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Ken Done tells how to sink or swim as an artist
By Carla Grossetti
The first point Australian artist Ken Done makes about this image is the legs in the water aren't his. "My legs are much nicer," the 76-year-old says with a laugh.
The shot is being used to promote Sink or Swim, an event this week in the PechaKucha presentation style in which slides appear on a screen for 20 seconds each while seven creative people, including Done, have six minutes and 40 seconds apiece to present their thoughts on the theme.
Sink or swim – the theme for the PechaKucha event at the Powerhouse Museum on September 6.
"The 'sink or swim' subject makes me think back to when I quit my job as a creative director at JWT ad agency in the '70s because I wanted to be a painter," Done says. "It was a big decision. I had a mortgage and a young child and I gave up a steady income."
Done says he also touches on what it takes for an artist to keep their head above water in his recent memoir, A Life Coloured In.
Ken Done: "Passion is what sustains an artist." Credit: Jessica Hromas
"Passion is what sustains an artist," says Done, who has held about 60 one-man exhibitions around the world. "If you look at the image of the legs disappearing into the water you could ask yourself, 'Are they disappearing into a great white shark or is someone diving into the wonderland of the Great Barrier Reef?'
"I lost lots of money thanks to a rogue accountant; I've had prostate cancer and life has its challenges, but none of it diverts me from being as good a painter as I can be."
PechaKucha / Sink or Swim, part of the Sydney Design Festival, is on September 6 at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum; $20-$40.