Iain Whittaker: "Life starts off like a mountain stream and it is much better to be the water rather than the rock".
BPP: Who are you? And who you really are?
Iain Whittaker: A friend once gave me
this identity gift, a message concerning self perception. She said that life
starts off like a mountain stream and it is much better to be the water rather
than the rock in the stream - to stay fluid and adaptable, to flow around
obstructions rather than remaining solid and resistant, forever tumbling down,
perhaps tragically, until you reach the ocean. I think that this philosophy is
Buddhist in origin.
I tend to shun
identity labels, but like the idea of being a shapeshifter in paint.
BPP: If you could say something
important to others who were listening, what would you tell them?
Iain Whittaker: It is presumptuous to
predetermine what would be important to others - and I have no desire to
deliver the “News”. Having said that one of the first messages on my bulletin
would be to give unconditional love to children and foster intergenerational
environmental respect.
BPP:
What is your true dream, the one that keeps you up at night and if one
day it were to come true you would feel peace and calmness in your heart?
Iain Whittaker: Painting can be a
magical and mysterious communication with sometimes unforeseen consequences. I
dream of a deeply empathetic painting process which remains positively
confronting. In the past I have experienced premonitions via painting that have
not always been peaceful or calming.
The thing which would
give me the greatest serenity is to find a more sustainable approach to life by
physically realizing a shelter for my family - a modest home of comfort and
integrity which neither people or bank could take away. Everyone should have
this mortgage-less opportunity and enjoy reciprocal communal support when
building a future.
Most of all a
bountiful garden and good company.
BPP: How is life currently for the
people in your country and what would you wish for them and for the planet at
large?
Iain Whittaker: Australia is a big
beautiful land with an amazing range of climates ecologies and people, and
currently, an uninspired state of political leadership, often regurgitating
unimaginative divisive head spaces for narrow gain. Life is generally pretty
good, but then each generation seems to have less options, less room to move,
more regulation and bureaucracy, less privacy, higher (ridiculously high) rents
and property prices, with more people pinned to the wall by the spin of our
massive consumerist rotor.
When I was in various
European cities recently, I was struck by the kindness of people and the
heaviness of history - how these great stone buildings could be read as
exoskeletons of power and control, glittering with territorial ambition made
supposedly palatable by the decorations of artisans. Versailles, the Habsburg
palace and Toledo’s Cathedral, while wonderful places to see, consolidated this
impression. These sites, coming one after the other, felt oppressive - like
walking in one giant tomb. Robert Browning hit the nail on the head in 1845
when he wrote the poem, “The Bishop orders his Tomb”. European cities are full
of dramatic irony. We have much to learn from indigenous cultures who tread
lightly - that is my wish for everyone.
BPP: If you had a chance to be a
child again would you choose the same life?
Iain Whittaker: I remain on friendly
terms with my inner ‘Mini Me’ so there is no real need to go back. Would having
the power to repeat this life be a good thing? If going back is motivated by
the desire for safety, for the known, to avoid that sometimes scary jungle of
potential; the great unknown which everyone faces, manifesting as it does in
all sorts of unpredictable and perhaps marvelous ways, then you deserve to be
cocooned in nappies for having such a shit idea.
BPP:
What was the exact moment that you realized what you wanted to do with
your life? How did you feel at this very
moment?
Iain Whittaker:For me it is not about
“exact moments” but momentums. Being courageous despite the odds and just going
for it, following what Joseph Campbell called your “Bliss”. Painting does not
get any easier, but if you embrace change, the difficulties of building
momentum do shift. I recently went through a major 17 year painting cycle.
While new images are being generated, a major questioning took hold: do you
really have anything else to say?
Iain Whittaker: Sas
Efharistó para poli
If you want to learn more about Iain Whittaker, please visit:
Iain Whittaker is currently
participating in the Dreams & Divinities project, curated by Liba Waring Stambollion, which is showcasing ‘conscious art’ through books and exhibitions and now touring various venues in
Europe. The exhibition opened at the Instituto de America, Santa Fe – Granada, Spain May 17th – June 2nd. It will then move on to venues in Paris in
September. http://dreamsanddivinities.com/
As a Wollongong City Gallery touring
initiative, Iain’s solo exhibition ‘Psychopomp’ will open at Goulburn Regional
Art Gallery, NSW Australia in October 2013.
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