As Opera Australia’s Head of Scenic Art, Angeline Drinan’s skills includes turning PVC pipes into marble columns, plasterboard into just about anything, and creating magical illusions on stage. Drinan studied fine art at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin, and has been at OA since 2006. Among her most recent favourite OA sets are Micheal Scott Mitchell’s design for Tosca and La Fura del Baus’ A Masked Ball (both in 2013). Both were massive sets, reinvigorating Drinan’s appreciation for huge canvases.
We asked Drinan to share some of the artworks that inspire her most.
William Kentridge – Black Box/Chambre Noir
I first saw this piece at an exhibition in Melbourne a few years back. I’m a big fan of Kentridge’s work in charcoal and film, but had no idea of his opera designs. I love this piece — it runs for about 20 minutes and consists of animated films, kinetic sculptural objects, drawings, and a mechanised theatre in miniature. The creatures are adorable, quirky and a bit dark. There is a melancholy megaphone and robotic soldiers who commit violent killings, and move in rows across the stage. In the background, images of charcoal drawings are projected onto the theatre’s structure.
Francis Bacon – two figures (doing something in a bed)
Being Irish, I’ve claimed Francis Bacon as one of my own. I’ve loved his work since school days. He was one of the first contemporary artists to inspire me to paint. I love this piece because it feels so human — the bodies are a bit grotesque but beautiful and vulnerable. The painterly texture is gorgeous. It feels painful and intimate and brutal all at once.
Cy Twombly …
I love all of Twombly’s work. It’s hard to choose one, so I chose three. When I’m looking for something to make me feel okay about my life, I look at his paintings. They’re playful, bold and delicate. There’s a sense of mischief and irreverence about them. His use of large canvases and scratched gestural marks make his work feel experimental and sensual.
Cecily Brown – Aujourd’hui Rose
I’m never really sure what I’m looking at with this piece. It has a mysterious, elusive feel to it — like its in a state of changing from one thing to the next. I like the loose and free quality of the oil paint — it’s a bit frantic, a bit playful and it holds my attention.
Julian Schnabel – painting for Maliki Joyeux and Barnardo Bertolucci (vi) and painting for Maliki Joyeux and Barnardo Bertolucci (v)
Schnabel has a reputation of insufferable arrogance, so I feel slightly guilty about how much I like his work. I bought one of his large coffee table books years ago, when I could least afford it. It was an impulse buy but I just needed to have it! That immediate attraction to his work has sustained its self. There’s a lovely sense of vastness about these canvases that appeals to me. They’re both audacious and playful; they feel fresh, unapologetic and they embody two of his passions — film and paint.
Sainer – The Last Mohican, Moonshine, High Hopes (featured image above)
Sainer is a 26-year-old Polish artist who travels all over Europe creating these amazing murals. His work is strongly figurative but based on an abstract composition. I love their enormous size and that they belong to the public. And they make me smile — what more can I say?