Interview with John DOUGLAS
the ephemera interviews
In this series of interviews artists directly involved in ARIs and artist-run culture 1980- 2000 speak about the social context for their art making and provide insights into the ephemera they produced or collaborated on during this period. Artist ephemera includes artworks, photocopies, photographs, videos, films, audio, mail art, posters, exhibition invites, flyers, buttons and badges, exhibition catalogues, didactics, room sheets, artist publications, analogue to digital resources and artist files.
BIO
John Douglas is an Australian multimedia artist whose exhibitions have received acclaim and caused controversy both in his home country and internationally.
He decided he wanted to be an artist and immediately began painting at the age of 8, and has never had any misgivings about his decision to follow the artistic path. He studied at the Queensland College of Art until his expulsion in 1984 for being a “disruptive and disturbing influence”, after which his career really took off.
In 1985 he had a two-person exhibition Notuvida Jungle with Sue Ryan at ‘THAT’ Contemporary Art Space, Brisbane. The opening night featured musical performances by alternative music group Ruah. The exhibition combined sculpture, paintings, prints, mixed media and music, interactive art stations in a setting of vines and jungle – Sue and John went to a recording studio and created audio works under the alias Alas Poor Eric Lost His Toupee specifically for the exhibition.
This recording created interest at local radio station 4ZZZ, where the track Acid, Wonder Dug was on rotation for a time. Alas Poor Eric were offered to perform their music live and a produce another recording, however through circumstances the follow-up “Horror House” never eventuated.
This show at THAT Space opened a world of alternative arts for John, and he attended many of the events and parties at THAT, The Observatory and One Flat. He was a founding member of the Tropical Artists Guild in Cairns, and his exhibition Preliminaries For ‘Big Smoke’ was the opening show forthe Guild. The next year a solo show Une Nouvelle Couleur was held at TAG and through the late 80’s John had several exhibitions at Rondeau gallery in Sydney.
John has since had many group and solo exhibitions in Australia, including for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival (1994, 1995, 1997, 2003 & 2005) and an exhibition for Sydney’s cultural festival for the 2002 Gay Games. His international solo exhibitions include shows in Paris (France), Fort Lauderdale (USA), Bangkok (Thailand), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Geneva (Switzerland) and Shanghai (China).
He is an internationally published writer of fiction and non-fiction. He has been a regular cartoonist and writer for several publications.
His photography encompasses a broad spectrum of themes, including for newspapers and magazines around the world and for corporate clients.
Douglas worked as the Visual Arts Director for the Queer As Fuck Arts Festival in Sydney, 1999. He has been a Teaching Consultant in Art Therapy at Glenside Psychiatric Hospital, Adelaide, and occasionally conducts self-expression art workshops. In 2004 he was invited as Artist in Residence to conduct painting workshops at Lockhart River Aboriginal Community, Cape York.
In 2010 Douglas won the International Outrate Short Film Festival for his film ‘Ward 9’, a film about life in an HIV ward, and was given an Inspiration Award for his photograph ‘Imagine’ for World Peace Day in the USA.
A feature-length film “Sex Club”, a collaboration with performance artist Strykermeyer, premiered at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2013 exhibition in Goulburn, Australia.
PA:
John Hi and thanks, why does a public archive mapping artist testimonies and artist histories about the ephemeral nature of the vibrant Queensland 1980-1990 artist-run scene matter to you?
JD:
I believe it’s important these untold stories are put on the public record. I was directly involved with several QLD artist-run projects during this era including TAG ( the Tropical Artists Guild in Cairns), That Contemporary Art Space, and had access/experiences on the fringes of others such as Red Comb House and One Flat.
As a Queensland-based artist at the time I was working in various media including batiks, photography, print making (monoprint and etching), painting, sculpture, experimental music works.
And I was focused on various subjects in my professional practice, particularly the impact of symbolism in various approaches to art and the relationship of symbolism with the materials used in creating multi-media art.
