16 Nov Art Is War so Hazel Dooney is Rallying Reinforcements for John T. Unger

Hazel Dooney has built an international reputation as an intensely creative and productive artist in complete control of her destiny. She’s a pioneer and an oft-studied example of how an individual artist can use online media (and hard work) to manage their careers more effectively than within the traditional gallery system.

Hazel has always been an ardent and vehemently vocal supporter of the rights of the independent artist. My decision to use art as a means of fighting the injustice facing me was inspired by Hazel’s example of using art and social media to level the playing field between those who make art and those who attempt to control it. This is an opportunity to purchase a Hazel Dooney original at a price which is affordable and help in the fight for a good cause that is in the interest of ALL artists.

Hazel has graciously donated one of each color of her recent NO! Stencils – except the white. The donated prints are faux-fluorescent lime, Dooney pink, industrial safety orange, papal purple and pitch black. Each is a signed artist’s proof, endorsed on the back with the words, “Artist’s proof sold to defend the rights of John T. Unger” and signed by both Hazel Dooney and John T. Unger.

The prints are 40cm x 60cm (or 15.7” x 23.6”), hand-stencilled in high gloss enamel on 64cm x 86cm (or 25.2″ x 33.9″) 100% cotton, museum-quality, white Alpharag 4ply archival board.

To see the full edition of the YES? and NO! prints, visit Hazel’s site, where you can buy individual prints or the full series from the artist.

There are five editions of 25 signed and numbered (on front) prints of each image, in five different colors: faux-fluorescent lime, Dooney pink, industrial safety orange, papal purple and pitch black.

The ‘artist’s proof’ edition is limited to 10 prints of each image, signed and numbered, in virginal white gloss enamel on matt white board.

It’s intended that different versions of the same – or opposite – messages can be hung together.

Since 2006, Hazel Dooney has emerged as one of the Asia-Pacific region’s most controversial young female artists. According to the Australian Financial Review, she “walks the razor’s edge between respect and celebrity in today’s artworld” (September, 2006). Her work in various media has hung in solo and group shows Australia, the USA, the UK and Japan and is included in private, corporate and institutional collections in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, and the USA.

You can learn more about (and from) Hazel Dooney on her web site. A great introduction to her work, career and ideas can be found in the recent intervies she did for Lateral Action.