Brush Strokes & Stories
Emotion and reflection through paint & poetry.
Recent Paintings
Hello,
Of course you don’t have to view all or any of this, but the recent information provided is short. The first click on below ‘Recent’ are the images of nineteen works completed in the last 3 months. The second click on ‘Other’ are images of works done and exhibited earlier this year and then sample images of past works and styles.
In furtherance of my commitment to be more professional and productive( and dare I say commercial) I have in the past 3 months become represented(or orders received) by Nissarana in Melbourne, Redhill in Brisbane, Studio One in Noosa and Ninbella in Bangalow NSW.
My June exhibition this year in Adelaide attracted 250 to the Opening. I sold over $50,000 in art works and $10,000 in sales of my book ‘Stories to Tell’. Following the exhibition private sales have continued including a recent sale at auction of $10000 from which two local commissions have followed and I am also commissioned for two works to be painted in Copenhagen next year. A kindly Danish Duchess and television celebrity has been taken enough by my work to post images to her several hundred thousand followers (which is probably more flattering and fun than of practical value)
Of the recent nineteen images I released several days ago most are now promised and soon to be in the transit to the galleries in Melbourne and Noosa and a further one has sold privately. I am also fulfilling further orders that have over the weekend been requested by the galleries.
The point of this landing page is a pitch and hopefully to persuade you of commitment and productivity. The quality or ‘fit’ is of course a matter for you. Should you like to meet I will travel to you, armed with a number of prints which better demonstrate the works, as I believe person to person meetings are for the best. If you would like a copy of my book, which I hope serves as a good introduction to me as a person, then please just ask and I will post you a copy or a email to you.
The book contains many of my paintings although primarily, in keeping with the stories, those painted in situ on cargo ships through out the world, the outback and from my imagination.
Thank you for reading this far.
Kind regards,
Bill Botten
Artist's Statement
An original idea, if there is such a thing, and story telling are what I seek to achieve. I am selfish when painting. It is all for me. Emotional, cathartic, difficult, sometimes joyful. It’s none of your business. If I’m satisfied then I’m satisfied. Then, and only then do I want others to engage – good is good, bad is good , but neutral is awful. It becomes no longer any of my business save that I love it when people want to talk to me about it. I have been resistant to Artist Statements. It’s as if there is a blueprint, a formula, a set
construction. I could make a go of it to appease, to use words like , ephemeral , light, floating, transcendent but it would be dishonest. I know only what I go through – a constant battle between doubt and intuition. Boringly I admit to tens of thousands of decisions
believing only one is right, but wonderfully with rare moments of abandonment and flow. In a well meaning ( genuinely) but ignorant ( genuinely) way people say it must be a lovely hobby. It’s not. It can be lovely but for me I know of the plagues of insecurity. I do it because I yearn for it, live it, and yes love it.
About the Artist
I am self taught in art and, I suppose, poetry. I had not entered art prizes but have vowed to now do so, overcoming skepticism, or perhaps insecurity. Until the last few months I have not been represented by any galleries although I have held many exhibitions at galleries primarily in Adelaide also one each in Melbourne and Hongkong. Now, as mentioned above I am represented and have association in Melbourne, Brisbane, Noosa and Bangalow. In Brisbane and Bangalow I am contractually bound to be exclusive within 70kms.
Perhaps I am an outsider artist, certainly abstract and figurative. I began painting when I became the sole parent of my daughters and at that time I was a lawyer. This was twenty years ago, and necessarily only part time. Ten years ago I sought to become a full time artist, but managed to waste the first 5 years to addiction. I have since been sober and productive.
I strive for new ideas. I struggle to find an idea, then paint a series, abandon the idea and start the process again.
Popular and expensive can be dirty words in the art world, suggesting a lack of artistic importance. So be it. I paint to satisfy my needs. I am unashamed if it quite often engages others. To me my work is important.
For better or worse I have until now largely confined my painting to Adelaide. Raising my daughters as a sole parent while (then) running my own law firm led somewhat to that constraint.
Whilst I have sold in Europe and Asia, by and large my market has been Adelaide. In my approximate 12 years as a productive artist I have sold ( sometimes donated) over 450 paintings , by local standards at high prices, ranging from $1500 for small paperworks to $13500 for large canvasses. I estimate that I have sold or donated over $1.5 million in art. I wish I knew where the money has gone, school fees I suppose!
Whilst I have had sole exhibitions at many local the galleries tend to I have in recent years run my own exhibitions as the local galleries add little to my own following and publicity. Also, over the years, my advances to some local galleries have been rejected.
Proposed Exhibition
I am open to you, indeed to myself, as to the themes of any future exhibitions, but here is a thought. I refer you to the first five paintings in the above click on ‘Other’. The fifth painting is the cover of my book and painted and sold some time ago. The remaining 4 were painted in April and May this year. Two were sold at my June exhibition each for $ 7250 together with framed a print $1850. Another sold l recently for $10000 following which I have received 3 commissions for the same theme, one in Denmark the other two local.
I am currently working on the continuation of painting in this theme which I wish to exhibit as a series. To me it is poetry meeting paint. Stories of common humanity revealed to me by peoples of all cultures- simple but not simple.
The particular poems/ stories I am working on are those in my book numbered 7, 3, 21, 24-26, 30, 48, 57, 61, 73, 76, 87, 93, 104, 109, & 136.
Of course those story numbers are meaningless without the book. Please let me know if you would like a copy emailed to you or a hard copy posted.
If I still have your attention I hope you has been very patient . I hope you are interested in meeting and any collaboration.
In the next 12 months I am visiting selected galleries in Asia, Denmark, and the UK. I hope we meet.
Thank you
Bill Botten
Email: billbotten@outlook.com
Phone: 0417 810 826
www.billbotten.com.au
If you would like to see a short video of the Opening of the Exhibition, please click the video below: