If you are in Melbourne on the night of 25th September come past view my artworks and say hi.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
UBYKA Artwork @ Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009
Three of UBYKA STUDIO artworks have been selected for the Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009 main exhibition gallery.
Friday 25 September - Sunday 4 October 2009Yarra Sculpture GalleryDaily 10am - 7pm
The Melbourne Stencil Festival returns in 2009 and promises to be a great year with a new look for the festival identity. Every year a number of artists from far and close come to the festival to network, celebrate and collaborate. The Melbourne Stencil Festival is Australia's premier celebration of stencil art. Held for 10 days each year, the festival brings a colorful program of exhibitions, live artist demonstrations, artist talks, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and street art related films to the general public.
Web Link: Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009
Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009 117 Vere St Abbotsford Victoria 3067 Australia. View Map
RELATED WEB RESOURCES
www.stencilfest.net
Melbourne Graffiti, Stencilling & Tagging
Graffiti terminology - Wikipedia
Stencil Graffiti Capital: Melbourne (Hardcover)
Friday 25 September - Sunday 4 October 2009Yarra Sculpture GalleryDaily 10am - 7pm
The Melbourne Stencil Festival returns in 2009 and promises to be a great year with a new look for the festival identity. Every year a number of artists from far and close come to the festival to network, celebrate and collaborate. The Melbourne Stencil Festival is Australia's premier celebration of stencil art. Held for 10 days each year, the festival brings a colorful program of exhibitions, live artist demonstrations, artist talks, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and street art related films to the general public.
Web Link: Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009
Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009 117 Vere St Abbotsford Victoria 3067 Australia. View Map
RELATED WEB RESOURCES
www.stencilfest.net
Melbourne Graffiti, Stencilling & Tagging
Graffiti terminology - Wikipedia
Stencil Graffiti Capital: Melbourne (Hardcover)
Cyborg insects in ZOO magazine
The cyborg insects have made it into gadget of the week in Australian ZOO magazine.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
I've got my hands on the largest insect in the world!!
I have finally been able to track down a Titan Beetle. The Titan beetle (Titanus giganteus) is the largest known beetle in the Amazon rainforest and one of the largest insect species in the world. It is from the family Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles). Adults can grow up to 6.5 inches (16.7 cm) in length. It is said that their mandibles can snap pencils in half and cut into human flesh. Adult titan beetles do not feed, they simply fly around to find mates. Little more is known about these elusive creatures. This will become the 'TITAN STRATOFORCE' unit. Stay tuned.
People ask me what UBYKA means...
Question: Could you tell us a little about the philosophy (the ubyka) that informs your work?
DC: ‘Ubyka' draws inspiration from an ancient Sanskrit word that loosely translates into ‘detachment', not in the ‘don't-give-a-fuck' sense, but rather the ‘step-back-and-observe-things' sense. The concept is to try to see the true nature of things by divorcing your emotional attachments and societal bias towards them.
This clarity of mind is what I strive for in all my artwork, to keep this essence of balance and observation. This ubyka philosophy informs my work in that it awakens the realisation that everything is made up of a dichotomy and contradictions exist in everything. Nothing is black or white, but rather a certain point on the same spectrum. Life vs Death, Good vs Evil, War vs Peace are all the same thing, just a different position on the same spectrum. The themes in most of my works aim to combine seemingly opposing forces into one harmonious object.
DC: ‘Ubyka' draws inspiration from an ancient Sanskrit word that loosely translates into ‘detachment', not in the ‘don't-give-a-fuck' sense, but rather the ‘step-back-and-observe-things' sense. The concept is to try to see the true nature of things by divorcing your emotional attachments and societal bias towards them.
This clarity of mind is what I strive for in all my artwork, to keep this essence of balance and observation. This ubyka philosophy informs my work in that it awakens the realisation that everything is made up of a dichotomy and contradictions exist in everything. Nothing is black or white, but rather a certain point on the same spectrum. Life vs Death, Good vs Evil, War vs Peace are all the same thing, just a different position on the same spectrum. The themes in most of my works aim to combine seemingly opposing forces into one harmonious object.
MEDIA INTEREST
i have just finished a couple of interviews with a journolist from the U.K and also from the U.S about my UBYKA ARMY - cyborg insects project. You can read exerts from my last interview below.
Don't Panic Magazine: Are the cyborg insects a reflection of real fears over militarisation, state control etc.?
