DARREN SYLVESTER BALUSTRADE STAKE Artist Statement

Each of my exhibitions is the result of a detailed process of research and planning, involving a wide range of pop culture moments and artefacts, designed to investigate the language between perceived high and low culture, authenticity, desirability and mortality. In Balustrade Stake, props and sets built in studio are photographed with my continued use of large format transparencies, creating intense saturated hyper-real images while wood carvings are turned into rose gold patinated bronze sculptures.

In Psychic’s house and Burning candle, two full-scale sidewalk sets with custom neon signs become New York city styled vendors. Each neon sign showcased from out of their building acts as a call and advertisement of a spiritual or psychic power available inside.

Scattered throughout the gallery are three bronze ‘vampire’ stakes. Reminiscent of film props and finished not dissimilar to Cartier Juste un Clou bracelets, these carved stakes have had their potential power to vanquish vampires through wood rendered useless by the bronze casting, resulting in earthly literal weapons with titles like charms; Bat stake, Bone stake and Balustrade stake.

Thematically, the balustrade appears again with a photograph of an oversized dream-like prop-staircase with ripped balustrade held out against an invisible enemy by an editorial model stretching across the frame in Balustrade stepper.

The saturated editorial style imagery continues with Overnight web, picturing a brass spider web I made, lifted in design from an image of actress Carroll Borland advertising the film Mark of the Vampire (1935), her face pressed against a prop-built web that never appears in the film – a false ruse, advertising a moment that doesn’t exist. Here that same web returns illuminated in faux-morning light to serve as a beautiful trap.

This dream-like installation hovers between prop house, violence and desire, presenting an environment of pictorial opportunities with psychic mediums and literal self-defence weapons for unseen questions and enemies we don’t know.

