In media, often our decisions are driven in some part by commercial concerns. That’s especially true today, with the advertising dollars that are a publisher’s lifeblood increasingly migrating away from magazines, newspapers and websites and instead, being allocated to search engines, social media and influencers.
This very subject was at the core of a talk I hosted at the Asia-Pacific edition of the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference, on a panel featuring the creative director of Esquire Australia, Grant Pearce, and social media influencer Kristine Fernandez, whose following across Instagram and TikTok is almost a million strong. In mulling over the challenges of serving our audiences while also generating enough revenue to remain afloat, we discussed how important it is to collaborate with brand partners we truly believe in and can authentically, unreservedly recommend.
As I write this, the day after that panel conversation, I’m sitting on the balcony of my hotel room at the Park Hyatt Sydney—which I authentically, unreservedly recommend, dear reader—looking across at one of the most easily identifiable views in the world: the Sydney Opera House and harbour. It’s a vista that has not only been repeatedly immortalised on film but has also been rendered by some of Australia’s leading visual artists—huge paintings of the harbour by noted Aussie daubers Brett Whiteley and Ken Done adorn the walls of the Sydney International Convention Centre where SXSW APAC is held, in fact.
Most of Australia’s biggest-selling artists of all time are men, like Ken and Brett. The country’s most successful female contemporary artist, meanwhile, is a lady by the name of Del Kathryn Barton—the only woman to feature on the list of top ten Australian artists by auction price.
I got in touch with Barton after admiring her work at the ART SG fair at MBS earlier this year, and have been saving the resulting interview for this art-themed issue of Esquire Singapore. An issue like this is a rare pleasure for publishing professionals, as it gives us the chance to think less about commercial matters and instead, simply shine a spotlight on people we believe are deserving. People like Barton, whose artworks are astonishingly detailed objects of phantasmagorical beauty.
While personally, I also have a lot of love for hastily splashed abstract art—à la Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell et al—something I deeply appreciate about Barton’s paintings is how meticulous, how carefully crafted they are. The amount of work that goes into her art is extraordinary. She says this modus operandi is most probably a product of her upbringing.
“I grew up in an environment where I wasn’t exposed to the art world at all. My mother was a teacher and a gardener,” Barton explains. “But one of the things that imprinted me a lot about her was she did a lot of very painstaking, delicate quilt-making and stitching. And so, from a young age, I grew up just really valuing a surface where a very passionate, committed, labour-intensive experience has taken place.”
Applying this approach to her own practice initially held Barton back professionally. “Early on in my career, my work was criticised for being overtly decorative or illustrative,” she says. “Thankfully, those are not dirty words in the art world anymore.” To Barton, “The level of commitment and a surface that very authentically reflects the level of passion and commitment (to the work) is something that I’m very excited about.”
Del Kathryn Barto
For her fans’ sake, Barton says she’d be delighted to speed things up to better meet the demand for her paintings, which far outstrips supply. “Many times I’ve thought quite pragmatically about, should (my works) take months, take years? Is there any way I could circumvent that? But if anything, it’s the opposite. The work just gets more and more labour intensive—and I just love pushing that further and further.”
Often setting out to trick the eye with intricate renderings that only reveal their complexity upon close inspection, Barton says, “I love surfaces that from a distance almost look minimal, but then you lean in and you realise that there are hundreds of thousands of marks and it sort of takes on this micro-macro capacity. It’s like there’s a vibrational quality, the surfaces are kind of humming with energy.”
Although Barton is intrigued by the potential for technology and artificial intelligence to expand artists’ capabilities and horizons, there’s nothing like encountering a real-life painting, she reckons—at least as far as her own art is concerned. “I really think my work is much better in the flesh,” Barton says. “You have to stand there and it affects you, it goes way beyond the cognitive experience, it affects your energy, your emotional life. It’s a very real exchange and encounter in that way.”
Barton has twice won one of the world’s most prestigious art awards, the Archibald Prize for portraiture, first with a painting of her family, and subsequently, with another depicting the actor Hugo Weaving. I ask her whether, like many chefs I speak with, she doesn’t set out to win plaudits (or Michelin stars, as the case may be) but is more concerned with creating the best work possible.
