Are paintings sold framed or unframed?

Did you always want to be a painter?

Does art tire you out?

Do you have unfulfilled ambition in your art?

Do your paintings reflect your true emotions?

How did you get into art?

How do I know which painting is a good choice for me?

How do you feel about your early works?

How do you feel when a painting is finished?

How do you name your paintings?

How long does it take to complete a painting?

How much time do you spend on your art?

Is art a good investment?

Is painting easy for you?

What are your greatest inspirations?

What do you think of Australians as art lovers?

What influences you?

What inspires you most?

What made you realise you had talent?

What's your favourite colour?

What's your favourite subject?

When did you start painting and why?

Why are you an artist?

Which artist do you admire most?

Why contemporary style?

Why have you taken so long to show your work?

Why should I buy your art?

Are paintings sold framed or unframed?

Usually paintings are sold framed. Most art looks best when framed, although when a painting goes into its fixed display place, a frame to suit its final surrounds may need to be considered.

Did you always want to be a painter?

No. I started painting relatively late in life. I've always been creative and used that side of my personality to start and run businesses.

Does art tire you out?

Yes. Physically, opening tubes, moving the model, throwing the canvass at the wall and jumping on the frame can be very hard work! (Gerry has also a great sense of very dry humour - Editor).
Mentally, art can be exhausting and/or exhilarating. However all difficulties are totally forgotten when a work is satisfactorily completed.
When that's done, little I do gives greater pleasure!

Do you have unfulfilled ambition in your art?

Whatever I've done in art, it will never be enough.
I'm very pleased with the body of work I've done, but I would still like to do a lot more.
In particular, I want to go back to my memorable hometown of Quairading in the Western Australian Wheatbelt region to do a series of landscapes.
Another ambition is to paint and write a series of erotic works on the nude.

Do your paintings reflect your true emotions?

Yes, most of the time, although by using dark colours [i.e. the earth colours of the Australian landscape] I sometimes may give the impression that I paint in a depressed or even morbid mood. This is far from the truth.
The fact is that I see myself as a happy, positive and motivated person. My paintings generally reflect that attitude, whatever the subject I'm working on.

How did you get into art?

Art has always been an important part of my life. I own a huge number of art books and lots of copies of Vincent Van Gogh paintings.
After a series of personal and business crisis' at the end of the 1980's, I decided to give more meaning and purpose to my life and painting was the ideal medium.
At first, I didn't paint for any reason other than self fulfilment, but gradually I started to show my art and it gained a welcome degree of acceptance.
I still do art mostly for my own need to create, but I do get a thrill from the fact that other people like and purchase it.

How do I know which painting is a good choice for me?

Firstly, I'd say you'd have to like it. The colour, balance and the narrative (a very strong part of my art) have to come together so that you're happy with it.
Consider where you are to put it. A large, busy work is great in the foyer of a progressive business. It's not necessarily something that would suit a bedroom wall for example.
Other points to consider would be the emotions expressed in the painting, you response to what the artist is trying to say.

How do you feel about your early works?

I like the early works, particularly where I started to experiment with abstraction. I tended to look for colour and balance first and then started working on the narrative component.
Overall, I am very pleased and proud of all my work. The early works, such as the landscapes and still life's still give me a thrill, because of the way my technique has changed and developed over the years.

How do you feel when a painting is finished?

There are few moments more satisfying than when a painting is finished.
Most of the time a painting takes a lot of work and effort. It can be frustrating, tedious and even depressing. But all the pain disappears when the last brushstroke comes off.
Then it suddenly becomes the best feeling in the world. Nothing compares. All pain is forgotten. The only thing that remains is the joy of finality. Satisfaction!

How do you name your paintings?

A difficult question to answer, particularly in contemporary art works.
When I start work on a painting, I may just have listened to a piece of music. I may incorporate parts of that music in the drawings, and then onto the canvass as the work progresses. A musical instrument may dominate with a woman in the background, and as a finished work may be called 'Woman with Guitar', but I would want to include more of my meaning in the narrative of the work in the title. I would be more likely to call it something like 'Woman with Heart-strings' to signify the influence my lover has on the direction of my life.

How long does it take to complete a painting?

The time taken to complete a painting can vary greatly. Sometimes when I've prepared good drawings and thought a lot about the idea, (theme, story, colours etc) the paint will flow and I can finish a work in a couple of hours. That's rare however. Usually a painting starts with background colour and then over a period of time (sometimes weeks) the whole work takes shape and goes to completion. Often there are four or five stops and starts and then finishing touches, sometimes weeks after the bulk of the work has been completed.

How much time do you spend on your art?

In one form or another, art is never far away. Drawing, painting, thinking about a project or series, looking at ideas and so on; the art process is never far away, so in that sense, I spend an enormous amount of time on my art.
The time spent on an individual work varies a lot from piece to piece.
Once I have an idea, I usually do some drawings and then proceed to canvass. Once I start with the canvass, painting takes on a life of its own. It may flow and I finish it in one session, but usually, it takes lots of hours to work everything out and take it to completion.

Is art a good investment?

For me, the reason I buy art is that I like it. If I like it, I can enjoy it, make where I work and live a better place to be, and if the person creating the art gets better known and increased acceptance, the investment can be spectacularly successful!