right: Psychic’s house (detail) Darren Sylvester interview with Anthony Carew

Since Bram Stoker penned Dracula as a Eugenicist/ ruined red lips was otherworldly, and yet Bob’s hair at times Lombrosian fantasy — a tale of a Slavic interloper come to becomes trapped over his face and he has to flip as he sings, sully lily-white England with his tainted, criminal blood — the so perhaps the immortal becomes mortal after all. vampire has occupied a prime place in popular narratives. From comedies to tragedy, underworld to high-school, these What attracted you to this kind of occult imagery? bloodsuckers have been strewn across page and screen, It’s been there for a number of years, possibly beginning symbolising all manner of social ‘others’; from German with my album Touch a Tombstone (2018), that then fell into invaders to sexual libertarians, queers, AIDS victims, teenaged creating a bunch of works about speaking to or resurrecting rebels, and, finally, by the time of Twilight, Mormons. dead-pop moments such as Dingbat and Lucky Charms Ouija (2018) or Stacey (2018) involving a discarded movie For his latest body-of-work, Balustrade Stake, Darren Sylvester spacesuit. Last year it went further with Forever twenty — an artist fresh off an NGV career retrospective, Carve A one and Fortune teller (both 2019), which were deliberate Future, Devour Everything, Become Something — plays with references to earlier works with the Gap clothed teenagers in vampiric imagery/mythology. The object of social acceptance is to forfeit individual dreams (2003); or re-hiring the same hand model from my album He re-purposes a promotional photograph of Carroll Borland, cover to return in Fortune teller. The last few years has been a for the 1935 Tod Browning film Mark Of The Vampire (where time to take stock because of the NGV survey show, it’s been she plays the daughter of Bela Lugosi’s bloodthirsty count), a head spin to go through all that, so perhaps that’s it, a sense and matches it to a stylised, self-made spider-web. The of otherworldly-ness. spider-web sits in a window in an ersatz street-scene, as do neon lights abuzz with a superstitious candle-burning and the Do you think the idea of ‘undeadness’ is a natural fit for hawking of psychic services. A model, straddling a staircase your work, which is so preoccupied with mortality, and in stilettos that themselves look like a weapon, clutches rescuing old cultural/pop-cultural ephemera from death? onto a broken balustrade. Three other stakes — balustrade, Yes, very much so. It’s a game I play in making work, in-jokes baseball bat and bone — are fashioned from different objects, with myself to keep me interested and excited to go further. then dipped in rose gold. It makes them opulent, however For example, the bronze stakes in the show began when I lacking functionality; in vampiric lore, only wood can pierce the noticed the faux-punkishness of Cartiers nail bracelet, Juste vampire’s heart, and kill the undead. un Clou, this literal nail wrapped around your wrist in rose gold. It’s pseudo dangerous. I then saw a vampire stake in a As always, Sylvester’s intentions in this work seem opaque. Is movie fashioned from a baseball bat with instructions that he up to mischief, or exploring these images with sincerity? Is only organic material like wood can kill the undead, if made this work mocking superstition in a time of capitalism; or is the from metal it’s useless just like the nail in a Cartier bracelet. I nexus between superstition/capitalism effectively Sylvester’s joined these two ideas, purchasing a wooden baseball bat and essential artistic metier? And most pressingly, is Sylvester — began carving. In the end we have this useless weapon for it’s fashioning stakes and summoning psychics — the vampire original purpose, however now glimmers like jewellery. hunter? Or is he as —as artist whose career retrospective title included the command Devour Everything — the vampire? Do you ever feel vampiric? As if you’re sucking the lifeblood from ideas, models, dead heroes, or corporate branding? Who is your favourite on-screen vampire? These are all subjects that lure and pull us. Corporate brands He wasn’t a vampire however close second to me was Robert co-op trends and feelings to make you feel like we’re all one Smith of The Cure in the clip Fascination Street (https:// and the same, every corporation seems to be saying of late; bit.ly/2ZlbkNG), he had the band stand round like fashion- ‘We’re in this together’. That sounds vampiric to me. I want street-toughs in bellows of smoke machine, a rumbling bass to make work that is aimed at the individual – you, however line wearing a spotty shirt and eyeliner. As a teen kid in speaks to everyone and be universal. These techniques shorts and t-shirt, this was romanticism to a degree I couldn’t creating Bat Stake and are similar to those of corporations, popular songs and creating Psychic’s house and comprehend. This character, a cartoon vampire to me with Balustrade stepper aspirational models, so yes, I guess I am. Overnight web How do the buzzing-neon-sign windows relate to this theme? The neon signs in Psychic’s house and Burning candle (2020) are essentially advertisements for services. They glow and flicker in the night and I love seeing them around the streets of New York. The window in dream symbology signifies new opportunities, or a sense of freedom, it is the boundary between two states. These works are true to scale, standing as real buildings, you walk by them just as you would and look in. They’re about dreaming of new opportunities and the desire to learn more about yourself. Both are very positive works to me.

Do you see connections between this evocation of the ‘psychic’ and your previous exploration of ESP/ telepathy/prayer with works as Listen to me from 2012? Connections run all through my work from show to show. Each is a chapter and everything builds organically, which is exciting. I’m living through the exhibitions with no answers only more questions, so often I don’t know why in the moment of an exhibition what it means. To think back eight years on those works creating this ESP style photographs I now think they’re about no regrets. They ask; Can you hear me? I hope you do. Don’t miss me. I’m here. I think these are the type of questions you would ask of a psychic about another person or loved one, so yes, they’re very much connected.

right: Overnight web 2020 lightjet print, 160 x 120 cm lightjet print, 120 x 90 cm, edition of 3+2AP overleaf Psychic’s house 2020 two lightjet prints, 240 x 160 cm, edition of 3+2AP lightjet print, 180 x 120 cm, edition of 3+2AP

Burning candle 2020 two lightjet prints, 240 x 160 cm, edition of 3+2AP lightjet print, 180 x 120 cm, edition of 3+2AP left: Overnight web (2020) right: Balustrade stepper 2020 two lightjet prints, 240 x 160 cm, edition of 3+2AP lightjet print, 180 x 120 cm, edition of 3+2AP Balustrade stake 2020 rose gold patinated bronze, 67 x 6 x 6 cm edition of 1+1AP Bat stake 2020 rose gold patinated bronze, 76 x 6 x 6 cm edition of 1+1AP Bone stake 2020 rose gold patinated bronze, 40 x 7 x 7 cm edition of 1+1AP Burning candle 2020 neon, perspex, 72 x 52 cm edition of 3+2AP Darren Sylvester b. 1974 in Sydney; lives and works in Melbourne

Darren Sylvester’s multi-disciplinary practice involves photography, sculpture, video and music. Usually involving a wide range of pop culture elements and narratives, each medium is given a high-end production sheen or twist to be transformed into a discussion on contemporary ennui, pathos and mortality that is direct, yet inherent with levels of complexity.