From my perspective artist-runs at this time provided many artists like me with a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a sense of the future, a sense of hope and sense of an openness to the possibilities of what making art could be. And for a time when so much of what Queensland seemed to be about-conservatism, closing down, shutting off awareness and creativity and questioning-they also provided us with a place to exhibit, to network and to meet other contemporary artists.
This was invaluable at the time as there were no venues, institutions or galleries that would even consider exhibiting my work or promoting my art practice.
It is disappointing that to date documentation and ephemera from this era has not been collected and published. I understand that this project is a useful way to change this as not only is this an important history to document but I believe it has a practical value for upcoming and aspiring artists today.
Today I continue to work as a multi-media artist and international travel photographer and film-maker and experimental musician.
Looking back, my involvement with ARIS like TAG, That Contemporary Art Space and One Flat has provided me with an invaluable well-spring of creative experience that continues to serve me in my professional work.
The impact of this artist-run activity, the inspiring and interesting art created and people involved, continues to enthuse me about the possibilities of what art can be…
PA:
1980’s Qld/Brisbane Social History: By way of a detailed personal snapshot, the milieu you experienced during the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s as a young artist living, working, collaborating in Brisbane, what sort of world was this Queensland for you?
JD:
The punk/new wave scene was buzzing, new romantic music in clubs, people with weird haircuts and make-up on, divergent and amorphous sexuality openly displayed (particularly in The Valley), when friends would come visit they’d bring a block of hash as well as beer.
The arts scene was vibrant and diverse and full of interesting people who had a strong belief in what they were producing and exploring in the art. It seemed exotic and after growing up in a small central Queensland town.
PA:
The Bjelke Peterson Regime, “The Police State” political backdrop how did it directly or indirectly impact upon you?
JD:
I had a shaved head during my first year in Brisbane – I was often stopped by police and searched on this basis – just as I was walking down the street. They’d say I ‘didn’t look right’. Once was for ‘carrying a strange and suspicious package’ – my bankbook.
Another time after I gave my name I saw the policemen in the car ahead on their radio – they came screeching back and did a body search right there on the street. As I clearly had a name they knew I lodged a formal complaint – the department investigated and it turned out I was listed as a possible dissident, one of a large number of ‘potential troublemakers’ without any criminal record kept on file by Queensland Police at that time. The investigating team had my name expunged and I think as result this practice of documenting names without reason was curtailed – at least that is what I was told.
Another time walking with a friend who had just tried to kill himself we were dragged off in the police car with the police jeering “Yews two boyfriends are fags or what” while making fun of his bleeding bandaged wrists.
It seemed that if you looked or acted n any way different it was to be expected that the police would harass you when you were out in public.
It made the alternative arts scene all the more dynamic because it pushed back against this conservatism and people in the arts in Brisbane were really engaged politically, socially and in their arts practice: it made for exciting and dynamic art and an invigorating time.
PA:
How did this political climate directly impact on your friends and peers?
JD:
The people who cared gave a lot of energy to their art and were determined that it mean something and do something. There was a belief that art really could change the world. Often people were active in other areas too – The Anarchists Club in West End was a big thing at that time.
PA:
And the type of art work you were making during the 1980’s, media used, subjects and themes?
JD:
At that time I was very interested in Jung, Sufism and the ideas of J.G. Bennett and P.D. Ouspensky, so obviously was into symbolism and it’s applications in visual arts.
Looking for a universality in symbolism meant I was often combining imagery from several different cultures and philosophies in one artwork, so mixed media, plundering pop culture images for deeper meanings behind, the influence and impact of text in image, works over a series rather than one ‘definitive’ work.
The effects of sound, visuals, smell, touch – how these sensory inputs could be combined and live within a space – an art-space or in life. The fluctuating relationship tension between the viewer, the artist and artwork was also of interest.
The belief that art – when approached in a certain way – could truly transform, for both the viewer and the artist, was a core principle underlying my art through this time.
