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Newsletter #14
Newsletter # 14
12.08.2024
Greetings friends, family, supporters, and patrons!
I’ve just come back from a wonderful 4-week holiday in Jamaica and New York. While Jamaica is full of wonderful people and natural splendour, it was 3 days in New York that got me very inspired. More about that later.
It has been 5 years since we have seen Julie’s family, and it was everything we hoped for. Warm weather, swimming, family fun, and lots of good food. We even had a hurricane in the mix for a bit of extra spice! Jamaicans are an impressive group of people. A hurricane hit them, again. But instead of trauma paralysis and excessive weeping, they got out with chainsaws, brooms and generators, and started to restore order without making a big fuss.
Art Installation
I now have a web page dedicated to Art installation. This will be something I’ll be promoting more in the coming weeks so please forward my details to anyone who needs a picture hung, a mirror installed or some advice about placement and arrangement. It’s very satisfying work and enables me to help others with the unique knowledge I have acquired over the years. I provide art installation services with a tailored and considered approach, utilising decades of experience installing art in homes, businesses, and galleries, including Tauranga Art Gallery where I was Exhibitions Manager for 4.5 years. I can advise on placement and arrangement of artwork and always seek to find the safest and most elegant installation solution.
Curatorial expertise combined with experience in building, furniture making, and picture framing, means a unique skill set for perfect picture hanging. I can also take care of packaging and transporting works of art, and I install heavy mirrors! Call me 021 2682316 to arrange a time.
New Logo!
While recovering from my broken collarbone (feeling good but still on the mend) I finalised my business logo. As with my Hot Sauce labels, this was made the old fashioned way. I painted the design onto my car, photographed it and then made it ready for printing.
Today in Paradise
Today In Paradise is a fictional story which presents an historical view of a young man named Judah, a contemporary of Jesus, and his cultural context which is raw, confronting and inspiring. Through themes of youthful rebellion, mental distress, the place of sabbath, sexual identity, fidelity, and a revolutionary view of the role of women in ancient middle eastern society, this story flows in an ancient literary style of inverted parallelism. I had the pleasure of creating the illustrations for this book which is now available for purchase!
In the coming weeks I’ll begin to make my famous Hot sauce. The same 6 flavours will be available with very limited supply. I sell out every year so be sure to pounce when I send out the word!
I have built a chilli hut in my back yard to increase the yield so I can make more sauce next year. The plastic hut will keep the temperature up and give me total control over the moisture getting to the plants. Sometimes our summers aren’t quite hot enough or dry enough for maximum chilli yield.
New York, New Ideas.
I was trying to sketch some new art ideas on holiday but not really sure of what direction I wanted to go. I am never short of ideas but I wanted to follow the spark of joy, to be true to the spirit of playful adventure that brings out the best work. I want to make work that serves people with a sense of wonder and enchantment, rather than follow trends or market whims. It may be work that doesn’t sell or doesn’t win prizes – I’m ok with that. But it must be made with love and honesty.
I first went to New York 20 years ago at the start of what became a 6 year overseas adventure. It was everything that New Zealand wasn’t. Big, affluent, historic, impressive, and a deep treasure trove of art and culture. This time I only had 3 days, and we were travelling with a 12 year old and a 10 year old. So sightseeing and tourist attractions were tailored with their energy levels in mind, but I did get to The Met and to a couple of cathedrals. My son doesn’t quite understand how I can get so much joy and inspiration from these places, I’m sure one day he will. The first church we visited was The Church of Heavenly Rest. It certainly lived up to its name. All four of us felt a great peace inside. It seems to have a magical acoustic quality that quiets the din and makes you forget that you are in the midst of one of the busiest cities in the world. It was empty and open, a perfect place to pray and meditate, just as thousands of souls have done for the last 160 years. It was simple and stately, but positively plain compared to St Patricks Cathedral in midtown. I remembered St Patricks from 20 years ago, it wasn’t on our list of sites to see but after we found out that going to the viewing platform of the Rockefeller centre was going to cost us $300, we decided to visit a place of worship rather than a cathedral to capitalism. It is magnificent! Some might say it is the pinnacle of Christian art and architecture, some might say it is everything wrong with Christianity. Its lavish extravagance is both a fitting tribute to the life and message of Jesus Christ, and an enormous waste of money. But Jesus himself seems to encourage extravagant displays of devotion as shown in the story of when he was anointed with very expensive perfume. I loved it. Wall to wall creative excellence and exquisite craftsmanship. Every nook and cranny has some delightful feature. It was also teeming with tourists. Awe inspiring as it was, it wasn’t a place for quiet prayer and private meditation.
We stayed on Roosevelt Island near the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park and visited the Statue of Liberty. What struck me about these places were the values of freedom, liberty, equality, and independence that these monuments represented, and the contrast with modern day America. As a casual observer I wondered if those ideals that made America great are now fading into obscurity and what I was seeing was the relics of a fading empire. The people of America elected Trump, whose only qualities seem to be business bravado and egotism, a desire to dominate and acquire wealth above any consideration of the downtrodden and unfortunate. Perhaps America now values success, power, and wealth more than its former leaders did.
Art and Career
Whenever I’m in Jamaica I have discussions with my Mother in law and artist Heather Sutherland-Wade about art making, career, business, and life. She has recently had a blockbuster exhibition and sold well over 50 paintings in a weekend! I’m always inspired by her work and her attitude to life. I haven’t made much of my own art recently and I’m itching to get into some new ideas. Occasionally I’ll have pangs of regret and self-doubt about my life choices and how much time I’m giving to earning a living instead of making art. While pacing through the MET I came upon this painting by Pompeo Batoni that stopped me in my tracks. It is perfect. Technical mastery and passionate sensitivity with a beautiful subject to boot. Paintings like this are painfully inspirational. I feel compelled to try again and also overwhelmed with inadequacy. It makes me want to devote all my time to trying to master the craft of painting.
Diana and Cupid, 1761
Batoni was a celebrated artist in his time with plenty of commissions to keep him busy. He achieved all the fame and glory an artist could want for, but when he died he was broke, which left his widow to pleading with the Grand Duke of Tuscany for financial assistance. Despite all the praise and reputation, his wife and children were left in hardship. That makes it all worthless. I have never wanted my ambitions to cause my loved ones to go without, so I have always had side jobs, as most of us artists do.
When clearing out Mum and Dad’s home we found a small notebook beside my Mum’s bed. Not much was in it, but one page had this: “what have I done with my life? I feel so insignificant”. Heartbreaking to say the least. The woman who epitomises timeless maternal love and is a towering figure of goodness, felt insignificant. My dear mother. A living reminder to choose love over gold, righteousness over glory, to choose family over fame, to aim to be a saint rather than a celebrity.
I now have a swirl of ideas relating to iconography, church decoration, art history, geometry, landscape, architecture and the essential goodness of being. I’ll keep you posted with what develops. Here are some digital mock ups of possible paintings:
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duanemoyle.co.nz
I have limited edition prints and 12 original artworks available to purchase immediately. For those who live in Tauranga, shipping costs will pay for delivery and installation!
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