Deidre But-Husaim

About

Born a twin. Lives and works in Adelaide, South Australia.

http://www.but-husaim.id.au

Lonesome doves

A beautiful thing is something that would make us happy if it were ours, but remains beautiful even if it belongs to someone else.
Umberto Eco, On Beauty

Beautiful youth its wasted on the young, or so the adage goes. Youth, by its very nature fleeting, is the embodiment of a kind of impossible, sometimes flawed, perfection. It is the notion of something unsullied, raw, budding and in transition and for time immemorial cultures have been in thrall to the beauty of youth, but arguably never more so than now.

Popular culture is both the prolific producer and voracious consumer of the beauty myth and its heroes and heroines, who provide creative fodder for Deidre But-Husaim. Her edgy painted portraits of insouciant youths offer a curious combination of knowing innocence. But-Husaim sources her subjects on modelling websites (a uniquely contemporary phenomenon where wannabes post portfolio shots to pitch their vital statistics to casting agents), appropriating the blurry imperfect Polaroid shots of hopeful fresh faces desperately seeking to be the next It boy or girl. Affecting sultry disaffection, some hold our gaze, silently begging admiring attention while others demure and turn their heads.

Like a talent scout, she daily trawls through hundreds of images of aspiring models searching for that indescribable quality that sets one apart from the other: the smattering of freckles across a nose, a pair of piercing blue eyes, a birthmark or a caught in the headlights expression. En masse these androgynous bright young things become ciphers upon which we may project our own ideals of beauty and youth. For But-Husaim they are a blank canvas onto which she superimposes elaborate tattoos of her own design elevating her subjects in the process from the status of banal beauties, and rescuing them from obscurity.

Ironically, tattoos are now so common as to be pedestrian, no longer the predilection of stereotypical outsiders - ex-jailbirds, bikers or rock stars - but sported by the mothers and grandmothers who people suburban malls. Teenagers get ink done less as a rebellious rite of passage than as a fashion accessory, albeit a lasting one. The power of a tattoo to shock is diminished, replaced by distinctly uninspired imagery and the prevalence of the celebrity tattoo. Indeed, it is possible to buy a book of temporary copy tattoos such as Johnny Depps infamous Winona Forever.

Importantly, But-Husaims adornments are not the ubiquitous stock standard tattoos that currently abound in contemporary culture, but rather elaborate baroque and rococo embellishments of the artists creation, such as exquisite chintzy floral vines and delicate birds. The impossibly beautiful Dorian, made more so with the addition of a tattoo of blowsy flowers, could be the pop star embodiment of Oscar Wildes antihero Dorian Gray. Similarly Byron, whose name and visage conjures up both the poet and more contemporaneously the 1980s romantic lyrics of Morrissey and The Smiths, is all flowing locks and feminine features. Decorated with a spray of pretty flowers he is redolent of a new sexuality, not one thing or another, just beautiful.

The subjects names, sometimes their own or bestowed upon them by the artist, lend them a gravity and metaphorical quality: Elvis (resplendent with a quaff and blooms), Dante (his neck tattooed with a heart tongued snake), Napoleon (appropriately decorated with a horse) and Guinevere (all gamin shyness). Geronimo (oh what a face!) may be a boy or could be a girl. It hardly matters. The bird at the tender flush of his/her neck might be symbolic of an illicit past or a free spirit. In tattooing them But-Husaim brands them as her own creation in the spirit of John Keats poem Endymion,

A thing of beauty, is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breath.