Cassette Cover for “Alas Poor Eric” 1985
This is the cassette cover for the audio works created by Sue Ryan and me for our exhibition Notuvida Jungle at THAT.
We got some song and music ideas while passing the night stranded on a crocodile slipway in a swamp in Cape York. We made up some tunes to pass the time. We met again in Brisbane and spent one day developing the music further taking LSD and working out sounds on a circle of animals skulls. Two days later we went into a recording studio and recorded our audio cassette in one take, we then played this music in the exhibition space.
PA:
Tell me a bit about the artist collaborations you directly participated in?
JD:
I created a musical work under the alias “Alas Poor Eric Lost His Toupee” with Sue Ryan in the 80s. We composed and recorded and then played the music in our two-person show ‘Notuvida Jungle’ held at THAT space in Brisbane. We also created a series of collaborative paintings for that show, think they’ve long been lost. I’d like to see how they look now from this vantage point of experience.
“Illude 7” – from “Illudes” (Kuranda Gallery), and “Notuvida Jungle” (THAT Space) exhibitions 1985, Batik
Inspired initially by an anthropologist’s report at the time about the brutality of QLD’s police and legal system, these batiks became the works comprising my first solo exhibition, and shortly after were shown in THAT Space. In 2012 they were exhibited again in Goulburn – first time I had seen them in years, the first time they’d been on display since the show at THAT – it was like a reunion with old friends.
PA:
Kinship: A brief biography?
JD:
I was born in Scotland, we moved to Central Queensland when I was young – before school-age. My father loved singing and was a talented singer – when young he was offered a gig at Carnegie Hall in NYC but turned it down. He loved to sing old Scottish songs and nowadays those memories of him singing remain strong. His sister was ranked as the best bagpipe player in the world in her day.
PA:
Some detail about your family’s own immigration story John?
JD:
We moved to Australia when I was young but we all grew up with an appreciation of the Douglas family history (we can trace out family tree back almost a 1000 years). Having a sense of this history and growing up in a mining community in Queensland was a strange mix, and early-on gave a sense of how combining different streams of influence can create something new and vibrant that has the potential to have its own life.
PA:
Are there other members in your family who are artists or designers?
JD:
My older brother, James Douglas, until recently fronted a punk/grunge band playing and recording in Rockhampton. He was lead singer, guitarist and songwriter.
He also made an excellent documentary about the 70s/80’s punk music scene in Central Queensland (and Brisbane) called “A Piss in the Ocean”.
PA:
Is there one particularly vivid memory or event from your childhood when you knew you wanted to become a professional artist, designer or media producer?
JD:
At 8 years of age I saw a small article in my mother’s Women’s Weekly about a Perth girl of my age who was doing traditional tea-towelesque Aussie landscapes. I was impressed by her having a paragraph in an actual print publication. Looking at her works I thought “I can do that, and better” and decided there and then I would be a painter.
PA:
Tell me about your schooling and early Art classes/education John?
JD:
Primary – not much of any influence. Though at 9yo I made a local ‘newspaper’ – each copy was individually hand-written and drawn, and would hand it out to local residents. Even then I had a love of street art and zines.
I went to two high schools – both encouraging with art. My first teacher once told the other students when I was out of the room that she wished she could draw as well as me – amazed when I heard that – always felt like some sort of fraud so to hear such a comment from someone whose abilities I admired was quite something, and made me feel like even more of a fraud actually. That teacher routinely gave me 10/10 for works, so once I swapped my works with another student’s (who I thought was very good but he never got full marks) and she awarded my submissions (his) 10/10 and his submissions (my art) 8/10. We told her after and we both gained detention for that.
My next high school had the stereotypical art teachers – big hair, beards, experimental, smokers, zany clothes, very ‘art college’ bohemian. They were encouraging for us to experiment and to grow and push and ponder what we were doing and about – not just make a likeness or fulfill basic assignment requirements.
