“A little pond with some frogs and turtles.”
Jason Phu works in spaces populated by friends, collaborators, soft toys, and singing robots.
Firstly, can you tell me about the physical space in which you make your work? Where does the construction of works happen? Is this the same or a different place to where the “thinking” happens?
I am at the Carriageworks studios at the moment, making little singing robots with artist Michael Blake and a number of assistants for Dark Mofo. I work from artist Laura Jones’ studio when I do paintings; when I do design work/video work, I usually work in bed or the living room at home, and I’m making soundscapes at the moment with Vincent Goodyer under the name Badyear at Vinnie’s recording studio. I think it’s helpful to have multiple workplaces; it delineates my thought processes because each medium requires a different language.
What is your favourite place you’ve ever made a work?
It would have to be Vinnie’s studio: it’s temperature controlled, we have the NBA on, it’s comfy, and he lets me nap on the couch.
And your least favourite?
I made a work in what turned out to be a wind tunnel, so strong people had trouble walking against it – a product of terrible planning and architecture. Needless to say, the work did not stand up, and I was moved to a less turbulent section.
Jason Phu, frog band plays in a frog pub to small frogs in the frog swamp at the beginning of time, 2023, mixed media installation, sound, dimensions variable, installation view ‘The National 4: Australian Art Now’, 2023, Carriageworks, Sydney. © the artist. Photograph: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse, Sydney
How (if at all) do the different media that you use invite different logistical challenges?
I don’t find any logistical changes generally – I work with really brilliant, generous, lovely people who make everything very easy for me. The problems I face are generally being overwhelmed with the admin of multiple departments from multiple institutions I’m working with – not their fault, but I always forget how much there is in my planning. My work has always come together very easily.
Can you tell me a little about how you created your work for The National: Australian Art Now – frog band plays in a frog pub to small frogs in the frog swamp at the beginning of time, 2023? (And an extra question for my own interest, how did you work with Jazz Money on the accompanying text?)
I worked with Michael Blake and Belinda Dunstan, artists and roboticists. I just wanted to make something nice and funny and simple for audiences, in particular my nieces and nephews. We used a lot of existing toys, simple motors, and linear actuators, and I made the music tracks with Vinnie. I am good friends with Jazz, so we just talked about the project and she wrote a story based on my prompts; her story ended up influencing how the work formed as well.
Without describing the work too much, what are some of the literal, practical steps you’ve taken to make your upcoming work for Dark Mofo?
Buying lots and lots and lots of toys from stores and online, getting toys from friends who are trying to do some spring cleaning. Buying lots of motors and actuators and plastic eyeballs and teeth and witches’ noses and silicon ears and fun swivelling lights. Making a really fun fifteen-minute opera with Vinnie.
Finally, what would your ideal studio look like?
A huge concrete warehouse with a little mezzanine for a bed to nap in, an overgrown garden out the back with a willow tree. A little pond with some frogs and turtles.
Jason Phu, Without Us You Would Have Never Learnt About Love, 2023. Photograph: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist and Dark Mofo, Nipaluna/Hobart, Tasmania
Jason Phu is represented by Chalk Horse, Sydney and STATION, Melbourne. His latest body of work frog band plays in a frog pub to small frogs in the frog swamp at the beginning of time, 2023, is on view at Carriageworks, Sydney, until 25 June for The National 4: Australian Art Now. Also, Without Us You Would Have Never Learnt About Love, 2023, is showing at Baha’i Centre, Hobart, until 18 June for Dark Mofo.
Erin McFadyen is a writer and editor from Awabakal and Worimi land in Newcastle.
