MEET COLIN MAC
What was the inspiration behind your piece for SWELL Sculpture Festival 2022?
I am constantly inspired by artists who explored the sublime and like to think of that all encompassing universal feeling when looking out at nature. In Australia we spend a lot of time on the coast and talk about the isolation of living on this big island and it’s easy to forget that even though the closest shore is quite far away there are people with the exact same distance between us and the ocean being pulled and pushed across timezones is that connective thread.
What does exhibiting in the 20th year of SWELL Sculpture Festival mean to you?
It’s a privilege to be able to not only be in swell, but also to exhibit on such a milestone year.
What are the three art mediums you couldn’t live without?
Painting, video and language.
What is the best piece of advice that you’ve ever received?
As a general bit of advice “If you don’t ask for it you won’t get it” from Scottish artist Craig Black, it really helped me push forward in my practice. More specifically the advice I got from Julie Fragar on my approach to making art really elevated my work in a way I could not have done on my own.
If you could wake up tomorrow in the body of another artist, who would you pick and what would you do?
Jay-Z. I don’t think Jay-Z gets enough appreciation as an artist and poet, he is basically Walt Whitman with a Brooklyn accent who does performance art in major institutions. I would probably just go around New York being king for the day.
What is the best compliment for an artist to receive?
Do more of “that”
Do you believe in ghosts or have any good unexplainable stories?
Yeah – Let’s not get into it.
If you had to get a tattoo of a famous artwork, what would it be?
I have a tattoo of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai.
Do you believe pineapple belongs on a pizza?
Yeah, why not? Not for me but whatever makes you happy.
Do you have a power outfit that you wear while creating?
I am almost always in a boiler suit, work wear is so practical and comfortable.
If you could travel back to any point in time, when and where would you go and why?
I really like living in the time I’m in.
But if I had to pick, I would go see the Beatles final performance.
Is a connection to place important for you and your work?
It’s really important in my work. I prefer to think of landscape as a verb, as something active, so all of my work really uses that idea as a foundation. I think it is impossible to separate the politics of working and making art on stolen land. It is an incredible privilege to live in such an incredible place, but we are still living in the middle of ongoing history associated with this place that I don’t think can be separated from any of the art made here.
The Author
Joss Smith is an emerging graphic designer based in Tweed Heads, loving everything visual and immersive. Her passion for the creative arts has led her to study a Bachelor of Visual Communication and Graphics. She hopes to balance her love for the arts, culture and nature with her strengths in communication and management to create wicked designs with wicked people.