PERSONAL CASE STUDY: TWO INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS

ARTISTS: MARTIN SHARP & OZZIE WRIGHT

Martin Sharp, born in January 1942, lived through a stage of

great economic, societal and global change. Named as one of
Australia's most outstanding pop artists, Sharp's world
renowned works have been a huge influence on many artists
throughout recent art history. His dense understanding of the
use of colour, detailed leading lines, and many more artistic
principals needed to create engaging works of art are what
have made him able to stand out amongst the rest. Also,
through clever implementation of popular culture figures
including musicians such as The Beatles & Jimi Hendrix, Sharp
has been able to further engage audiences by use of relatable
subjects in his art. Two examples of artworks that Martin Sharp
has created that display these artistic practices are; Verizon #2,
a poster of Jimi Hendrix, which seems to almost explode with
colour as Hendrix strums his guitar, and also Seven Minutes to
Four, yet another psychedelic poster created by Sharp during
the 60's which features a lot of obvious influences from working
through the Subjective Frame.

Sharp was one of the most influential Australian artists of the

1960's, inspiring many to use the depths of their own
imaginations to create things that had never before been
created and to adapt certain aspects of life/popular culture into
their artworks to give their own interpretations on subjects. He
adapted a clever range of colour selections, thus allowing him
to add visually appealing material into his quite compact
artworks. Sharps ironic album covers and posters graced the
walls of many big record companies, art galleries and stoners
bedroom walls. His art was unlike any seen before when it hit

the art world, leaving many critiques in awe from the intense
choice of colour and popular subject matter. Lots of people
believed that Sharp often worked through mainly the Cultural
frame, although sometimes allowing his very psychedelic
artworks to blend into the Subjective framework, as his mixed
relevant societal figures into these dream like situations. Some
who have analysed Sharps art have tried to link back to some
sort of drug related trip which has been recorded through
artwork, simply because these works of art are really quite
adventurous and visually intriguing. Vibrant paint choices also
play an important role in the way that Martin Sharp's works
have been interpreted, as they almost force the viewers mind
to peer deeper into his art to try and find deeper meaning
amongst the array of shapes, lines and colours.

Martin Sharp also had a strong connection with the world that
surrounded him, embracing popular culture and interpreting it
in his own unique way. His audiences mainly consisted of the
more ''relaxed'' members of society, as some more old
fashioned people involved in the art world were yet to view his
works as anything remotely close to what they considered to be
''art''. The influences of his audiences and also the culture
filled world that Sharp lived in definitely shows within his works.
These certain choices that Sharp has made to bring himself to
the forefront of Australian pop art, as one of the pioneers of this
type of psychedelic art, have really inspired my own artmaking
practices and work, as I find myself thinking a lot more about
the colour choices and what types of vibrant colours work best
together, also allowing my thoughts to grasp a more extensive
understanding of creativity within art thus extending my artistic
ability when I create my works.

Seven Minutes to Four is one of Sharps first well known

psychedelic posters which entered the art world. Featuring a

vast array of artistic techniques including intricate dotting work,

lines of patterning and relevant colour choices, this work really
does stand out as one of Martin Sharps most creative works.
The multiple ideas incorporated into this particular artwork
really showcase the way that he was able to develop a series of
in-depth ideas and then subsequently link them together to
create these visually intriguing pictures. The use of lines and
dots may even be related back to some sort of Aboriginal dot
painting inspiration, as they seem very ordered and neat,
something which is quite often found within traditional dot
painting . Also, the specific colour choices are quite different to
anything that Sharp had really been making. The vibrant
colours had been dropped to very shadowed and tonal colours,
such as muddy reds and murky yellows, almost as if to mix in
some sort of connection to the Earth/ Australian land.
Surrealism is also highly evident within this piece, as the really
dream like structures and people which can be seen are
nowhere near real life interpretations. These types of
dreamscapes are what made Martin Sharp such an interesting
person to me, as they really inspired me to look beyond real life
situations and subject matter, to an extent where it doesnt
need to make sense to anyone but yourself, which is something
that I really like about his artworks.

Another of Sharps famous poster series is ''The Verizon Series''

of which the most fascinating poster is ''Verizon #2, simply
because of its beautifully composed and carefully coloured
subject matter. The series consists of a yet again psychedelic
adaption of Jimi Hendrix whilst playing his guitar. Originally
adapted from live photographs taken by professional
concert/performance photographers, Martin Sharp was able to
reinterpret the photos to create his own personal experience
with the ''Jimi Hendrix Experience'' through his art. The
colourful patterns which seemingly explode from the fingertips
of Hendrix as he strums his guitar are believed to be what

Sharp could feel within his imagination as he listened to the

music of Jimi Hendrix. The intense colours used in the
background & also the foreground of this piece may also link
back to the intensity that can come with listening to music in a
live forum, especially from a performer like Hendrix. The
subject matter used by Sharp really spoke to people around the
time of its creation, as Jimi Hendrix was seen as one of the
most popular performers of not only the 1960's but the 20th
century, due to his revolutionary musical abilities .

These types of clever choices to do with subject matter have

also really inspired me within art making, as I feel like I need to
think about my art, and plan out what would look best for the
final product, and also whether or not people will be able to
relate to this final product. I try to make my artworks as
culturally relevant as possible, while also trying to give them
deeper personal meaning, something which I believe Martin
Sharp was quite good at.