The head of the arts section would take me aside after school hours and set separate assignments for me on top of the general ones – one was to paint an apple over and over and observe the nature of the apple and how it changed with each new study and to see if I could give the apple life in my sketches, and then to tear up all these studies before the end of the week – he was very much about not being precious or holding on and pushed me to not be afraid and to see in a fuller way what art could mean, not think of the final painting as the important thing but to enjoy and engage in the process – for that quality of guidance at such a young and developmental age I am thankful.
PA:
And your direct experience of Higher Education at QCA, DDIA or a similar tertiary institution?
JD:
I attended the Queensland Art College at Morningside in Brisbane. I ended up being kicked out for being a “disruptive and disturbing influence” which, to be fair, I probably was. I don’t think art college – or that one at least – and me were a beneficial fit at that time. But there were things I learned there that were valuable and there were some people who were supportive and gave guidance so in hindsight I am glad I attended for 2 1/2 years.
PA:
Tell me about your own sense of place and your sense of belonging then?
JD:
After college I moved to the rain forest for four years and was a bit isolated from the arts milieu, never felt part of it really and still don’t, I scrape along the edges now and again but rarely go to exhibitions or events – I like heading out by myself with some paints and paper and splashing about, then and now. The belonging to a social order and attending gatherings thingy is not part of my bag of tricks – words are a bit odd and so much of that life is about using them.
PA:
Tell me about your most vivid memories of significant self-directed learning and education during the 1980-1990 years?
JD:
After leaving art college I had a great time exploring where influences/inspiration may come from – dreams, direct from-life observation studies of landscapes and people, symbolism in outside events and experiences, drugs, travel, adventures etc and how these separate sources and entities could be combined.
Now it is all great blur of memories that have some commonality in that they were all about opening up in a way, and less about ‘good’ techniques or composition or theory or being a smarties pants about art.
PA:
Where did you hang out?
JD:
Hung out in The Valley in Brisbane lots. Any free live bands. The Zoo, The Terminus – both gay bars where it was easy for me to get someone to buy me drinks. And I think it was on Tuesday nights for a while they played a selection of more alternative music at The Terminus so that was a bonus. That art college/immediate post-art college time was really the only period where I attended exhibitions with any regularity – opening night was always good for free booze and the time to wear clothes with big pockets so you could shove in as much food as possible.
PA:
Tell me a little about two or three of your intimate/influential artist colleagues and peers at the time?
JD:
We drank, took drugs, made art, complained and plotted about college. After college life in Brisbane was much of the same without the collage rants. For a while I lived in a house in Hale Street, Petrie Terrace where there was SEX, DRUGS, ROCK AND ROLL spray-painted in huge letters on our fence – and that was an accurate summation of life inside. It was fun and exhilarating – everyone making art, dead cats swaying outside the windows hung from safety pins through their nose, the place always awash with drugs, cheap cask wine and Iggy Pop blasting away – and these were the quiet days. What our poor neighbours must have gone through.
PA:
Tell me in some detail about any mentors you had at the time?
JD:
None for me.
PA:
Tell me a wee bit more detail about your most vivid and early exhibition/arts event, exhibition experiences John?
JD:
One of my favourite exhibitions I’ve done so far was the Notuvida Jungle show with Sue Ryan we did at THAT in 1985. We went all out to make the show an actual experience on every level we could come up with, it taught me consideration of the exhibition space as a living thing as well as the importance of a holistic approach to creating an exhibition – that show taught me an exhibition can take on a life of its own that the art is part of, not the sole entity.
In 1987 at TAG in Cairns I did a solo show of black and white paintings called Une Nouvelle Couleur, the middle of the exhibition hall was filled with big christmas tress and all round the only lighting was one candle placed under each artwork. Ah, for the pre-public liability days.
PA:
And more broadly – popular culture – tell me about the pop culture that mattered for you during this time?
JD:
Hard to answer – largely it was anywhere free/cheap booze, drugs, sex were to be found. I wasn’t too particular beyond that. All a big blur.
PA:
Tell me a wee bit more about two or three of your most memorable share house experiences John?