Sylvester has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. His recent (2019) solo survey exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne titled Carve a Future, Devour Everything, Become Something – was critically acclaimed. Selected solo shows include Forever twenty one, Neon Parc, Melbourne (2019); Out of Life, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2018); Darren Sylvester, Neon Parc, Melbourne (2017) Céline, Bus Projects, Melbourne (2016); Broken Model, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2016); Darren Sylvester, VOLTA NY, Soho, New York (2013); Darren Sylvester – Take Me To You, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore (2010); and the major survey exhibition Our Future Was Ours, Australia Centre for Photography, Sydney (2008). Recent group exhibitions include Hold Still: the photographic performance, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2018); Legacy+, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne (2018); Coarse Stories, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery (2018); Conscious Process, Artbank (2018); Double A-Side, Darren Knight Gallery (2017); Cars = My Automolove, Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, Caboolture (2014); Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2013); NGV Studio: Wired for Melbourne Sound, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2013); We used to talk about love: Balnaves Contemporary, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2013); Lumens Festival: Curating the Ancient City, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China (2012); and Like, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney (2012). Sylvester won the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award for 2011.

His work is held in many public collections such as the National Gallery, Victoria; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Queensland Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Western Australia; and the National Gallery of Australia.

Darren Sylvester with his work For You, 2019. Photo by Eugene Hyland Education Selected solo exhibtions 2010 Master of Fine Art, Monash University, Melbourne 2019 Carve a Future, Devour Everything, Become Something, NGV, Melbourne 1996 Bachelor of Fine Art Photography, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga 2019 Forever twenty one, Neon Parc, Melbourne 2018 Out of Life, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Collections 2017 Darren Sylvester, Neon Parc, Melbourne Artbank 2017 Céline, Bus Projects, Melbourne Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2016 Broken Model, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 2014 Dreams End With You, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Australia Council for the Arts 2014 WON, Alaska Projects, Sydney Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga 2013 Darren Sylvester, VOLTA NY, Soho, New York, USA City of Port Phillip, Melbourne 2013 The Guirguis New Art Prize, Ballarat Regional Gallery, Ballarat Daniel & Danielle Besen Collection 2012 Darren Sylvester, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Edith Cowan University, Perth 2012 Darren Sylvester Studio 12 Exhibition, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast 2011 Darren Sylvester, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Horsham Regional Gallery, Horsham 2010 Take Me To You, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore La Trobe University, Melbourne 2010 Darren Sylvester - Large Format Works, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Melbourne University, Baillieu Library, Melbourne 2009 Darren Sylvester, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne 2008 Our Future Was Ours, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney Monash University Collection, Melbourne 2008 Darren Sylvester, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney Murdoch University Collection, Perth 2007 Darren Sylvester, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2006 Carve a Future, Devour Everything, Become Something, Sullivan+Strumpf National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2006 Our Future Was Ours, Johnston Gallery, Perth Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane 2005 Recent Work, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne Sir Elton John Collection 2005 We Can Love