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 SUSAN MILANOVIC chats to artists/designers BEN FROST and DEBASER about their roles as speakers at the inaugural Brisbane SEMI-PERMANENT design conference.
The Semi-Permanent design conference was established in 2003 by Design Is Kinky’s Murray Bell and Andrew Johnstone to provide a platform on which industry leaders, members, students and enthusiasts could come together to educate, inspire and network. From its beginnings in Sydney, Semi-Permanent has expanded across Australia and worldwide with events taking place in Melbourne, Perth, Auckland and New York.
This year Semi-Permanent will be held in Brisbane for the first time. The event will take place on Saturday April 12 at the Queensland College of Art. The day-long conference will feature six industry leaders from disciplines including graphic design, photography, animation and art. In collaboration with the event, on April 9 Valley fashion outlet The Outpost will be launching the latest edition of Curvy – a publication celebrating outstanding female artists – with an exhibition of artwork from across the globe. Semi-Intoxicated will cap off the event at Alhambra Lounge providing attendees a chance to relax with a cold one, check out artwork by names such as Nic Plowman, Lachie Goldsworthy and Benjamin Constantine, and listen to excellent local band I Heart Hiroshima.
Among the conference’s speakers is Ben Frost, a Brisbane ex-pat whose distinctive artwork explores the underlying evil of contemporary western society through use of juxtaposition of pop-culture motifs and visually confronting collages. Frost graduated from QCA in1996 with Bachelor of Visual Art in Fine Art, and remembers his time in Brisbane fondly.
“My time in Brisbane was awesome,” he says. “I used to live in a little shoe box apartment in Fortitude Valley. My house got raided by the cops once when I was in university and they took my computer and all my books because they thought I was subversive. It used to be pretty easy to get into trouble in Brisbane – the cops were total nutcases – it’s probably still the same,” he laughs.
Frost has exhibited his work in galleries around the world, including Tokyo, London, San Francisco and New York. Recently, a piece of his hanging in Fortitude Valley store Ultra Suite created a ruckus in mainstream media – with even Sunrise debating the work, which commented on drug use and youth.
Controversy comes as no surprise to Frost, who finds pushing the envelope somewhat liberating. “I’ve always tried to find gaps in any kind of project to dig my nails in – otherwise you may as well keep painting landscapes. My work is about the fine lines between attraction and repulsion. Some people take the repulsive elements to heart, and that’s pretty hypocritical considering the acceptable repulsive things I see on the telly every time I turn it on,” he says.
Hearing Frost’s tale of moving from BNE to the big time will be a treat for local attendees, with Frost identifying his achievements whilst in Brisbane as a foundation for his current work. Furthermore Frost will give insight into the current state of the Australian art scene and it’s relativity to the international platform. Speaking of the current art scene Frost says he finds inspiration from fellow artists, and namechecks young locals such as James Jirat Patradoon, Renee Herd, Jeremy Piert and Trent Whitehead as artists he respects.
When asked about the importance of the event, Frost states, “Semi-Permanent champions the crossover between art and design, which for so long has been considered an unholy partnership. At the end of the day street artists, pop artists and all those that fly away from the radar of academia are the new rock stars of the 21st century.”
Ben Frost is definitely a speaker not to be missed, and will present at 2pm.
Also appearing at Semi-Permanent is album artwork graphic design duo Debaser. Debaser was formed by David Homer and Aaron Hayward, who met in 2000 while working for the Sony in-house art department. The pair discovered that they not only worked well together, but both shared a love of music and an increasing frustration with the corporate system. After talking often about breaking away from the corporate environment and starting their own creative studio, the pair decided to commit the idea fully in 2004 – albeit drunkenly at a Jebediah concert.
Making good to their word however, Debaser was born soon after. “Money was the biggest hurdle,” says Aaron of the initial difficulties. “We couldn’t afford office space, so had to work out of my home for a while, which wasn’t easy. Getting used to not having a regular pay packet in those first few months was daunting.”
By using existing contacts, and emailing, phoning and meeting like crazy, the pair established themselves in the field and have since become industry leaders, with their high reputation reinforced by their back-to-back win at the ARIAs for album covers in 2006 and 2007.
Album artwork is an immensely powerful tool, providing a visual component which is often as potent as the music contained within. Speaking of the process involved with creating the perfect cover, Aaron describes the difficulties – “Finding the balance between getting something that keeps the muso, the record label and yourself as a designer happy is always a challenge. Sometimes it’s a breeze, when everything clicks, but other times it can be a long process of back and forth until you’ve either convinced everyone your idea is right or they have convinced you their idea is right.” Of the creative process Aaron states, “Dave and myself work differently which makes for a great relationship as we both bring something different to the table and aren’t too precious about our ideas. I tend to research books and websites for inspiration and then begin to mock-up ideas. I do scribble away like every other designer but not as much as Dave who is a lot more hands-on,” he says.
For those who are eager to catch the pair’s tale, Aaron gives some insight into what to expect. “The talk will involve the story of the studio and both our backgrounds in the design industry. As well as showing artwork highlights of the last five years we have decided to concentrate on five main projects. These include the creative for Powderfinger, Faker, End Of Fashion, Kisschasy and Jackson Jackson. These are all quite diverse in what was involved in bringing the art to life; each had unique challenges and rewards.”
Debaser will speak at 11pm, and for those who are wondering, yes it’s a Pixies reference, and for the record the pair rate Beastie Boys – License To Ill, Rage Against The Machine (self titled) and Sonic Youth – Goo amongst the best album covers of all time.
To learn more about the event, head to www.semipermanent.com/brisbane. The Outpost launch of Curvy will happen Wednesday April 9 from 8pm. The conference runs from 9:45am to 5.30pm on Saturday April 12, with the afterparty at Alhambra Lounge from 6pm (I Heart Hiroshima play 8pm). Doors are strictly limited to conference ticket holders until 9pm.
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