I recently completed this artwork at Hyphen gallery as part of a bigger show. This art work is evidence of three major activations or inquiries into space and colour. The artwork is displayed on three 52' screens and set about 1.5mts apart. The work comes together as one major piece that links the 3 creative inquiries.
This idea aims to show the works together as a new and fresh piece that becomes a new artwork. The only sound is of the lovely paint waterfall. The works play on repeat, continuously.
The first piece is:
'Empty Nursery Blue Lane'
Rutledge Lane, Melbourne
This but without the sound
Created in 2012 this piece saw me paint the entire laneway (Rutledge lane) off Hosier lane in Melbourne Empty Nursery Blue. With 260 litres of paint two lifts and spray guns with compressor I managed with a small team to paint the entire lane from top to bottom. The floor, any objects, everything. I wanted the artwork to look like an empty swimming pool and it really did, plus the temperature and lighting in the lane once painted made the piece very emersive. After a couple of hours I gave people free cans and let everyone paint over it.
The second screen piece is:
'The Pool Room'
From the 'Suburban Isolation' exhibition at Dark Horse Experiment:
This is a large-scale, interactive, and site-specific installation that reflects on and continues many of the ideas of ‘Empty-Nursery Blue Laneway’, an artwork Doyle created in 2013 in Rutledge Lane, Melbourne.
This artwork aims to offer an immersive experience that feels like you are inside a swimming pool. The work is kinetic, (it is waterfalls of paint) and is reflected infinitely in the mirrors, part of its aim is to evoke a feeling of vertigo in the viewer.
This piece also plays with the idea of the swimming pool, family and nostalgia even the smell of the paint added to the visceral experience of the artwork. As the paint splashed onto the the floor the floor slowly became a beautiful blue drawing. This was from peoples foot-prints marking there journey around the gallery, after viewing 'The Pool Room'.
The third screen piece was:
'The Blue Room'
Lecture theatre 803 - RMIT
“The Blue Room’ by artists and provocateur Adrian Doyle. Hidden in one of Melbourne’s most prestigious institutions Doyle has painted a 220-seat lecture theatre in his famous signature blue, ‘Empty-Nursery Blue’. In 2012 Doyle hit international fame when he painted Rutledge Lane in its entirety turning it into a giant empty swimming pool. Symbolically, Doyle has once again created an empty swimming pool, taking nearly 10 days to complete the installation, using 180 litters of paint. The artwork was only available to those invited
The installation was very immersive, manipulating and changing the audience’s experience, creating a distorted reality that visually played with audience, creating the feeling of being in an empty swimming pool. The artwork lasted for just a short time as the ephemeral nature of these projects seem to be something that Doyle likes to celebrate. The artwork was a moving and interesting experience, one that I am glad that I was able to see, as now the artwork only exists through documentation. Doyle said this artwork will be part of a bigger piece for is solo exhibition which will be held at Hyphen gallery and museum in November.