Del Kathryn Barto
“Having a career as an artist is such a long game,” she replies. “I think I was very fortunate, at the age that I was when I first won the Archibald, I’d already put in 10 years of the most anxious self-doubt, and juggling four part-time jobs then spending every other moment in the studio… My only goal in life is, or was at that stage, to live a life where I could make art every day. So I literally am living my dream now. And I’m always reminding myself of that.”
The advice Barton gives young artists is to make the work its own reward—and if they can live without their art, then maybe they should consider doing so. “Your passion for your work is the only thing that will ultimately sustain you,” she says, “and sustain the capacity for you to have a career in the art world because it is so brutal.”
Barton has succeeded despite, she confesses, lacking the self-promotional, glad-handing skills that have played a big part in many prosperous artists’ ascent. “My friend, I am the worst at that,” she says. “I have this ridiculous fear that when people meet me, they’ll like my work less. I’m the worst at building relationships with collectors. I really am. I’m an introvert. Socially awkward, I get social anxiety.” Instead, she says, “I just try to love people through my work.”
Her ultimate goal, Barton says, is “creating images that are beautiful and hopefully get people to think about caring for the earth, and also finding a way to coexist on this incredible planet, that’s not toxic. That’s not aggressive. That’s not destructive. I really want to offer beauty to the world.” What a blessing to be able to make a living doing precisely that.
Returning for its 17th edition this year, Maison Guerlain's perennial partnership with Art Basel Paris is set to present Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm. The exhibition will spotlight South Korean artists from all walks of life, including the late Nam June Paik, Lee Bul, and Anicka Yi, among others.
Besides pushing boundaries in fragrances and beauty, Guerlain remains dedicated to the principles of heritage and innovation. Guerlain is also committed in providing a platform for artists to showcase their creativity, believing that art has the unique ability to evoke and share memories—be it personal or collective. It's no surprise then that South Korea was chosen as a focus this time around. South Korea's impact as the creative muse of the Western world embodies this philosophy, with its wealth of artistic ideas providing a look into the perspectives of a growing arts and culture nation.
Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm is curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, the exhibition invites visitors to explore memory through a multi-sensory experience in the form of an olfactory journey that links several works, subtly connecting visual and scent-based memories.
The works featured in the exhibition highlight the profound connections South Korean artists have with nature, technology, and the challenges of contemporary society, guiding us through the timeline of South Korea's cultural evolution and its rich, diverse heritage.
An icon in performance and technology-based art, the late Nam June Paik was the first artist to display abstract forms on television by using magnets to distort images. He also famously pioneered the use of portable video cameras—what we now refer to as "digicams". He firmly believed that technology will reinvent the way we create and share art, foreseeing a future of camcorders, live-streaming, and social media. Nam skilfully merged Eastern and Western influences, transforming our inward gaze into an endless technological quest.
Lee is known for her bold, genre-crossing works that explore themes of beauty, corruption, and decay. A pioneer in South Korea's art scene, she continues to inspire younger artists with her early iconoclastic performances and multi-sensory installations, pushing the boundaries of visual art. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at major museums worldwide, including the Hayward Gallery in London, Berlin's Martin Gropius-Bau, and Paris' Palais de Tokyo, just to name a few.
Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm will feature Lee's work that delves into ideas of perfection and the distorted realities of modern identity, blending feminine forms with robotic elements to create cyborgs.
Anicka Yi explores the hidden politics and associations of smell by creating unique fragrances, and incorporating scent into sculptures. She constantly pushes the boundaries of science, technology and art, aiming to create new, unsettling and futuristic experiences that challenge traditional notions of her artwork. Her work has been showcased at prominent venues the likes of the Tate Modern in London, and even in Singapore's Art Science Museum.
Yi uses algorithms to create holographic paintings, blending patterns from past work (her "visual DNA") with motifs that draw from both the organic and the technological, raising questions about how art can evolve in the digital age.
Beginning her career as a novelist, Omyo Cho has evolved to create artworks that reflect her literary roots—from sculptures, to installations and VR videos that exist as nonlinear phenomena on a different level. Cho's works have been showcased in numerous group exhibitions including the Surim Art Center, Ulsan Contemporary Art Festival, and Osan Museum of Art. Cho's piece for the exhibition, "Barrel Eyes", invites the audience to envision a future where memories take on concrete forms in real time, redefining our understanding of time and memory.
The Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm exhibition will run from 16 October to 12 November 200 at Maison Guerlain, 68 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris.
