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DARREN SYLVESTER

IN CONVERSATION WITH WES HILL

Wes Hill
Eyeline 83
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Darren Sylvester is one of Australia’s most enigmatic contemporary artists, known for depicting the tropes of consumer culture, advertising and pop music with an uncanny yet satirical bent. While he is principally recognised in art circles as a photographer, increasingly his work has taken on the medium of sculpture, extending his skills in set construction to highlight the interplay between images and physical objects. Wes Hill, curator of the 2015 exhibition ‘Outside Thoughts’ at Contemporary Art Tasmania — in which Sylvester’s work was a feature — caught up with the artist to discuss his practice, touching on his childhood in regional Australia and his almost obsessional approach to art as a form of re-creation. 

Wes Hill: What was it like growing up in Byron Bay? You also studied in Wagga Wagga; how have these regional experiences shaped your practice? I’m sure a lot of people who think of your work in terms of its slick sampling of popular culture would be surprised to discover that you’ve spent so much time in regional Australia. 

Darren Sylvester: Byron Bay was a sleepy holiday town at that time. The high school only opened the year I started so I was lucky not to be forced to travel to another town. The school was arts focussed, and architecturally was shaped as a shell seen from above, with a lot of peach colouring. After I finished high school my family moved to Wagga Wagga and so I went to university there. The change of lifestyle was a shock. Wagga is an army and agricultural town mostly, so art students there are very much on the outer. Far less sophisticated than what I see... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Darren Sylvester, Hard to Say I'm Sorry, 2014. Lightjet print, 120 x 160cm. Courtesy the artist, Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney and Neon Parc, Melbourne. 

Darren Sylvester, Hard to Say I'm Sorry, 2014. Lightjet print, 120 x 160cm. Courtesy the artist, Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney and Neon Parc, Melbourne. 

Darren Sylvester, Moon Rock, 2014. Aluminium, silicon, silica, magnesium, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney and Neon Parc, Melbourne.

Darren Sylvester, Moon Rock, 2014. Aluminium, silicon, silica, magnesium, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney and Neon Parc, Melbourne.