Since We Know We Can Lose Love, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane 2004 Don’t Lose Yourself In Tomorrow, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne Private collections throughout Australia and overseas 2003 If All We Have Is Each Other, That’s OK, William Mora Galleries Melbourne 2001 A Life Falls Apart Without Order, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne Awards and prizes 2001 We Can Do Anything, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney 2018 Bowness Photography Prize, finalist 2000 God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne 2016 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre, winner 1999 London Paris Tokyo New York, SPAN Galleries, Melbourne 2014 Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, finalist 1999 On the Phone...ABC Multimedia. 2013 National Artist’s Self-Portrait Prize, University of Queensland Art Museum 1998 Life Together, Main Gallery, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 2013 The Guirguis New Art Prize, Ballarat Regional Gallery, Ballarat, finalist 1997 Arriving. Departing, Helen Schutt Access Gallery, Melbourne 2012 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, finalist 1997 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2012 Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, finalist 1995 Minor Words, Separovich Gallery, Wagga Wagga 2011 Studio residency, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 1995 Points of Light, Hired Conference Room, Wagga Wagga 2011 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Gold Coast City Gallery 2010 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize Selected group exhibitions 2010 Australia Council for the Arts New Work Grant 2019 Remembrance, The American Club, Singapore 2010 Arts Victoria Cultural Exchange 2019 Annual Group Show, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 2006 ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, Sydney, finalist 2018 Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong 2005 ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, Sydney, finalist 2018 Group Show, Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney 2004 Australia Council, Skills and Arts Development Grant, New York 2017 Group Show 2017, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 2004 Arts Victoria, Arts Development/Creation 2016 Art Stage Jakarta, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sheraton Grand Jakarta 2001 Australian Film Commission, Script Development & Assistance 2016 Arrival, Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore 2001 Arts Victoria Cultural Development Fund; The Ian Potter Foundation 2016 Group Exhibition, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 1999 Arts Victoria, Arts Development/Creation 2015 Midwinter Masters: Percy Grainger: In the Company of Strangers, The Gallery, Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre, Victoria 2015 Outside Thoughts, Contemporary Art Tasmania 2015 10 Year Anniversary Group Exhibition, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 2007 Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Prize, Gold Coast Arts Centre 2014 Cars = My Automolove, Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, Caboolture 2007 The One and the Many, DELL Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane 2013 Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007 The Roving Eye, Gallery 1601, Washington DC, USA 2013 National Artists’ Self-Portrait Prize, University of Queensland Art Museum 2007 Raised by Wolves, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 2013 Burqas, veils and hoodies, Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre, Melbourne 2006 NEW06, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne 2013 NGV Studio: Wired for Melbourne Sound, NGV, Melbourne 2006 Special Reconnaissance, Gigantic Artspace, New York, New York USA 2013 Space Oddity, Linden Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne 2006 Supernatural Artificial, Nanyang Academy of Fine Art, Singapore 2013 Make Up: Painted Faces in Contemporary Photography, Monash Gallery of Art 2006 The Roving Eye, Gigantic Artspace, New York, New York, Sydney 2013 Surface Noise, Bus Projects, Melbourne 2006 Light Sensitive, Contemporary Australian Photography, NGV, Melbourne 2013 White Night Festival, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2006 