THE TOWN WITH THE SILVER LINING

Broken Hill is an isolated mining town located near the Western boarder of outback NSW, and is among the world's largest silver, lead and zinc deposits, hence the nickname, 'The Silver City'.











The town is also known to be a bit of an artist oasis in the middle of nowhere, having more than 20 galleries and several resident artists. It was uncomfortably hot when we got there, so we didn't manage to get around to all of the galleries, and a lot of them were closed because of the holidays, however the ones we did get to see weren't half bad.

Something I found most charming was the fact that most of the galleries were simply the artists' houses - you'd ring the front doorbell and they'd let you in.

I particularly enjoyed visiting Howard Steer's 'gallery' (home studio), because he was more than willing to give me advice on any artistic venture I might decide to embark on.

"To be a successful artist, you don't need to be able to draw. You don't need to be able to paint. I can't do any of that."

Boy was that refreshing! I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of the man's artwork, but I'm in love with his attitude. He's not trying to kid himself. It's true, he's not too crash hot representation and technique-wise, but I respect the way he goes about his practice. He's realised his weaknesses and diverted attention away from them through a consistent, distinctive and recognisable style, playing instead on the humorous aspects of outback Australian culture, and using it to his advantage in the buying market. He's got his audience all worked out. His work is accessible to anyone. A lot of the time artist's take their work too seriously. Not this time.

This was the best image of his work I could find.



Maaaan I hate those colours so much *cringe*

The Jack Absalom gallery was closed, but I appreciated the angle he took to notify the public. I liked the obviously intentional lack of respect shown toward the artist very much. Australian larrikinism. I love this country.


Note the unintentionally severed head on the emu, and the words "Photograph of Artist". Gold.


I also fell in love with the quaint little run-down houses in Broken Hill. They were all of similar size, and most of them had a shaded veranda, but each one had it's own personality and differences.

The priorities of this house in particular made me laugh. Note the state of the place juxtaposed against the sizable satellite dish hanging out in the back yard.

Check out the female redback spider I found out the front of this place. I've only ever seen a male redback before, and they don't even have red backs. The coolest fact I know about these spiders is that they are one of the few species that displays sexual cannibalism when mating. I learnt that in year two. Awesome.