Another artist that I believe has really influenced my artmaking

practice is Ozzie Wright. Originally a pro surfer, Wright used his
surfing career to propel himself into the world of art. Referring
to it as ''exploration art'', he often creates very relaxed and
childlike artworks, employing many different types of colours
and styles into one piece of art. Born at the end of the 1970's,
Wright excelled in most things that he applied himself to from
an early age (except school), finding himself quite involved in
the ''punk'' scene that emerged throughout the late 70's & 80's,
something which has become a huge source of inspiration for
his artworks. Hailed as one of the most creative free surfers to
grace the surfing community, Ozzie Wright's free individualistic
personality has become a role model for many artists trying to
make it within the surfing world. His works have been featured
on many surfing advertisements and establishments, the

biggest of which being the ''ANTI BAD VIBE SHIELD'' wall which
is a permanent installation of the Volcom Surfers Paradise Store
as well as many other smaller scale replicas, also
commissioned by Volcom , an influential Australian surfing
brand, which can be found around Australia at various
locations.

Ozzie Wright tends to work through the Subjective Frame, as

well as sometimes using aspects of his own personal culture,
which is surfing, to create his quite imaginative artworks. From
simplified depictions of dreamlike scenes, where cartoon
characters express Wrights thoughts on the way society should
be through speech bubbles or large banners to detailed single
line sketches of girls that he used to be hopelessly in love with,
Wright's vast understanding of art and its mediums has been a
fantastic tool for the creation of his works. He is also well
known for using strange surfaces to create his artworks, e.g.
series of blank surfboards, which he often shapes himself using
his connections at Vampirate Surfboard's shaping factory, or
even something as basic as a plank of wood found at the
beach. While working through the Subjective/Cultural frames,
he often draws on his own personal views or experiences for
sources of inspiration. A common message seen amongst his
works is the expression of his dreams and also aspirations that
he has for our society. These dream works can range from
simple situations such as animals in a field with a vibrant blue
sky sprawled across a large canvas which he then just leaves in
his studio, that is in fact just his garden shed, all the way to a
detailed sketch of aliens discussing serious world problems
such as famine and poverty. Wright is often very modest with
his works, which is something that I personally admire, hardly
releasing any of them for sale or display, and most of his art
only gets displayed as small thumbnails or advertisements
throughout magazines such as Tracks or Surfer.

Two examples of the range of artworks that Ozzie Wright

creates include '' Anti Bad Vibe Shield '', a fluorescent wall
piece created initially over 2010 to be displayed at a Volcom
store, which has eventually become a very well-known piece of
surf art and also ''Robots & Guns'', a blue and black ink sketch
which was later developed onto canvas which was completed
nearing the take-off of his surf art career. The Anti-Bad Vibe
Shield created over the year 2010, is a very simple but
effective artwork. The choice of colour scheme, often
associated with happiness or ''free'' living/ ''free'' choice, is that
of a rainbow. The employment of the basic colours of a rainbow
plays a huge part in the general feeling and message of this
piece, implying the way that people should live should be filled
with happiness and joy. As spoken about in an interview from
2011 in the surfing magazine ''Tracks'', this artwork got a very
modest & vague description from Wright as a ''cool little
reminder to everyone to keep out those bad vibes'', which is
something that I also found quite influential after viewing this
artwork. The scale also plays a huge part in its effectiveness as
it literally took up an entire 4 metre long wall at the Volcom
Store located on the Gold Coast, almost forcing all visiting
members of society to embrace the colours and writing written
upon the ''canvas''. An artwork that is quite different to his
large scale pieces is ''Robots & Guns'', created at the early
stages of his career, this beautifully delicate sketch of a ''girl
who he was hopelessly in love with'' for her intellect and
humour is definitely one that has changed my mindset on
sketching and what I draw my artistic inspiration from. This blue
and black ink sketch depicts the unnamed female subject from
the vision of Wright, as she reads a Penguin Publication copy of
the novel ''Frankenstein''. The detailed shadowing which has
been done in blue around the girls facial complexion implies
that she is reading under some sort of light, something which
gives the quite simple sketch more detail. Also, the line
thickness plays a large role in the detailing of the face and hair.
This once again basic technique, which has been definitely
been mastered by Wright in most of his sketches, is another

key feature of the individual artistic style that he has created

for himself. The sketch is an example of the work Ozzie Wright
does through the Subjective Frame, as he uses his own
personal experiences to give a detailed yet simple, meaningful
piece of art.

Ozzie Wright has also been an enormous influence on my

artmaking practice. His works comment on a wide variety of
things, from dreams to social problems, he is able to create
intriguing artworks by just sourcing inspiration from the world
around him. This is something that I've really tried to teach
myself, as I try to make my artworks through use of personal
experiences that have influenced my way of thinking and the
way I act. Wright's works have also showed me that you are
able to express feelings through colour, and also that by using
a large variety of line thicknesses and a broad colour pallet of
vibrant tones, artists can engage the viewer visually and
mentally. This technique may also help to draw the viewers
attention to the central message of the artwork, as seen in
''Anti Bad Vibe Shield'', in which the colours surround the text in
the centre of the piece, thus underlining the importance of
positive thinking within society. Also, I believe that in viewing
multiple artworks created by Wright in person, not only on
canvas but on surfboards as well, I have been able to broaden
my thinking when trying to generate my own ''original'' ideas,
as I've been exposed to different types of media that can be
used such as spray paint or intricate carving of patterns.

Overall, both Martin Sharp & Ozzie Wright are two very different
artists which have created very original artworks throughout
their career, while displaying messages of positivity and
creativity to their viewers. These two men have inspired many,
not only in the creation of artworks, but they have taught
others to think for themselves and to even express themselves

through the medium that is art. I believe that these two artists
have made a huge impact on my artmaking practice, where I
source my inspiration from and even the techniques that I think
about using while creating my artworks. Without the constant
exploration of the artistic world, many up & coming artists
would have struggled with the making of their artworks, as the
key to creating ''original'' pieces of art truly does come from the
influences of the world around us.

BY NICK GRIFFITHS
YEAR 11
WORDCOUNT: 2500