CONFOUNDED
Beached
Beached at long last in some terrible ordinariness, he was convinced they had finally let go. That he had become so dull not even they could persist. But what was mask and what was not, perhaps there was no mask left. He crossed his legs and laughed in an elegant manner. Everything was as if it had never been. He could find them circling old garbage dumps, doing hooray henry's beside the swill. The lines were so frequent, the passion so clear. He could feel them lost, crawling in the fabric of things, and finally he had come to accept: he would always hear things he wasn't meant to hear.
A can of worms. A distant past. Not welcome back. A crawling piece of deformity. Thanks, I paid for that. Unprofessional and unpleasant, he had paid the price. Joycie didn't answer her door, although when he had left the country three years before she had been 82 with leukemia, so perhaps it wasn't surprising. The cold summer continued. Every conversation had been had before. He forced himself to relax, because the sustained stress bought on by his pursuers and by a series of unpleasant incidents, originating in a simple theft, a few grandiose lies and some corrupt journalists had propelled it across time and borders into the here and now.
So much had happened, so much to be ashamed of. Diminished status. Except sometimes he just didn't care. Every angle was interesting. At others he marvelled how utterly lost, bereft, directionless and stripped of assets he had become. He had been nomadic since they had burnt his house down all those years ago, from one place to the other to the other. All attempts to establish a base failed. And so he wandered still, sometimes passing through the lower echelons of a city he had already left, sometimes, just pointless, trying to reconjure a time long past.
THE BIGGER STORY:
Vale Martin Sharp ... pictured with fellow artist Peter Kingston last year, in front of Martin's 10-year anniversary screen print of the Opera House. Photo: Ben Rushton
Australia has lost one of its greatest artists following the death of Martin Sharp in Sydney.
Fellow artist and close friend Garry Shead confirmed the artist died on Sunday night at Wirian, his rambling home in Bellevue Hill, after a long battle with illness. He was aged 71.
The artwork of Martin Sharp
A self portrait by Martin Sharp.
Sharp rose to fame in the 1960s as art director and a major contributor to Richard Neville's satirical magazine Oz.
His album covers and psychedelic concert posters of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan came to symbolise the heady '60s.
Sharp created the cover for Cream's 1967 album Disraeli Gears and also co-wrote the lyrics for one of the band's most famous songs Tales of Brave Ulysses.
He cemented his importance in Australian art with the establishment of the Yellow House, an artists' collective in Potts Point that influenced a generation of artists, performers and film makers.
Neville described Sharp as ''incredibly tenacious'' and not the most relaxed person in the world because of his intense focus on his art and beliefs.
''He was a fully-charged non-stop rocket in his younger years but it always continued on,'' he said.
But he was ''my very best friend in all the world''.
Artist Luke Scibberas said he had sat by Sharp's bedside in his final weeks and read him passages from the bible.
Sharp was a godfather to Scibberas’ daughter, and he said Sharp will be remembered as an old friend and part of the family as well as a source of inspiration.
‘‘He was one of the most mercurial men I’ve ever known and one of the most talented,’’ Scibberas said. ‘‘He was incredibly devoted to the making of art and the history of art.’’
He was also skilled across a range of artistic disciplines, Scibberas said. ‘‘He could turn his hand to everything. He could just about draw anyone under the table.’’
The literary executor of Sharp’s estate, Scibberas said the artist was famously obsessive and had a wonderful elastic intellect.
‘‘You never really had the sense you knew what Martin was thinking.’’
But Sharp could also be irascible with people who bored him.
‘‘It used to make some people quite uncomfortable,’’ Scibberas said. ‘‘He was very good at sitting quiet and making you talk too much.’’
Fellow Australian artist Reg Mombassa called Sharp a ''great inspiration''.
''As a matter of fact, I first saw his work when I was about 16 because he did the cover of Disraeli Gears, the Cream album. And I've always said that Martin would be one of the best-known artists around the world, even though people may not know his name, because millions of people have that record," Mombassa said.
''His psychedelic artwork is fantastic. I'm very sad to hear that he's died. I knew he was ill, he's been ill for some time.
"He's one of the great Australian artists definitely, and globally known. And I think to some extent probably a little under appreciated in the fine art world.''
Sydney's Luna Park and Arthur Stace's Eternity signature were recurring themes in Sharp's work. The work of US singer Tiny Tim was also a major inspiration after Sharp saw him perform in London in 1968.
Despite making a ''huge splash'' in the '60s, Neville said it took a while for Australia's major institutions to embrace Sharp's work.
But Neville said Sharp was not concerned about gaining the approval of the art world.
''Martin, because he had an income, didn't give a shit as long as he was able to produce work and felt it was up to standard,'' he said. ''That was his central reason for being.''
Sharp suffered from emphysema after years of heavy smoking. In an interview with Fairfax Media last year, his friends admitted concerns about whether he would even see his 70th birthday.
Sharp was genuinely thankful for the opportunities that his art had given him, telling Fairfax: "I never would have thought art would lead me into all these endless realms of thought. But here we are."
Shead praised his friend's attention to detail, saying "to do one painting he'll take years. He'll go over it. It's a magnificent obsession ... He's striving for perfection".
These sentiments were echoed by fellow artist Peter Kingston, who said: ""Martin has a beautiful line - he can pick up a pen and draw anything. I do regard him as a great artist, one of our finest."
Sharp was born in Bellevue Hill, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and was educated at Cranbrook private school as well as the National Art School.
The headmaster of Cranbrook, Nicholas Sampson, said members of the school’s community were saddened by the death of one of their most eminent alumni.
‘‘An artist of genuine distinction and originality, Martin’s deep connection to Cranbrook – as a former student, neighbour, benefactor and friend – was powerful and strong,’’ he said.Â
‘‘His lively interest in news from the school in general, and from the art department in particular, was genuine and affectionate. He stood up for his beliefs even when to do so involved considerable personal cost. We shall miss him."
The Art Gallery of NSW's head of Australian art, Wayne Tunnicliffe, said Australia has lost one of its most exciting artists and a unique voice.
''We've lost a major figure and a great character,'' he said.
Tunnicliffe described Sharp as charming and challenging: ''He stopped you thinking along thin lines.''
Tunnicliffe said Sharp had a remarkable practice in the '60s, moving from a gallery-based practice into popular culture by designing posters and album covers for singers.
''That fluidity marked the best artists of that period,'' he said. His eclectic practice also embraced theatre, producing posters for Circus Oz and the Nimrod Theatre as well as designing sets, costumes and scenery pieces. ''He was very much a part of Sydney's cultural life.''
The Art Gallery of NSW holds a number of works by Sharp's early works form the late '60s and '70s, including Ginger Meggs Sings 'Mammy' at the School Concert (1979) and Sunshine Superman (1968), his psychedelic poster for the singer Donovan.
Sharp's work was celebrated in the AGNSW's Yellow House exhibition, as well as a major retrospective at the Museum of Sydney in 2009.
Sharp was also a finalist in the 2012 Archibald Prize for his portrait of David Gulpilil, The thousand dollar bill.
Tunnicliffe is preparing a major exhibition of pop art for late 2014 that will feature many works by Sharp.
Tunnicliffe said Sharp's legacy was considerable and included ''his satirical approach to political and cultural life in Australia and London and his lasting take on our city, people and politicians''.
''He had both a strong Sydney-focused practice and also took it to the world during that most revolutionary period in 20th-century history,'' he said.