Selecta, Westspace, Melbourne 2013 We used to talk about love: Balnaves Contemporary, AGNSW, Sydney 2006 Flaming Youth, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange 2013 Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 2006 Someone shows something to someone, Canberra Contemporary Art Space 2012 Lumens Festival: Curating the Ancient City, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China 2005 Remote Control: Artists Making Moving Pictures, NGV, Melbourne 2012 Like, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney 2005 Supernatural Artificial, Chulalangkorn Art Centre in Bangkok, Thailand 2012 Chromagenic, Media House Gallery, The Age Building, Melbourne 2005 Loaded, Gallery 101, Melbourne 2012 Sense of Place, Lux Media Arts, touring 2005 Awkward Silences, Linden Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne 2011 What’s in a Face? Art Gallery of New South Wales 2005 Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart 2011 Studio Artists Exhibition, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 2005 Six Orbits Around the Blue Moon, Hamilton University, Hamilton, New Zealand 2011 SUBTEXT: Artists and Writing, West Space, Melbourne 2005 Make It Modern, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Melbourne 2011 2011 SSFA11, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney 2005 Johnston Gallery Launch, Johnston Gallery, Perth 2011 Art Stage Singapore, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 2004 Supernatural Artificial, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo 2010 Power Chicks and Men Who Sew, Deloitte, Sydney 2004 Urban/Exurban, TarraWarra Museum of Art, TarraWarra 2010 Mortality, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne 2004 Gold Coast City Art Prize, Gold Coast Arts Centre, Gold Coast 2010 Autumn Masterpieces, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2003 Photographica Australis, National Gallery of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand 2010 Double Exposure, Viscopy Gallery, Sydney 2003 Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2010 The Edge of the Universe, Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton 2003 City of Hobart Art Prize, Hobart Town Hall, Hobart 2010 ARTHK2010, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Hong Kong ConventionCentre 2003 Bloom, Perceiving Independence, SPAN Galleries, Melbourne 2010 SSFA10, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney 2003 Stellar, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Auction, Melbourne 2009 SSFA09, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney 2002 Bittersweet, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2009 Horror - Come Darkness, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney 2002 Photographica Australis, Sala De Exposiciones Del Canal De Isabel II, Madrid 2008 Wonderlust, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 2002 Happiness, PICA Perth, Curator Charlotte Day 2008 One of Us Cannot Be Wrong, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2002 Photograph and a Painting, Project Space, Christchurch, New Zealand 2008 Silverstein Photography Annual, Silverstein Photography, New York, USA 2001 Fresh From Paris, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2008 FX in Contemporary Photography, McClelland Gallery, McClelland 2001 Happiness, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand 2008 Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery 2001 Our Perfect Dream, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, Austria 2008 The Dating Show, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane 2001 City of Hobart Art Prize, Hobart Town Hall, Hobart 2008 Neo Goth: Back in Black, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane 2001 Photograph and a Slogan, Rubyayre, Sydney. Curator, Nicholas Chambers 2008 Music Makes the People Come Together, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery 2000 Our Perfect Dream, 1st Floor, Melbourne. Curator, Sylvia Kranawetvogl 2008 Under Stars, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, Sydney 2000 William Mora Gallery Opening, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne 2008 SSFA08, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney 1999 Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2008 Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Rooftop