“The big thing for me is it's not only the physicality of a place, but it's the people”: In conversation with Laurie Franklin at The Other Art Fair

One can’t understand the vastness of The Cutaway at Barangaroo until you’re in the space. Tucked away under the townhouses of Miller St, the venue boasts neck-craning high ceilings, a brutalist-lovers perfect amount of polished concrete, and a natural breeze drafting through the open-air rift. It was perfect for that hot Sunday. The Other Art Fair was not just your regular art market.

I spoke with Laurie Franklin by her stall. An artist who has yet to lose her curiosity for life; we spoke about working with your environment, travelling, curry puffs, and plastic.

Laurie Franklin with Plastic Fantastic (Sushi) at The Other Art Fair

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Kate: What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Laurie: I had curry puffs from the amazing stand down there. Delicious. It was phenomenal.

K: How has living and working across the globe influenced your work?

L: I think the big thing for me is it's not only the physicality of a place, but it's the people.

My work is informed by relationships to physical space, such as mountains, nature, which also kind of comes back to how we want to put our outside in our homes. I know that sounds kind of a bit mad, but you have to bring what really is. I've got landscapes, abstracts, wildflowers, and I've got some wonderful Plastic Fantastic artwork.

Having residencies around the world as well as living in four different continents means that my work is informed from different cultures.

K: Nice. I grew up overseas too, in Brunei (near Singapore). People ask me about it and I'm just like: I don't know, it's who I am. It’s hard to articulate exactly what's so different about it.

L: You can't even begin to explain a childhood to somebody if they haven't experienced it. And your childhood, your friends, your starting experiences inform who you are and also what kind of career.

K: The type of person that you become.

L: Exactly.

K: Why did you decide to create works from recycled materials?

L: Well, let's just say that I have possibly four cubic metres of plastic [at home]. A lot of artists' materials, canvases, and everything else, arrive covered in plastic. I keep those because they cannot be recycled with the ‘red cycle debacle’ and things not getting recycled.

I had all these bags and thought: I'm not going to throw them out, I'm going to make it into something amazing, because any material can be used for artwork. It’s just a case of finding a way that you can make it playful or beautiful.

I think with the sushi (pictured above), it's kind of playful because people go, Oh my God, you've got my favourite sushi. [And] we all like onigiri, don't we?

Plastic Fantastic 007 by Laurie Franklin. Image Credit: The Other Art Fair.

With the gold leaf and the layering [on Plastic Fantastic 007, 008 and 010], there's about four to five layers of plastic. Every layer is painted. This is almost like bark, where you kind of tear it back down. It's something that gets shed; bark, trees shed it. We shed the plastic. So it's a little bit of a metaphor. Like, what we can actually keep and make beautiful out of something that isn't beautiful.

K: Is there a particular artwork here today that you have the strongest memory creating?

L: I would have to say it would be this piece over here, which is called Winter Light.

Winter Light by Laurie Franklin. Image Credit: The Other Art Fair.

I've got a Toyota HiAce long wheel base van that I have a portable studio in. So, I was up in the Victorian Highlands and I had this massive piece of canvas down with big trees overhead. There were tiny little bits of snow left and I literally painted that on a mountainside, [it] is the light reflecting through the trees. And I remember thinking I am about to get frostbite on my fingers, because it was about 2ºC. You have gloves, but [they don’t] work.

K: I went on a road trip in July — and I went into Victoria for the day. The last place I stayed in was Ando. As soon as the sun set, it was 4ºC. I was by myself…I did go a bit crazy.

I have...you know what, it's those experiences that you have that make you more creative.

L: Exactly, [and if] I gave you some canvas and some paints, you would find yourself on a canvas.

K: In 4ºC?

L: In 4ºC! You would, totally. I think road trips are a lot about life. You don't always know where you're going, and you don't know where you're actually going to have your best experience. So doing what you did, I love it.

K: What advice would you give to young artists who are still trying to find their feet?

L: The big thing is if you don't believe in yourself, nobody else can and it's cliché as that is. You have to believe that you do have your own unique style. It might take a month, a year or 10 years. But you need to persist, you need to keep going. And the hardest thing is probably, if, if you don't sell, if you're not making money, you think you're a failure.

But you're not.

K: It's capitalism.

L: It is capitalism. And I understand you've got to have a job and you've got to pay your bills, and there are multiple ways to do that. But you cannot leave your creativity behind. You are leaving a part of yourself. And one day you're going to wake up and you're going to wonder what is missing from your life.

Let me tell you, [when] you decide to give up being creative, you give up on yourself as an artist. Cliché, but it's so true.

Twenty years ago, I made the decision. My dad's like, you need to get a real job. I [said]: “Give me six months.” Six months. I had enough money saved to support myself for six months and I did it. [I had to] pick up other jobs. I've worked in surveillance. I've done body painting at the Hugh Hefner mansion. I've done some really random jobs to keep things going and it's all about keeping the flame alive.

K: I think as long as you just know how much your art means to you, then there's nothing wrong that you can do, right?

L: It does. It, it feeds you in a way that nothing else will ever feed you.

K: That was beautiful. Thank you so much, Laurie.

To view more of Laurie’s work and get in touch:

Instagram: @lauriefranklin.artist