian BLue cat finds toy bear that dances and sings a jingle.

The Rock of Sisyphus. Coogee.

Oprah Showtime. Television showroom floor.

Stilettos in shop window. There is an annual stiletto race in Sydney's CBD every year.

Steve Mortimer 's golden boots. Famed halfback for Canterbury Bankstown Rugby League Club in the 1980s.

Backyard vinyl recod totem which belongs and was devised by freinds of the artist.

Shop awning figures in Marrickville Sydney.

.

Gypsy fortune teller tent. Rozelle markets. Sydney. Dress. Film projector. Surry Hills markets.Sydney.

1950s fruit juicer bakelite teapot

shakers plate

These domestic objects especially have in mind Marcel Duchamp's predeliction for domestic objects such as a shovel, bottlerack etcetera being 'found'. Some other domestic objects follow:

Antique Chinese juicer

Antique European Wooden Suitcase

QANTAS bag

Found objects. Rozelle Markets. These objects may become redundant with the present prevalence of digital images.

annandale art deco artist living room artist living room

video covers

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway book cover.

Aboriginal Film Flyer which includes the film Harry's War.

TIBET: a child's view home from exile. Fundraiser A4 flyer.

Living with Robert band poster.

Neil Murray poster of a performance that was held unwittinglly on William Blacke's birthday.

http://www.neilmurray.com.au/

Grace Jones billboard

Addison Road Centre board. The Real Thing.

Wonderland on Alice bookshop business cards.

I came across this bookshop on Alice St. in Newtown purely by accident on a rainy Saturday afternoon and discovered that the proprieter - who also worked as a part-time truckdriver - was a big fan of Jack Kerouac and had writings by Kerouac on the back of his cards. When he found out that I was a fan of Jack Kerouac he gave me this original business card which he only had a few copies left. I find the actual extract from On the Road very inspiring. The next card is the one the business owner presently uses and on the back of this one is an extract from Big Sur. I ended up buying an old Penguin version of On the Road. This bookshop is definetely a grand 'found object.'

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From the land that gave the world Inspector Rex consider this'found object' an avante garde creator of art: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1445427.html

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VIDEO

As stated on the introductory page these videos are all well under a minute due to technical reasons pertaining to this particular website. Thank You.

ESL FAMILY DINNER

EDMUND SINGING '17' AT STARKEY'S 50th

Link to Perry Keyes: http://www.perrykeyes.com/

JIM CONWAY BLUES HARMONICA

Link to Jim Conway: http://www.myspace.com/jimconwayharp

NEIL MURRAY

Link to Neil Murray: http://www.neilmurray.com.au/

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nic_nicola@hotmail,com