Welcome to Mamamia’s art endeavour, the Voulez-Vous Project. Every week we celebrate emerging artists, designers, illustrators, creators and women who knit using their vaginas. (Kidding. Maybe.)
Our aim: to help the internet become a slightly more beautiful, captivating, or thought-provoking place by making art accessible. To find out more about the Voulez-Vous project, click here. Click here to see all the previous Voulez-Vous posts.
By ELISSA RATLIFF
This isn’t your average artwork.
It doesn’t hang on a wall.
It doesn’t make you stop and look in an alleyway.
You can look on your laptop or mobile. You can hear it. See it. It’s portable, and can be viewed anywhere.
It’s a video called ‘One and Only’, and it was made by Sydney artist Todd Fuller:
Todd, who grew up in the Hunter Valley of NSW, has been making animations and performance drawings for over two years.
“It all started when I was employed to be a children’s entertainer/cartoonist. I used to draw on stage in front of 60-600 children at venues all around the country. I quickly learned how captivating the process of drawing can be- I could silence a room with a few lines on an overhead projector,” Todd explains.
“With this in mind, the move from the static into recording/moving drawings was a natural progression. Now I find this method to be the greatest tool for storytelling.”
The beautiful series of drawings featured in ‘One and Only’ was created in the Back to Back Galleries in Newcastle, NSW, using charcoal. The process took Todd just one week.
“I worked everyday from sunrise to sunset – it was an intense but fun process. The general public were welcome to come in and chat, or to watch through the window. At the end of the week, we vacuumed the dust, wiped it all off and painted it all out.”
The video was a collaboration between Todd and Bathurst-based musician, Abby Smith. The lyrics to One and Only, an original song written by Abby, inspired and guided Todd’s artwork.
“It was a privilege to be trusted with Abby’s song. I responded to her work, which drove the [artistic] content. The girl pictured in the drawings is meant to look like her,” he says.
“Once we had sat down and discussed a general idea for the piece I just got into the space and started drawing. The piece was not planned in advance – it was just about playing with a simple motif and seeing what happened as I made it travel across the wall.”
Todd is represented by Brenda May Gallery, in Waterloo Sydney.
This post is part of Mamamia’s art endeavour, the Voulez-Vous Project. Every week we celebrate emerging artists, designers, illustrators, creators and women who knit using their vaginas. (Kidding. Maybe.)
Our aim: to help the internet become a slightly more beautiful, captivating, or thought-provoking place by making art accessible. To find out more about the Voulez-Vous project, click here. Click here to see all the previous Voulez-Vous posts.
Do you know an artist (or are YOU an artist) who creates beautiful or thought-provoking work and whom you think should be featured on Mamamia’s Voulez-Vous Project? Send an email to info@mamamia.com.au.