O F B E I N G"What makes outsider art memorable is not its outsider origins, but a level of
artistry and power that withstands comparison with any other kind of art."
- Roberta Smith, NY Times, January 22, 2000
everything was spinning everything was made of particles of light. it was always there – the eye in its bloody socket saw thru that which was solidly presented my lover Obsession & his brother Torment took me at an early age a cloak of gleaming stuff hung around my vehicles blood red rivers ran down my arms bloody manacles bound my wrists goading me into a vortex of incoherence i fell to the floor screaming slamming my head the family gathered to view the spectacle whispering loudly in judgement i got migraines my sister said i was weak in the head the bit in the center of my head was soft my head possessed a lid my eye blew up into a bubble everything possessed a double casting gigantic shadows in the torture chamber of my mind i could not learn i could not understand what they were talking about knowledge possessed a dangerous sound i made no attempt to decipher
Christina Conrad
"One must leave the ego at the door of the tomb, and create like a blind beggar who hears nothing and knows nothing," she explains. "In this way the painting has a chance to be born whole, without the insidious tampering that adulterates false creative acts."
"Troubles in Early Infancy" [Detail]
Acrylic w/ gel and papier mache on unstretched canvas, 1998
32 x 36"
Conrad's life as a painter/sculptor has been influenced by the principles of (and her past-life among) the 13th century Cathars of southern France. This influence is reflected in her sculptural paintings, clay masks and icons, all of which are strikingly emotional and profoundly philosophical. When asked how she might characterise her work, she laughs: "you mean the spillings of the unconscious!".
"The Offering"
Acrylic w/gel and paper on unstretched canvas, 1995, 40 x 52"
In the past few years, Conrad's interest and attention has turned more and more to the medium of dramatic writing and filmmaking. Her study of modern love as dramatised in Jelly's Placenta, a 30-minute film which she wrote, designed and directed, is so thoroughly original it caused one critic to describe her as "Australia's answer to Robert Bresson!". In some venues, its showing has caused near riots. Conrad's unique insights and skills as a script editor/consultant are much sought-after by scriptwriters and producers alike. Scripts that she has edited have gone on to win major awards in international festivals, including Jonathan Wald's What Grown-Ups Know (2005 Best Foreign Film, Gotham City Film Festival, NYC, 2005 Slamdance invitee), and George Barbakadze's Black Rain - (Golden Unicorn nominated film).
In 2001 Conrad was invited to edit scripts for the writing department at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (Sydney, Australia), and more recently has developed and delivered courses in screenwriting ("Conducting the Scream" and "Introduction to Documentary") for MetroScreen in Sydney, Australia. She is also a current mentor in the Northern Territory's Year of the Screenwriter scheme, where she has been praised for the effectiveness of her revolutionary methods. Conrad and her creative partner, Melissa Anastasi, have established Heretic Pictures which seeks to find, develop and produce quality short- and long-form dramas. Their second film, Bonfire, a thirty-minute drama, is currently in production, with assistance from a Young Filmmakers' Grant from the AFC.
Conrad is the author of three books and a play, entitled A Modern Crucifixion. She is listed in the Bloomsbury Book of Women Writers (U.K.) and her poems anthologised in Kiwi & Emu (ed by Barbara Petrie), The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Verse (ed by Ian Wedde) and The Oxford Book of Modern New Zealand Poetry (ed by Vincent Sullivan). In June, 2000, the University of Auckland Press published a selection of Conrad's poems in Big Smoke, their definitive anthology of New Zealand poetry in the 1960s and 70s. She is also a featured poet in Another 100 New Zealand Poems for Children (Random House, 2001).
Conrad's poems, monologues and "two-handers" have appeared in numerous print journals, little magazines, and newspapers around the world. including Clay Palm Review, Voice, Outsider Ink, Mentress Moon, Octavo, Moondance, Deep South, Stirring, Conspire, and PoetryMagazine. An excellent editorial by Conrad can be accessed online in issue 3 of BlackMail Press. A highly entertaining on-line interview featuring Conrad in conversation with Martin Downs can be read in the Spring 2000 issue of the Alicubi Journal. The poet, Billy Marshall Stoneking, describes the experience of listening to Conrad speaking her poetry as "tribal, unearthing some deep, instinctual understanding that has been buried in the unconscious. She is bardic."
Conrad's paintings, clay icons and artistic theories have been the subject of three documentary films, and her paintings and other works shown by major galleries and museums in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. She is the daughter of the English painter, Patrick Hayman.
Remains of the Act
Acrylic w/ papier mache on unstretched canvas, 18 x 17"
NOTE: All works shown on Conrad's webpages are for sale.
Prices are available via email, and may be purchased directly from the artist
or through her online dealer at Solidexpressions.com
Affiliate programme at Solidexpressions.com
To begin a tour of Christina's works, click on galleries below.
Acrylics
Watercolors
Clay Masks
Oils
Krishna Conrad - eldest son of the artist.
Arrow in the Heart (poems)
ART CARDS by Conrad
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