JD:
Aside from the one I mentioned above I shared another one with artists in Bulimba, we called it The Horror House. Every window in the house was smashed. I built a rickety fence and I painted each paling with a Chinese curse. There was loop at the top of the gate that fitted a a ping-pong ball we painted into an eyeball, the front yard I made a sculpture of an altar with a skull. The one car wonder painted eyeballs all over his Holden. We had rubber spiders hanging on fishing line as you went up the stairs, BEWARE OF THE DEAD scrawled in red letters in the front door.
Inside we had made the living space into a jungle with all sorts of large trees and horse skulls painted with spirals hanging from the ceiling throughout and large macrame hangings in woven with animal bones hung from random areas. The first night we moved in I almost burnt the house down forgetting a burning candle, so we had a big hole in the lounge-room floor, so you always had to dodge that too as well as be mindful of the hanging horse skulls, they gave a good crack to your head of you hit one.
The neighbourhood kids took bets as to would walk by our house. And the local police loved to make our place their regular place to raid. Not that they noticeably damaged anything given the condition of the house. I wonder if we ever got the bond back on that one?
Another house – half the house was on heroin and the half of occupants on acid, the place full of fleas and dogs and it was a manic place, always people coming and going and screaming and laughing and burning things and always noise. I was in Team LSD and we had a big book in our lounge-room and whenever anyone was able to we’d make some art while tripping, that book was in use every day. The heroin members I found placid enough but dull. One had a bit spit/phlegm jar by his bed that fascinated. Luckily I had the fuse box in my room so when it got all too much I just pulled the plug and at least cut the music. Thinking about it I am impressed we had electricity on.
Another house – in Wynnum – we used to have someone break in at different times each week and do our dishes and hang crucifixes all over the house. We were never too concerned with finding out who it was as they cleaned the place.
“Pox” 1984
Done while living and working at Thoughtforms gallery in West End – a gallery created by two other post-QAC survivors. We all shared the living area at the back of the gallery. Lived across the road from a single-mothers’ shelter – put together this book to the music of yelling and babies cries. Sounds, smells, sights, touch, sensations, all the environment around I think is important when making any artwork.
PA:
Tell me about your relationship to ARIs interstate or overseas at the time?
JD:
No idea about any outside of Queensland. I did do some shows with Rondaeu, 338 Gallery and Tin Sheds in Sydney and my recollections are of nice people but otherwise just a bit of a haze.
PA:
This year marks the 40th year anniversary of the Institute of Modern Art, tell me about the role the IMA played in your own personal experience during your early years as an artist/ art student living in Brisbane?
JD:
No recollections about this/them.
PA:
The 1984-1985 guest curator period with Ted Riggs and Barbara Campbell? What do recall from this term of guest-curatorship at the IMA? Were you involved at the time, if so how and why? How did this feel at the time?
JD:
Oh yeah, The Monstitute of Instant Art. I remember it was good but I took too many drugs then, I can’t recall anything other than we liked going there now and again. We tended to focus on exhibitions with free food and booze. I went to he last day it was open and took photos.
PA:
Tell me in some detail – if relevant- about any direct measure of support, patronage and interest from established Brisbane/Qld galleries/institutions you received during this early time in your career? Did it help? How so?
JD:
Easy – none.
PA:
Tell in me in a bit more detail about two or three of your most vivid and most memorable personal ARI experiences during this 1980-1990 period?
JD:
There was an arts space near Roma St – The Observatory I think – always fun to walk past, you never knew what might be spilling out the gallery onto the street, giant braids of fake hair once.
I recall going to great parties, good music, drugs, crazy and interactive art jostling for space with the people. Not too many clear memories, just a glorious swirl of freedom – it felt liberating to be at such events, like almost anything was possible.
PA:
Tell me in detail about the types of ephemera you made or designed, how, with what materials, where they were placed or distributed, flyers, posters, invites, newsletters?
JD:
Not sure – think around that time I was more an admirer of others efforts than doing too much myself. I hung some photocopies about on the themes of racism and criticizing the state politics of the time.