Is painting easy for you?

Generally no! Most of the time art is frustrating, difficult, anxious and exasperating. However, the secret is to keep going. In the end, it will work itself out.
Having said that, there are times when it all flows. These are the best times. The idea, the drawing, the colours, the balance etc all comes together as if through a well oiled, perfectly slotted machine. Unfortunately, these 'flows, don't happen often enough!

What are your greatest inspirations?

Female beauty and Australiana.

What do you think of Australians as art lovers?

Most Australians would like to love art and the days of being 'macho' and ridiculing art have largely gone. We as a people, still have a long way to go to the time when we could say we embrace art as they do in other countries.
Most people still prefer the gum tree, cottage, smoking chimney and fence posts. They find abstract work, where fantasy, imagination and effort are required generally difficult.
However, as with all things, Australians are quick learners and art appreciation in all forms has come a long way from the time when I first started painting.

What influences you?

I continually worry about mortality and my place in the world.
Every life should contribute to the welfare of humanity and I am desperate to do my best. I see art as my part in that contribution and that inspires me to build up a worthwhile body of work.
With that in mind, I'm strongly influenced by inspirational biographies, like-minded people and the priceless privilege of being an Australian.

What inspires you most?

Many things inspire me. Other art and artists, literature, architecture etc, but my greatest inspiration comes from everyday people and the great privilege of being an Australian.

What made you realise you had talent?

Not a question I could answer .

What's your favourite colour?

In the past I would have always said 'earth colours. The oxides and browns of Australia.
Today, in 2005, my tastes in colours have considerably broadened. I like reds and yellows. They are bright and cheerful and give the painting a joyful atmosphere.
Green is a colour I have difficulty with and not used much in the past, although I intend to work more with that colour in the future.

What's your favourite subject?

Traditionally I've always liked trees. They have variety, colour, texture and character that I greatly admire.
In my abstract world, my favourite subject is the nude. The beauty, curves, personality etc all are delightful subjects for art and study. My greatest joy is to let the models other than physical features come through.
Other favourite subjects are machinery, nature and old buildings.

When did you start painting and why?

I started painting in 1989. It was a particularly difficult time of my life when I was asking 'meaning of life' questions about my personal and business life. I'd always been intensely interested in the lives and works of artists, and I decided that through art I would get more meaning out of life.

Why are you an artist?

I have always been interested in art. I love how you can create things from pure inspiration, ideas and fantasies. Whilst music and writing are subjects that I'm also very interested in, painting, with its strong 'hands on' approach suits my personality
It allows me to express myself in a most forceful way, and through that expression I get more meaning in and out of my life
Art answers a lot of the 'why's' of my being.

Which artist do you admire most?

Vincent Van Gogh has always been my favourite artist. I love his art and his life story. He was very much the underdog and created great beauty despite huge odds.
Picasso is also a favourite. He, more than any other artist dragged us away from the traditional way of thinking and expanding our horizons far beyond what we thought impossible not that long ago.
There are many Australian artists I like [Boyd, Fairweather, Rees, Perceval and so on] I particularly admire John Olson, Charles Blackman, parts of Bret Whiteley and especially Larry Mitchell, who I consider Australia's greatest living artist. His landscapes/seascapes add a breathtaking dimension to the beauty of Australia.

Why contemporary style?

Traditional art was done magnificently by the great masters - Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Constable, Turner etc. That work, done many years ago, is superb, classic and near perfect. It belongs to that period when it acted as much to explain its world as to make works of great beauty.
Contemporary art on the other hand, belongs in today's world. A world that is complex, busy, advanced, materialistic, productive, uncertain and so on. It is a world that is vastly different from that of the past. It is dramatically changing still-almost daily.
Contemporary art has the unique ability to participate and explain those great changes. Through today's art, the artist sees new opportunities, explains social problems and highlights topics that concern us all.
Contemporary art allows the artist to be free, exploratory and imaginative. Through that art, I can work in areas that can only be explained by totally uninhibited and liberated brushstrokes over my world, the canvas.

Why have you taken so long to show your work?

Even though I've had four one-man exhibitions and been in numerous joint exhibitions and competitions, my work is still relatively unknown outside Western Australia.
The main reason for that is that I don't live from my art and I therefore have not needed to sell it to survive. Neither have I spent a large amount of time promoting and/or marketing my work.
I also find it quite difficult to talk about my work, not necessarily because I find it difficult in an intellectual sense but more because my art is incredibly intimate and personal for me, and find explaining it very daunting .
The other reason for not showing my work is of course that by not showing the work, I cannot sell it and as I am very attached to most of the work, I can have it around me all the time!

Why should I buy your art?

I spend a lot of time, effort and thought on each piece of art I do. I believe my art is unique, original and good. Every piece is different and has a different meaning, with different appeals for all types of individuals.
In the past, people who have either put on my exhibitions or been to one of them have described the experience in very favourable terms.
As each art work is original, its scarcity can make it an important addition to your collection.
As the owner of a piece of my art, it says something about your own creativity, your work and your living environment
Above all, I would hope that you buy my art because you enjoy it!

Gerry Gielingh

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