DC: I like art that has multi-dimensional layers of meaning, and one of the aims of this series was to draw attention to the absurd military projects that the Pentagon's D.A.R.P.A (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) spends millions on each year. It amuses me that these creatures seem ridiculous and yet they are based on real scientific facts. I'm sure China and Russia are also working on similar forms of cyborg animals and perhaps the next arms race will be in this field. Another layer is the larger implications of what these technologies will bring to an Orwellian ‘big-brother' world. If scientists figure out how to completely control insects and animals by planting electrodes in specific areas of the brain and hijacking control over them, how far off is the human version going to be? The captured enemy combatant that is turned into a remote controlled traitor might be the beginning but then this can be used on home soil to silence opposition.
Don't Panic Magazine: Why would the military use these creatures?
DC: The animal world has provided mankind with military support over millennia. In the past horses and elephants where used for transport and in battle. In modern times the US Navy used dolphins and sea lions to protect ships and ports. Birds have been used for sending covert messages and warn soldiers of the presence of nerve and chemical agents. More recently, training of bees has been used to locate mines and weapons of mass destruction.
The motivation behind cyborg insects is simple: why labour for years to build robots that imitate the ways animals move when you can just plug into living creatures and hijack systems already optimised by millions of years of evolution? There's a long history of trying to develop micro-robots that could be sent out as autonomous devices, but I think many engineers have realised that they can't improve on Mother Nature. If you look at the U.S unmanned predator drone aircraft that have been equipped with missiles, it's conceivable that cyborg insects could be equipped with tiny but potent weapons, such as poison or hallucinogenic drugs and used to attack high-value targets such as a terrorist leader or a dictatorship's key nuclear weapons scientist.
Don't Panic Magazine: Are the cyborg insects a reflection of real fears over militarisation, state control etc.?
DC: I like art that has multi-dimensional layers of meaning, and one of the aims of this series was to draw attention to the absurd military projects that the Pentagon's D.A.R.P.A (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) spends millions on each year. It amuses me that these creatures seem ridiculous and yet they are based on real scientific facts. I'm sure China and Russia are also working on similar forms of cyborg animals and perhaps the next arms race will be in this field. Another layer is the larger implications of what these technologies will bring to an Orwellian ‘big-brother' world. If scientists figure out how to completely control insects and animals by planting electrodes in specific areas of the brain and hijacking control over them, how far off is the human version going to be? The captured enemy combatant that is turned into a remote controlled traitor might be the beginning but then this can be used on home soil to silence opposition.
Don't Panic Magazine: Why would the military use these creatures?
DC: The animal world has provided mankind with military support over millennia. In the past horses and elephants where used for transport and in battle. In modern times the US Navy used dolphins and sea lions to protect ships and ports. Birds have been used for sending covert messages and warn soldiers of the presence of nerve and chemical agents. More recently, training of bees has been used to locate mines and weapons of mass destruction.
The motivation behind cyborg insects is simple: why labour for years to build robots that imitate the ways animals move when you can just plug into living creatures and hijack systems already optimised by millions of years of evolution? There's a long history of trying to develop micro-robots that could be sent out as autonomous devices, but I think many engineers have realised that they can't improve on Mother Nature. If you look at the U.S unmanned predator drone aircraft that have been equipped with missiles, it's conceivable that cyborg insects could be equipped with tiny but potent weapons, such as poison or hallucinogenic drugs and used to attack high-value targets such as a terrorist leader or a dictatorship's key nuclear weapons scientist.
NEW UNIT - UF-01 HERCULES STRIKER
I thought I would share some amazing information about these insects I use in my artworks.
The Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) is the most famous of the rhinoceros beetles. Native to the rainforests of Central and South America, they also can be found in coastal regions of North Carolina. Their title is well deserved, with some (exceptionally rare) males reaching 6.75 inches (170 mm) in length.
The Hercules beetle is said to be the strongest creature on earth for its size, able to carry 850 times its own body weight. This is the equivalent of a 180-pound human lifting an M1 Abrams main battle tank over his head. Given the average weight of 1 ounce, the average Hercules beetle can lift approximately 53.125 pounds over its head.
The Hercules beetle is said to be the strongest creature on earth for its size, able to carry 850 times its own body weight. This is the equivalent of a 180-pound human lifting an M1 Abrams main battle tank over his head. Given the average weight of 1 ounce, the average Hercules beetle can lift approximately 53.125 pounds over its head.
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