Cinema, Melbourne 1999 Circuit, Regional Arts Victoria, Melbourne, Curator, Mardi Foster 2008 Décor, Glen Eira City Council Art Gallery, Glen Eira 1998 Respond Red or Blue, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne 2007 Motion Pictures, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth 2007 Old Skool (Never Lose That Feeling), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Music 2007 SSFA07, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney 2018 Touch a Tombstone, album, 39 minutes (Newville Ave) 2007 Old Skool is the New Skool, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth 2013 Off By Heart, album, 40 minutes (Chapter Music) 2007 William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art 2009 Darren Sylvester, album, 39 minutes (Unstable Ape/Remote Control Records) 2007 Perfect For Every Occasion: Photography Today, Heide Museum of Modern Art 2007 Albury City National Photography Prize, Albury Selected Bibliography 2008 Dwyer, M. ‘Darren Sylvester Album Review’, The Age A2, Melbourne, August 22 2019 Tiarney Miekus, Is Art Pop?, Meanjin Quarterly, June 24 2008 Curley, A. ‘Darren Sylvester Album Review’, The Sunday Age, Melbourne, August 30 2019 Giles Fielke, Memo Review, Carve A Future, Devour Everything... April 20 2008 Kime, G. Under Stars Catalogue, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre 2019 John Buckley, Darren Sylvester never planned to celebrate consumerism... i-D 2008 Sorensen, R. ‘How Death Becomes You’, The Australian, August 1 2019 Sebastian Thorsted, The transparency of pop culture, Metal Magazine 2008 Groom, A. ‘Our Future Was Ours’, A&E, Sydney, July 29 2019 Cox, Will. ‘Studio Visit – Darren Sylvester’, Broadsheet, 5 March 2008 Dent, N. Time Out Magazine. July 2019 ‘Darren Sylvester’, Artist Profile, 4 March 2008 Palmer, D. ‘Transcendental Pop’, Reading Room Issue 2, New Zealand 2019 Karipoff, Varia. ‘Interview: Darren Sylvester’, Art Guide, 1 March 2008 ‘Current: Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand’ Art & Australia Press 2019 Stephens, Andrew. ‘The Beauty in Banality’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2008 Houston, I. ‘Mister Sylvester, He Not Dead’, The Art Life, March 6 2019 ‘Darren Sylvester – The Transparency of Pop Culture’, Metal Magazine, 1 February 2008 Spencer, R. ‘Old Skool Rules and the Yearning for Roots’, Art Monthly Australia, #208 2019 Finch, Maggie. ‘Interview with Darren Sylvester’, NGV Magazine, 1 January 2008 Crawford, A. “Gothic Candour: ‘I am the coffin that will not be silent’”, Art Monthly 2018 Angela Garrick, Touch a compass, difficultfun.com 2008 Walker, W. ‘Darren Sylvester and the cool aesthetics of melancholy’, Art and Australia 2018 Mariam Arcilla, Out of Life review. http://rundog.art/out-of-life-darren-sylvester/ 2008 Goddard, A. ‘Close to You’, Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery 2018 Doug Wallen, The Australian, Album Reviews. Online Saturday April 14 2008 Hawkins, S. ‘Life’s deep-felt banality’ The Weekend Australian Financial Review, p. 35 2017 Wes Hill, Frieze, Looking Back 2017 Australia 2008 Cooke, R. ‘Darren Sylvester’ Arts Interview, Time Out Sydney, February 27 - March 4 2017 Nella Themelious, Céline catalogue essay, Bus Projects, October 2008 Michael A, UNMagazine, March 2017 Jan Henderson, In Review, Inside, interior design review, Issue 98 2008 Llewellyn, J. ’50 Most Collectable Artists’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 43 2017 Andrew Gaynor, Artist/Musicians: Punk goes the Easel, Vault magazine, July 2007 Picnic Magazine, Tel Aviv, Israel, November 2017 Rebecca Shanahan, Artist/Muso, Art Guide Australia, May 2007 Rees, K. Still Touching From a Distance, Real Time 2017 Winata, Amelia. ‘Marble Palace: ‘Céline’ At Bus Projects’, Memo Review, 14 October 2007 Nelson, R. ‘All Around this Installation, are Photos of Beautiful Young People, 2017 Winata, Amelia. ‘Darren Sylvester’, Art Guide Australia, 21 April Glamorised by Handsome Lighting’, The Age, 5 September 2016 Oakley Smith, Mitchell. ‘See: Darren Sylvester’s Broken Model’, Manuscript, 20 July 2006 Foster, A. ‘Darren Sylvester in Conversation with Alasdair Foster’, Photofile 80 2016 ‘Darren Sylvester’s Broken Model’, In Design Live, 15 July 2006 Cockington, J. ‘Light on life’, The Age, 25 October, p. 17 2016 ‘Broken Model, Darren Sylvester’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 77, July – September 2006 Chow, C. ‘Sad Photos Say So Much’, The Straits Times, Singapore, 16 June 2016 Hill, Wes. ‘Darren Sylvester’, Artforum, 10 July 2006 Colless, E. ‘The Right Stuff’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 36 2014 Fairley, Gina. ‘Sylvester’s dream of dance floors and moon dust,’ Artshub, 26 June 2006 Beck, C. ‘Double Exposure’, The Age, 22 April 2014 Wolff, Sharne. ‘Darren Sylvester: Dreams End With You’, The Art Life, 13 June 2006 Spencer, R. ‘Images With a Message’, The West Australian, 6 May 2014 Parker, Mitch. ‘The New Original Mini Dancefloor is a Living Breathing Organism’, Vice 2006 Frost, A. ‘Australia’s 50 Most Collectable Artists’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 35 2013 Hill, Wes. ‘Darren Sylvester’, Frieze Magazine, Issue 152, January - February 2006 Gardner, A. ‘Fuck Me, I’m Famous’, NEW06 Catalogue Essay 2013 Fitzgerald, Michael. ‘Darren Sylvester: From Jerrems to Now, Photofile 2006 Vitamin Ph, Phaidon Press, London 2013 Jasper, Adam. ‘We used to talk about love’, Balnaves Contemporary, Exhibition 2006 Boyd, C. ‘In Control of The Remote’, Australian Financial Review, 11 March 2013 Bullock, Natasha. ‘Too love, desire and feel’, LOOK, Art Gallery Society of NSW 2006 Kerrie-Dee, J. ‘Remote Control’, FLASH, Centre for Contemporary Photography, #1 2013 Brandt, Wilfred, ‘Empire’, Two Thousand, 22 May 2006 Edward, C. ‘Beneath Bland Surfaces’, The Australian, 10 February 2011 Bock, A. ‘Ageless voices find byways of the songlines’, The Sydney Morning Herald 2005 Bullock, N. ‘We Can Love Since We Know We Can Lose Love’, Catalogue Essay, May 2011 Meacham, S. ‘Reflections on Portrait Photography, The Sydney Morning Herald 2005 Alexander, G. ‘Killing Time’ Art Asia Pacific, no. 45, Summer 2010 Engberg, J. ‘Mortality’, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Exhibition Catalogue 2005 Moore, C. ‘Decoration, Aspiration & Nostalgia’, Art & Australia, Vol 42 no. 3, Autumn 2010 Martin, Mayo. ‘Pop (music) Art’, Today, Singapore, July 27 2005 Crawford, A. ‘Loaded’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 32, April–June 2010 Wai Yee, Y. ‘Time in his hands’, The Straits Times, July 29 2005 O’Heir, A. ‘New Acquisitions’, Artonview magazine, Issue 43, Spring 2010 McAuliffe, C. ‘ArtNation, Art of Rock’, ABC TV, March 28 2005 Marinovich, S. ‘Ennui Forever’, Photofile #73, Summer 2010 Martin, Mayo. ‘One Aussie Artist’s Artwork is Another Man’s Rock Album’, August 2005 Hjorth, L. ‘Supernatural Artificial’, Art & Australia, Vol 42 no. 2, Summer 2010 Dwyer, M. ’Sound & Vision’, The Age, January 9 2004 Kahn, J. ‘Fakery and Fabrication in Photomedia’, Artlink, Vol 24 #4 2009 Rainforth, D. ‘He’s Only Just Begun’, The Age, 6 October, p. 15 2004 Newall, M. ‘Tools of Attraction’, Photofile, #71, Winter 2009 Carrew, A. ‘Darren Sylvester: I’m Your Fan’, Art World, Issue 8, April/May 2004 French, B. ‘The Anthropological Impulse’, Broadsheet, February, Vol 33 no. 1 2008 Allen, C. ‘Look on the bright side’, The Australian, December 13 2004 Juchau, M. ‘If All We Have Is Each Other, That’s OK’, Photofile, #70, Summer 2008 Bones, G. ‘Darren Sylvester Album Review’, VICE Magazine, September 2003 King, N. ’If All We Have Is Each Other, That’s OK’, Artlink, Review, October 2008 Paterson, J. ‘Darren Sylvester Album Review’, Oyster Magazine, Issue 84, p. 151 2003 Nolan, M. ‘Commercial Art’, Black+White Magazine, #68, August 2008 Phillips, S. ‘Darren Sylvester Album Review’, Beat paper, Melbourne, September 16 2003 Low, L. ’If All We Have Is Each Other, That’s OK.’ The Sydney Morning Herald, Review 2008 Hawking, T. ‘Darren Sylvester Album Review’, Inpress paper, Melbourne, September 9 2003 Foster, A. ‘Photographica Australis’, Asia Tour Catalogue, p. 30 2008 Wallen, D. ‘A Man for all Seasons’, Inpress paper, October 7 2002 Bugden, E. ‘A Painting and a Photograph’, The Physics Room Annual NZ 2002 Cook, R. ‘Happiness’, Broadsheet, Review 2002 Rees, S. ‘Bittersweet’, Art & Text, Review, No. 78, Fall, p. 90 2002 Geczy, A. ‘Crypto-Realism: Bittersweet’, Art Monthly Australia, July 2002 James, B. ‘Mind the banana skin, enjoy the aftertaste’, The Herald Sun, 8 May 2002 Genocchio, B. ‘Twitchy Escapist Impulses’, The Weekend Australian, 4 May 2002 Boyd, C. ‘Shots of Love’, Weekend Australian Financial Review, 27April 2002 Tunnicliffe, W. ‘Bittersweet’, Catalogue Essay. 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