PA:
Tell me in some detail about some of the key roles you had/played at the time, e.g. artist, curator, activist and so on?
JD:
Around that time I did some curating for a show or two for the Qld Arts Council I think, curated a few shows for TAG in Cairns area, but mainly was just painting and playing with media – combining dyes with painting, ceramics, mixing incompatible materials and seeing who they’d respond to each other.
PA:
In some detail tell me where the developing ARI scene at this time fitted into this broader infrastructural scene?
JD:
I still have friends from that time/scene. And yep, the arts scene then was invigorating – I owe it and those artists a lot as an inspiration and for motivation.
Widdershins 6” – from “Notuvida Jungle” (THAT Space) exhibition 1985
This series was part of the works in our “Notuvida Jungle” show with Sue Ryan, at THAT Space in 1985. Not sure where all this series is nowadays. The compositional structure and underlying symbolism are the same framework I based my Midnight Gardens cycles 1- 22 (2008 – 2013) paintings upon.
Designer: John Douglas
Medium: acrylic, ink, photocopy, gouache, varnish on paper
PA:
Why do you feel there was such a significant proliferation of ARI activity during the 1980-1990 period in Queensland as never before witnessed in Qld history?
JD:
The Joh years – that political oppression and conservatism foments action, reaction, movement in the arts. And the punk movement – can’t imagine the ARIs scene or generally QLD of that time without it.
PA:
Pre internet the question many are asking now is how, where and why did you network, share, collaborate and co-mingle at the time?
JD:
I called in to THAT a lot, and when I lived in North Queensland I would hitch to Cairns every day and work in my studio at TAG, apart from that probably anywhere there was cheap/free alcohol was a place to be.
PA:
Tell me about your own direct experience of the Queensland Artworker’s Union?
JD:
No memory of it other than the name.
PA:
And the QAA – who and what it was, how it worked or didn’t work for you? How did your involvement in the Union or the Alliance make you feel at the time?
JD:
I recall they were a good group of people but other than that it is all a blurry mess in my memories. I don’t think I had that much to do with them directly (although I may have) but do remember being glad they were about and feeling like that they were brave and strong and full and conviction and purpose.
PA:
More ARI ephemera detail – Ephemera was perhaps an important thread to each and every one of these ARIS- why did ephemera matter so much at this time for you?
JD:
There was a sense of freedom and defiance in the transitory nature – not having to be precious or grand, the notion about nothing being permanent in the action of art gave me food for questioning the nature of time and why we are so bent on documenting and creating things of ‘permanence’. No answers, but think they are a good questions to be open to.
“Before and After” 1983
A photocopy – at the time did a fair few of these, inspired by the racism and bigotry of QLD police mainly. Some images had QLDS politicians of the time used. I’d photocopy these (anywhere I could gain access to a free photocopier) and stick them up around the city. Still like this idea, cheap prints stuck up in public places, still do this kind of work occasionally. Love photocopies. And zines, still.
Designer: John Douglas
Medium: collage and photocopy
Mixed Media Artwork
PA:
And the notion of archiving and photo documentation during this period, was this important for you, and why so, so as not to forget, to obtain funding and so on?
JD:
No, not important then. I wish I had more of that time documented.
PA:
What types of photo/video documentation did you organize?
JD:
Sue Ryan arranged to have a photographer document our Notuvida Jungle show at THAT. Other shows and events were fairly random with documenting anything and of poor to – at best – variable quality.
Archive Update – May 2018
So I have put my music I do with mate Sue Ryan up on Spotify.
I’d say la-de-da but that’s a lot more musical than any of our sounds. The first album – Strange Masks: 20 years Remixed – is a remix of the audios we recorded to play at the Notuvida Jungle exhibition at THAT Contemporary Art Space.
John
Alas Poor Eric on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2o6YN0rupJmrC94Vxm7G4f?si=Tyu8vD5UQzeaNO2JHV_vHA
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