DR JULIEREES
RESEACH ARTIST
ARTS WRITER
Finding Cindy
 Finding CindyGraphite, pen, and digital image on canvas 80 x 80 cm 2011 Sold |  Finding Cindy - At VersaillesGraphite, pen, & digital image on rag paper 80 x 80 cm 2011 Sold |  Finding Cindy - IGA ValleyGraphite, pen, and digital image on canvas 80 x 80 cm 2011 Sold |
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 Finding Cindy - Wickham HotelGraphite, pen, and digital image on canvas 80 x 80 cm 2011 Sold |  Finding Cindy - Chester StreetGraphite, pen, & digital image on canvas 80 x 80 cm 2011 Sold |
Finding Cindy (2011) is a continuation of Nikko Sans Copic Utopia (2010). The work continues to feature the main iconographic characters of Nikko San and Cindy but with an additional character called Mary-Ann. The main narrative centres on Nikko San where he attempts to seek Cindy's attention by conveniently placing himself in locations where he can bump into her. Nikko San wants to confess his love for Cindy, but his efforts go unnoticed.
The hand-drawn character, Nikko San becomes the prototype of the real adolescent, who experiences the effects of unfilled desire within the narrative, while Cindy, a doll-like figure symbolises the unattainable dream of what we cannot have. Mary-Ann represents the observer; where she monitors Nikko San's movements in an attempt to uncover desires enigmatic qualities to better understand why we want what we want.
Finding Cindy (2011) aims to blur the boundaries between the digital and the hand-drawn. By combining photographic materials and graphic illustrations, the resulting images creates tension between the technological and the traditional.
Nikko-Sans Copic Utopia II (2011)
POP Gallery
12 Ipswich Road
Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia
23rd August - 3rd September 2011
Research paper: The influence of Japanese manga in contemporary art
This research project investigated how the influence of Japanese manga and anime has had on Eastern and Western contemporary art practices. The appropriation of this powerful medium allows art practitioners to reinterpret this visual style within a global context by combining their own heritage and narratives with distinctive Japanese aesthetics. By referencing the artist's culture, this new genre reaches across aesthetic boundaries to strike significant artistic and psychological chords which go beyond trans-generational and trans-national popularity.