Beach Girl by Bill Binks By Marian Quigley
A request for assistance with a school art project introduced Phillip Island artist Bill Binks to the art of Picasso and the Cubists and cemented his love affair with art.
Although Bill had always drawn and painted, he received little in the way of art tuition or inspiration at school. As art was not offered in Years 9-10 at his Melbourne school, he had to attend night classes at Swinburne Technical School to complete Year 10. Here, he was less than enthusiastic that 40 per cent of the assessment was based on written work but believes he managed to get through with his folio.
A request for assistance with a school art project introduced Phillip Island artist Bill Binks to the art of Picasso and the Cubists and cemented his love affair with art.
Although Bill had always drawn and painted, he received little in the way of art tuition or inspiration at school. As art was not offered in Years 9-10 at his Melbourne school, he had to attend night classes at Swinburne Technical School to complete Year 10. Here, he was less than enthusiastic that 40 per cent of the assessment was based on written work but believes he managed to get through with his folio.
Saddened by the death of his grandfather who had never travelled, and encouraged by his then fiancé, the couple purchased cheap “steerage” tickets on a ship to England after getting married. In England, he pursued his interest in singing and, after taking lessons, enrolled in stage shows. At first this just involved singing in the chorus but eventually led to active roles.
On his return to Australia, he enrolled in a drama course at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). During this time, a neighbour’s daughter asked him for help with a school art project which involved producing a Cubist painting based on a black and white image of a Renaissance painting. Unsure how to go about it himself, Bill borrowed library books on Cubism and Pablo Picasso which he found “mind-bending”. He then drew a simple image of a vase with a rose and made it into a Cubist painting. He showed this to some VCA postgraduate sculpture students who, amazed that he’d had no real training, told him it was as good as the work of the VCA art students and advised him not to bother to take art lessons.
Bill continued to paint during daytime hours whilst involved in theatre productions by J.C. Williamson Theatre and the Melbourne Theatre Company, including The Sentimental Bloke, The Rocky Horror Show, Jesus Christ Superstar and Man of La Mancha. At one point, he was able to use his dressing room as a studio and subsequently received two portrait commissions. He also worked in children’s theatre including the Children’s Arena Theatre and the Victorian Opera in Schools Company. He found theatre addictive and was inspired by its dramatic lighting – the sharp contrasts of lights and shade it produced and the differing colours of shadows cast by the spotlight on the stage floor.
In 1995, following a marital separation, Bill moved from Richmond to Phillip Island where he bought a house in Surf Beach and proceeded to devote more time to his art practice. The change from an urban environment of closely bound, hard edged buildings to the open, flowing spaces of the coast also led to a change in his painting style. Hard-edged Cubism gave way to softer lines.
Although he began painting with oils, Bill became frustrated with having to wait for the paint to dry, so switched to acrylics. He admires the colour palette of Australian painters; Brett Whiteley’s use of colour and space and the accentuation of line achieved through elongation and playing with proportion characteristic of both Brett Whiteley and Amedeo Modigliani’s work. This is evident in his wry painting Beach Girl, based on his sighting of a young attention-seeking beachgoer craning her neck to see if she had any admirers. Former Wonthaggi painter Bruce Tozer was also an inspiration.
Bill’s subject matter includes the human figure - particularly the youthful female form; seascapes and more recently, abstract studies in colour. The latter are sometimes induced by the effects of yoga relaxation techniques.
Bill’s move to Phillip Island also led to his interest in sculpture. Around 2000-2001, he enrolled in Diploma of Visual Arts classes held by former local artists Victoria Nelson and Jo Jo Spook. Jo Jo introduced him to Hebel blocks; Victoria worked in limestone, so he tried that medium too. He describes his move into sculpture as something that “just happened”. He admires sculptor Henry Moore’s work as well as Ron Muecke’s audacity and empathy with his subjects.
Nowadays, Bill devotes most of his time to his art work and his Surf Beach studio is open on most weekends. His work is held in a number of private collections and he has exhibited in a number of galleries and exhibitions. These include Art Affairs, Carlton; the Frankston Art Centre; Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong; Nowa Nowa Nudes and the 2015 and 2016 Jindivick sculpture festivals. He is also a regular exhibitor and hanging assistant in the Artists’ Society of Phillip Island exhibitions in Cowes.
Bill’s upcoming exhibition of painting and sculpture, Now and Then, opens at the Meeniyan Art Gallery at 2pm on March 4 and runs until March 30.
On his return to Australia, he enrolled in a drama course at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). During this time, a neighbour’s daughter asked him for help with a school art project which involved producing a Cubist painting based on a black and white image of a Renaissance painting. Unsure how to go about it himself, Bill borrowed library books on Cubism and Pablo Picasso which he found “mind-bending”. He then drew a simple image of a vase with a rose and made it into a Cubist painting. He showed this to some VCA postgraduate sculpture students who, amazed that he’d had no real training, told him it was as good as the work of the VCA art students and advised him not to bother to take art lessons.
Bill continued to paint during daytime hours whilst involved in theatre productions by J.C. Williamson Theatre and the Melbourne Theatre Company, including The Sentimental Bloke, The Rocky Horror Show, Jesus Christ Superstar and Man of La Mancha. At one point, he was able to use his dressing room as a studio and subsequently received two portrait commissions. He also worked in children’s theatre including the Children’s Arena Theatre and the Victorian Opera in Schools Company. He found theatre addictive and was inspired by its dramatic lighting – the sharp contrasts of lights and shade it produced and the differing colours of shadows cast by the spotlight on the stage floor.
In 1995, following a marital separation, Bill moved from Richmond to Phillip Island where he bought a house in Surf Beach and proceeded to devote more time to his art practice. The change from an urban environment of closely bound, hard edged buildings to the open, flowing spaces of the coast also led to a change in his painting style. Hard-edged Cubism gave way to softer lines.
Although he began painting with oils, Bill became frustrated with having to wait for the paint to dry, so switched to acrylics. He admires the colour palette of Australian painters; Brett Whiteley’s use of colour and space and the accentuation of line achieved through elongation and playing with proportion characteristic of both Brett Whiteley and Amedeo Modigliani’s work. This is evident in his wry painting Beach Girl, based on his sighting of a young attention-seeking beachgoer craning her neck to see if she had any admirers. Former Wonthaggi painter Bruce Tozer was also an inspiration.
Bill’s subject matter includes the human figure - particularly the youthful female form; seascapes and more recently, abstract studies in colour. The latter are sometimes induced by the effects of yoga relaxation techniques.
Bill’s move to Phillip Island also led to his interest in sculpture. Around 2000-2001, he enrolled in Diploma of Visual Arts classes held by former local artists Victoria Nelson and Jo Jo Spook. Jo Jo introduced him to Hebel blocks; Victoria worked in limestone, so he tried that medium too. He describes his move into sculpture as something that “just happened”. He admires sculptor Henry Moore’s work as well as Ron Muecke’s audacity and empathy with his subjects.
Nowadays, Bill devotes most of his time to his art work and his Surf Beach studio is open on most weekends. His work is held in a number of private collections and he has exhibited in a number of galleries and exhibitions. These include Art Affairs, Carlton; the Frankston Art Centre; Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong; Nowa Nowa Nudes and the 2015 and 2016 Jindivick sculpture festivals. He is also a regular exhibitor and hanging assistant in the Artists’ Society of Phillip Island exhibitions in Cowes.
Bill’s upcoming exhibition of painting and sculpture, Now and Then, opens at the Meeniyan Art Gallery at 2pm on March 4 and runs until March 30.