Could've been a lady

9 Nov

Written By Minna

I'm feeling pretty loved up after my exhibition opening 'On a clear day you can see forever' at Gertrude Contemporary on Friday night. Lots of friends new and old turned up, and I felt really pleased with the exhibition as a whole and the individual works I produced. I made a couple of sales, which is always a bonus, and celebrated with metallic gold bottles of champagne I'd bought in anticipation. The exhibition is up until December 19, and Gertrude Contemporary is open Tuesday-Saturday. My exhibition is upstairs in Studio 12, but I also have some work downstairs in the annual Studio Artists exhibition. Thank you to everyone who has had a look at the exhibition and those who intend to, it means a lot to me!

In between last minute preparations and install over the past couple of weeks, I've been working, spending my money made from working on clothes, hanging out with my boyfriend and his friends some of whom have fast become mine too, hanging out with my friends and continuing to enjoy my existence as a 24 year old. I was invited to the premiere of The Dressmaker a few weeks ago, and went there via the red carpet dressed up in a black tie appropriate ensemble. It was fun, but super foreign and very focussed on a dull sort of facade. It made me reassess every event similar I've seen pictures of, they're never as glamorous or fabulous as you may think, well, that was what I took from it anyway. Anyway, it was a super experience and I'm not adverse to doing it again, that's for sure.

My book was featured on Rookie Magazine recently where you can check out some pictures from the inside http://www.rookiemag.com/2015/11/put-it-together/ And, my latest November Bad Girl Painter interview went up, too http://www.rookiemag.com/2015/11/bad-girl-painter-pia-gynell-jorgensen/ In other news, I curated the Still Life section for Desktop Magazine (pictured below) and wrote this piece for the Daily Review: http://dailyreview.com.au/minna-gilligan-what-to-wear-to-taylor-swift-leonard-cohen-and-david-bowie/31883

Today (Monday) I went to my studio for the first time since very late on Friday night (post-opening my friends and I hung out there) and I cleaned up all the empty bottles of booze, took out the trash, wiped surfaces and blu-tacked some new things up on my walls. It's time now pretty much, to start working towards my next exhibition in March, and I feel good in a sense like I've got a bit of momentum up with my painting practice. It's almost a year since I moved into my studio at Gertrude Contemporary, and while I'm excited I still have another year left of my residency, I'm sad at the same time that a year is gone, already. I'm half way though one of the many rites of passages a Melbourne artist must go through, and am hoping next year doesn't go half as quickly as this one.

It's almost my 25th birthday which depending on how you look at it could be pretty monumental. After a conversation on Friday night about how I'm "over the hill" in a world obsessed with youth I realised that I don't actually believe that. What I love about still being (relatively) young is that one can never see that energy and effervescence you have in such abundance ever drying up, I guess until it does, or maybe it really never does. 25 is still a baby in relative terms, depending on how long you intend to live I suppose. I think I've made the most of my first 25 years. I don't have a single thing I wouldn't done differently, except maybe tried to fit more in. Here's what I've managed to do over the past few weeks... in no particular order.