Alison Kubler, Freelance writer and curator … Read More

Location: Adelaide, Australia
Website: http://www.but-husaim.id.au

Education

Born Australia

Biography/General

2010 Lecturer, part-time, Painting, Adelaide Centre for the Arts, Adelaide, South Australia
2009 Co-founded The Incinerator, Artist Studios, Thebarton, South Australia
2004 Co-founded Hedgemaze, Artist Studios, Port Adelaide, South Australia
2002 Member of TwinBee Studios, Adelaide, South Australia
Artdate Committee
2000–2002 Lecturer, ACSA Summer/Winter School, Digital Imaging
Publisher/Editor datedotcom

Education

2006 Bachelor of Visual Art (Painting), Adelaide Centre for the Arts
2004 Diploma of Visual Art, Adelaide Central School of Art (Associate Degree of Visual Art)
1998 Visual Design in Industry, Ngapartji Multimedia Centre
1997 Digital Imaging, Ngapartji Multimedia Centre

Solo Exhibitions

2010 Swan Hunters, Helen Gory Gallerie, Melbourne, Vic
2009 Lonesome Doves, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2007 Beauty Marks, Helen Gory Gallerie. Melbourne, Vic
2006 Pollymorphs & Strangelove, Helen Gory Gallerie. Melbourne, Vic
2004 Breathe, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Vic

Selected Group Exhibitions

2010 Redland Art Awards 2010, Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland Qld
John Fries Memorial Prize 2010, Blackfriars of Broadway, Sydney NSW
Melbourne Art Fair,Helen Gory Galerie, Vic
Shaw Hendry - Hermano Fan Club, Felt Art Space, Adelaide SA
Hedgemaze, Prospect Art Gallery, Adelaide SA
2009 The Devil, Max Dawn Gallery, Adelaide, SA
The RBS Emerging Artist Award, Renzo Piano RBS Tower, Sydney, NSW
Something I said, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Vic
2008 Neo Goth: Back in Black, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Qld
Multiplex, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Adelaide Ink, Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre, Adelaide, SA
Work on Paper, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2007 hedgemaze, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide SA
Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Drill Hall, Adelaide SA
Rights of Passage, Adelaide Central Gallery2, Adelaide, SA
Adelaide Faces, Adelaide Central Gallery2, Adelaide, SA
2006 Melbourne Art Fair, Helen Gory Gallerie. Melbourne, Vic
SALA Now, Adele Boag Gallery, Adelaide SA
Launch, Harrison Galleries (formerly Brian Moore Gallery), Sydney NSW
2005 Luminous II, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Vic
Whyalla Art Prize, (finalist), Whyalla, SA
Here we are, Adelaide Central Gallery2, Adelaide, SA
2004 Sydney Affordable Art Fair, Apartment6, Sydney, NSW
Pucker, Adelaide Fringe Festival, The Insitute, Adelaide, SA
2003 Eleven, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide, SA
White Lies Beneath, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Vic
14 Paintings, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide, SA
Cube+Nodrum+Abrahams, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide, SA
Adelaide Contemporary, Eva Breuer Art Gallery, Woollahra NSW
2002 You thought you knew, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide, SA
PURE, SALA festival, Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide, SA

Awards/Grants

2010 Redland Art Awards 2010, (Finalist), Qld
John Fries Memorial Prize, (Finalist), NSW
Lethbridge 10,000 Art Prize, (Finalist), Qld
2009 The RBS Emerging Artist Award (Finalist), NSW
New Work Grant (emerging), Australia Council for the Arts
2008 Churchie Emerging Art Prize (Finalist), Qld
2007 Arts SA Project Assistance Grant for Independant Makers and Presenters
2006 Raffen Acquisitive Art Prize (Inaugural winner), SA
Playboy Magazine, Australia
2005 Arts SA Project Assistance Grant For Emerging Visual Artists
Whyalla Art Prize (Finalist), SA

