Art On The Wall presents

Pip Smith, Sam Twyford Moore, Zoe Norton Lodge, Jason Childs, Harry Wynter, Bethany Small, Lee Tran Lam, Angela Bennetts, Steph Harmon, Amelia Schmidt, Rosanna Stevens + more…

“It’s all about changing an effect pedal or instrument from its original design to something unique – to extract sounds and tones from it that no-one else has. Musicians, and guitarists especially, are obsessed with their sound. They either need the latest pedal to have a sound no-one else has, or the oldest guitar/amp with lots of ’60s mojo to emulate their rock’n’roll heroes. Modification and circuit-bending allows every guitarist to have this by altering the pedal’s DNA.”

“For me, it’s important to get a feel of who I am modding the pedal for… I won’t be making a noise-maker for a guitarist who plays country music. Likewise, I won’t be making a ‘60s inspired fuzz for a metal player. It’s just important to have an understanding of the genre of music as it is to have the electronics knowledge.”

“In the near future I would like to take this further and make original cubisteffects designs, with the same vision as I do mods/bending. I’d like to work with local artists and musicians, and collaborate to make something unique, something very Sydney.”

I was there on business, so most of my time was spent trekking up and down the freeways and working out of the Animal Logic office, but I was free on the weekends to venture out and explore.

Morgan and Jay work in the Animal Logic LA office.

Orly Olivier, an LA-based photographer – we checked out her amazing polaroid exhibition in Silverlake.

It took us an hour of waiting in line to get our hands on one of Pink’s hotdogs.

Pushing my way through the throng down at the Abbot Kinney Street Festival, I was pretty stoked to discover Soko performing live – I’d missed her show at the Oxford Art Factory last Christmas, so this was an unexpected treat.

Harry Perry, legendary rollerblading guitar player of Venice Beach.

From a work perspective, one of the highlights of my trip was meeting legendary makeup & prosthetic effects wizards Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr, and getting a tour of their workshop. This massive sculpt of an Alien fighting a Predator was part of a jaw-dropping display room next to their foyer featuring highlights of their past work.

A friendly local.

Shenanigans at the Even Books shindig last week – boozing, tarot readings, life drawing, polaroid photo-boothing, and a performance by terrific Sydney band No Art.

The vibe was kinda like a chilled house party, with some activities and live music thrown in.

There were interactive projects, based on Miranda’s writing and web art.

Sui Zhen, Daisy M. Tulley (Bridezilla) and The Maple Trail played some folk tunes for the gathering.

The “positive message table”.

Sui Zhen even made a diorama inspired by Miranda July, especially for the night.

Fergus Linehan took out the SMAC of the Year Award, for his sterling work directing the lineup of the annual Sydney Festival for the last three years.

• SMAC OF THE YEAR AWARD – FERGUS LINEHAN
• SMAC REMIX THE CITY AWARD – BIENNALE AT COCKATOO ISLAND
• SMAC IN YOUR FACE AWARD – RAISE THE BAR
• BEST MUSIC EVENT – SYDNEY FESTIVAL BECKS BAR/SPIEGELTENT
• BEST MUSIC PERFORMANCE – DAPPLED CITIES
• RECORD OF THE YEAR – THE PRESETS Apocalypso
• BEST MUSIC NEWCOMER – CLOUD CONTROL
• BEST ARTS EVENT – UNDERBELLY PUBLIC ARTS LAB AND FESTIVAL
• BEST VISUAL ARTIST – KILL PIXIE
• BEST ACTOR/ PERFORMER – BRENDAN COWELL – Hamlet
• BEST ARTS NEWCOMER – GREEDY HEN