TJ Bateson, Shift steel, 2022. Acrylic on linen, 168 x 138 cm. Courtesy: the artist and Tacit Art, Melbourne.

“Each artist would say that the studio is an isolated, private space protected, guarded, closed to outside influences; a place of innovation, exploration, creation. It’s a lonely, fragile environment protected by rules, guided by scaffolding and inner voices bubbling with hope. During the performance of making, the artist has permission to invite external voices that can help to shape, encourage and promote a sense of empowerment, to move forward in the innovation or distillation of work, a new idea in an attempt to solve that undescribed, unimagined need to keep making. But the space itself isn’t important.

Music is the first strike and the power of the past to make. It is the primary motivational voice invited into my making. The hypnotic repetition of my queens, my Cindy Lauper, my Cher and my Dolly Parton connects the past with the present. It strikes the scene, sets the stage, cleanses the past, removes the intensity of other and makes way for new voices. Alongside, my making heroes are invited to scaffold and help in my making process.

I need the power of Robyn Burgess to keep making, the encouragement and support to know there is always time for one more: this journey, a journey is never finite. I turn to Louise Blyton to simplify, to reduce, to make more with less. Terri Brooks speaks to making good, making do with what you have with a focus rather than a restriction. The nuances of surface are spoken by Paula McLoughlin in the infinitely subtle layers of her screenprint works. In this quietness, I hear Cat Poljski wanting to turn up the volume, to energise each mark whilst Judy Anne Muller whispers make every mark matter, don’t waste any opportunity to tell a story.” – TJ Bateson, 2023.

Opening Event: Wednesday 10 May.

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