IN THE MAKING: LITTLE BONES

What happens in the space of a night? In a hotel lobby? Or a hotel room? What about the magic of chance and serendipity. If this is the only time we have, we better make the most of it – break the mould, do something crazy, turn this into a night to remember.

Inspired by the very hotel he works in, Andy McIntyre, AKA Little Bones our porter and resident artist imagined a series of works based on the concept of ‘one night only’. A Valentines Day installation in The Loft – a mirror ball with a pink spotlight – was all he needed to get rolling.

‘For One Night Only’ is the title of your exhibition, how did you arrive at that?

So, it’s called For One Night Only, because it’s up for only one night! (laughs) But I thought it was perfect. It just fit. I wanted to theme it that way, because when you’re in a hotel environment or if you’re on holidays you kind of become this different person – a little bit. That holiday person or hotel person. I kind of thought about that. That idea of becoming that different person. I had a good mate in the US who had a girlfriend at the time, but he’d go out and have disco pashes with girls on the dance floor and he always told it like this, that it was o.k. because it’s on the dance floor.

And that’s where the idea for the disco ball came from. That got the idea rolling.

So, tell us about the Disco Ball then. That’s the hero piece?

Well, we had the mirror ball in The Loft for Valentines and I thought ‘Yeah, that’s got to be it. That’s the hero piece.’ I just wanted to create something with really good energy that encapsulates the hotel as well. And it was also the red and all the warm tones and everything that lent itself perfectly to this space and the hotel as well. So, it was the disco and that piece is called Disco Pash.

How do these come together then. What’s your style? What do you use?

Everything in the exhibition is pencil or charcoal and drawn by hand. That’s my wheelhouse, that’s what I’ve done for 35 years. If I’m going to have an exhibition at StandardX, I want it to be my strength and I get the most joy out of working with those materials.

And, so how should people feel when they see you work?

I want it to wow people. If I’m not engaging people, not wowing people, then what’s the fucking point?

How many pieces did you create for the exhibition?

Seven in the end. They all spun off the disco ball. I kind of wanted to do a series that’s kind of fun, and a little provocative. There’s a couple really provocative, but again, I kind of want it to be on that idea of when you’re in a hotel and you’re a holiday, you kind of, , it’s like my mate at the disco, separate from your real life, you disassociate yourself so you can kind of get up to whatever you want, which is kind of cool.

And you see things working in a hotel, and I mean this in the best way, but people live up to it. To the idea of being someone different. It’s fun.

And the process, how do you work?

I’m pretty disciplined. I have my studio boots. I’m up early and I plan to be in the studio at 9 every day. And I’ll set a goal for the day; how much do I want to get done and I’ll just literally just sit there and draw until I get it done.

Do you use music or anything to get you through?

Absolutely, music all the time! I’ll zone out to it. I don’t think I’ve ever worked without music. I used to drive my ex insane because we had a loft apartment in the US and I she’d be like; ‘can you turn that off?’ And I’d put my headphones on and I’d start humming. I can’t help it. I can’t. And I’d get a text message. ‘Can you please stop?’ (laughing)

Who are your inspirations? What art do you look to?

I love Goya. I love the darkness of some of his work. It’s amazing. And there’s heaps of people online, on Instagram and people I follow now. Like Bella McGaldrick who’s actually stayed here before. She does similar stuff to me, just really awesome colour pencil work.

There’s just so much cool stuff out there now. I just sort of see stuff and grab it. I get a lot of inspiration here, from the books in here. I’ve taken so many photos from the books and the books in The Box. It’s unexpected. You just find yourself flicking through and all of a sudden you’re like, I’m into that. There’s no reason why, it’s just there.

Any ‘one night only’ experiences of your own?

I was straight out of uni. We literally went to LA to stay one night at The Standard on Sunset. We had a huge night, got to bed I think five, six a.m. And then picked up a rental car at 10. And then you drove to Vegas. I won’t tell – I can’t tell you – what happened that night, but I know I wasn’t in any great shape to be driving. We took the freeway out of LA and went to Vegas. For some more, I guess.

So, what’s next for Little Bones?

I’ve actually got a series of work I did in DC when I was there. These really cool, large pixelated female nudes in graphite pencil. I couldn’t revisit them for years, but now I feel like I’m in a place to work on them again.  It was supposed to be a show in Georgetown, Washington. And then about six weeks out, I took them to the scanners, and they ruined them. They’re really big, about 1200 by 800 millimetres and they must’ve had just one person trying to feed them through the scanner and they ended up with dents all over them. I had to cancel the exhibition. There’s probably about 120 hours in each and I think I’m ready to revisit and see what I can come up with. So that’ll be next.

And, to finish, why do you call yourself Little Bones?

My dad’s nickname is Bones – he’s a skinny guy – and I am a twin. All my dad’s mates couldn’t tell us apart, so they started calling us both ‘Little Bones’. That’s it! It stuck.