Selected Articles & Reviews

Is It Real?, Stephanie Radok, Australian Art review issue #25, Nov 2010 - Jan 2011
Hermano Fan Club, Alex Tuffin, db Magazine, #493 April/May, 2010 (online article)
Around the Galleries, Dan Rule, A2, The Age, 24 April 2010
Artists refuse to hedge bets, Louise Nunn, The Advertiser, pg 13, 25th March 2010
Acmé Juvénile, Pref Mag, Juan Dario Gomez, Issue #37, March 2010, pg 76,77,78,79,80,81,82 & 83
Deidre But-Husaim, Empty magazine, issue #17, December 2009, pg 36,37,38 & 39.
But-Husaim makes her mark, Art Monthly Australia – Artnotes, Issue 211, July 2008
Mixed Paint, The Sunday Mail (Brisbane Edition), 4th May 2008, pg15 (click to view)
Body of work, The Advertiser - Visual Arts, 7th March 2008,pg 72
Adelaide Ink, dB Magazine - Visual Art, 19th March 2008, pg 33
The Year in Visual Art, On Stage (and Walls) Melbourne, January 2008, http://onstagemelbourne.blogspot.com/2008/01/year-in-visual-art.html (click to view)
True Portraits at Central Gallery, Margot Osborne, Update arts magazine, Issue 56, June - August 2007, pg 8
Biography, Who's Who in South Australia 2007
Happenings at the Port, The Adelaide Review - Visual Arts, March 30 - April 12, 2007, pg 16
Paintings preseve lost soul of the Port, The Advertiser, March 24, 2007, pg 52
Nerina Dunt, Visual Art, dB magazine, March 14, 2007, pg 36
hedgemaze, Nerina Dunt, Visual Art, dB magazine, March 14, 2007, pg 36
2007 Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Nerina Dunt, Visual Art, dB magazine, March 7, 2007, pg 37
Young Talent Time, Margot Osborne, The Advertiser, Review – Visual Arts, October 17, 2006, p6
That's what I call an Art Fair, Margot Osborne, The Advertiser, Review – Visual Arts, July 2006
Pollymorphs & Strangelove, Shaw Hendry, catalogue essay, February 2006
Pollymorphs & Strangelove, Sera Waters, catalogue essay, February 2006
Brush With Beauty, Arts & Entertainment, The Advertiser, April 10, pg 33
Life & Culture, The Age, March 25 2006, pg 5
All ears for sex symbol's art show, mX, News, March 15 2006, pg 4
Playboy Paint-off, Hot in the City, Herald Sun, City Style, March 21 2006 Pg 2
Body Politics, Follow, Sex & Candy Issue, April 2006 pg 178, 179 (click to view)
Framed, vogue arts, Clair Barker, Australian Vogue, March Issue 3, pg 84
Mixed Media, Black + White, Issue 82, pg 123
picture perfect, Adelaide Matters, Issue 65, November 2005, cover, pg 8,9,10
Look, listern, yearn. Mik Grigg, The Sunday Age, Oct 2nd, pg 20
Festival full of fine moments. Wendy Walker, The Advertiser, Review – Visual Arts, Aug 13th, pg 18, 19
High Life, Sunday Metro, The Sun Herald
A secret well kept, The Sunday Telegraph
Put six artists in a room and look what you get, The Advertiser, Review – Visual Arts, July 23, pg 12,13, 14
Australian Home Beautiful, Feb 2005, pg 109
Life in the Art Lane, Vitamin, episode 3, Nov/Dec/Jan 2004/5. pg 5
Smart Art, Profile, Australian Art Collector Issue #29 July-Sept 2004, pg 102 (click to view)
Deidre Draws on Past Images, Around the West, pg. 1, 8. Weekly Times Messenger.
Closing, Spotlight Column, Sydney Morning Herald
Today’s Best, Metropolitan, pg.16,Sydney Morning Herald
Pixelated images with a pop touch, Adam Dutekiewicz, ‘Advertiser "Arts"
1999 Youthful approach to season, Adam Dutekiewicz, Advertiser "Arts"

Publications

2004 Pulp Art, Vitamin, episode 1, May/Jun/July 2004, pg 4-5

Gallery Representation

2003- present Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, Vic
2008-2009 Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2002-2003 Cube Contemporary Art, Adelaide, SA … Read More