ARTISTIC PROFILE of MICHAEL HILL, Ph.D (a.k.a. DOCTOR COMICS) 

Artist statement: Started in theatre, went to drama school (NIDA), switched to film, first with live-action experimental production before going graphic and ending up in animation. I have always read comics but didn’t make any until after animation work. Have a graphic approach to production utilising printmaking as a method of image-making along with drawing, collage, photography and typography. Influenced by modernist Japanese and German approaches to printmaking. End results look part artist-book/part comics. Over 25 years, in addition to my academic career which took precedence over artistic activities, I have produced 5 solo exhibitions, 1 two person show, 13 group exhibitions/ 5 artist book-comics/ 30 cartoons/ 1 storyboard/ 2 animations/ 3 live-action films/ 3 videos). Listed in the Japan Art Directory in Australia.

MOST RECENT EXHIBITION: GAUGE GALLERY, SYDNEY, 2013

CURRENT PROJECT

The current creative project is his artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics a semi-autobiographical, semi-fictitious account of his scholarly and educational involvement with comics. The first print issue was published in February 2012 in a limited edition, the second in September 2013, the third in June 2014, the fourth in July 2015 and the fifth and final in March 2016. A digital first edition is now being developed. For a visual diary record and time-line overview of this project, read the production reports on his Blog:

Issue #1:  No.1   No.2   No.3   No.4   No.5   No.6   No.7   No.8   No.9   No.10   No.11   No.12   No.13

Issue #2:  No.14   No.15   No.16   No.17   No.18   No.19   No.20   No.21   No.22   No.23   No.24   No.25   No.26   No.27   No.28   No.29

Issue #3:  No.30   No.31   No.32   No.33   No.34   No.35   No.36

Issue #4:  No.37   No.38   No.39   No.40   No.41   No.42   No.43   No.44

Issue #5: No.45   No.46   No.47   No.48

And for other backstage material check out the Meta Blotting page. For the digital rebuild see the Blotting Paper page.

ART PUBLICATIONS (for Scholarly publications see the CRITIQUING page)

Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Issue 1: The Ingurgitator (2012) artist book/comic, Graber Hill, Sydney, published in a limited and numbered edition of 50 with original print on the front cover, a numbered bookmark and printed bag.

Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Issue 2: A Blot On His Escutcheon (2013) artist book/comic, Graber Hill, Sydney, published in a limited and numbered edition of 50 with printed front cover, in a printed bag.

Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Issue 3: The Chthonian Turn (2014) artist book/comic, Graber Hill, Sydney, published in a limited and numbered edition of 40 with printed front cover, in a printed bag.

Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Issue 4: Beer, Chocolate and Comics (2015) artist book/comic, Graber Hill, Sydney, published in a limited and numbered edition of 30 with printed front cover.

Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Issue 5: 2 Tickets To Tokyo Bay (2016) artist book/comic, Graber Hill, Sydney, published in a limited and numbered edition of 30 with original print on front cover.

Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Issue 6: The Cat Cooking Comics In Kappabashi (2019) artist book/comic, Graber Hill, Sydney, published in a limited and numbered edition of 30 with original print on front cover. Note: This chapter was originally a stand-alone title but has the some of the same characters as Blotting Paper and has now been added to Blotting Paper as the final chapter.

The Grafik Guitar (1999), artist book, Graber Hill, Sydney

Black Light Angels comic, publisher, as partner in Graber Hill

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

BLOTTING PAPER: Works on Paper, GUAGE Gallery, Sydney, 18-29 September 2013

BLOTTING PAPER, Hondarake Full of Books, Sydney, 1-29 February 2012 

Accompanying the launch of his artist’s book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics  was an exhibition of 33 of his original hand-made postcard prints produced in the sosaku hanga (creative print) style.

HOLY PICTURES RELIQUARY, University of Sydney, September 2007

Accompanying his keynote address at the Melancholy, Nostalgia and the Religious Imagination, Society for the Study of Religion, Literature and the Arts Conference at the University of Sydney was the installation of a reliquary of cards and objects as accoutrements to his talk about childhood Catholic education.

COMIC CUTS: The University Cartoons, Bunker Cartoon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 18 May-3 June 2007

UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) is one of the newer universities in Sydney. Located within the city area its most notable landmark is the Tower Building, a 27 storey homage in concrete and glass to the Brutal Modernist architectural style. This has been called the ugliest building in Sydney and also the most attractive. Whilst working at UTS Dr. Hill created and contributed cartoons about the observations of academics, educational matters and aspects of university life to various publications within UTS. This exhibition represents a collection of these.

ABSTRACT Nos. 1-11 DAB LAB Gallery, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology, Sydney, 16 March-5 April 2007 
A sosaku hanga (creative print) method visual research and creative practice research project undertaken in late 2006 in Tokyo was exhibited in the new DAB LAB research pop up gallery at UTS and displayed 24/7 under lights and behind glass. Methodology: each print was constructed from multiple printing stages of numerous blocks and the image formed in composite manner rather than by a single impression. The repetition of the overall composite image with slight differences in details within each edition such as colour, pressure, registration, position of individual elements lent itself to subsequent possible animation applications. Format: postcard-small, portable, expedient size to produce whilst travelling, utilitarian. Outcome: 287 print postcards produced in 11 styles with potential for organization into visual sequences of animation.

TWO PERSON SHOW

TOXIC VENGEANCE, Silicon Pulp Animation Gallery, 26 March-1 May 1999, an exhibition of animated and print works by Wendy Chandler and Michael Hill.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

REVIEW 13, Gauge Gallery, Sydney, 17 December 2013-31 January 2014

Fukushima Kids 2013 Auction: 10 postcards, made in small sets of 5-30, each print a monoprint, different and unique. Reverse side is signed and dated plus has artist’s stamp. Cards can be kept or mailed. These postcards were made on machine made cardboard following the Japanese sosaku hanga method of printmaking. Despite the implied reference to woodblocks in Japanese print techniques, it need not always involve woodblocks. The wood may be replaced by other materials such as vegetables, fruit, leaves, string, rubber or other found objects that are sufficiently flat or pliable that they may be inked and pressed onto paper. The creative print (sosaku hanga) approach places the emphasis on the act of making the print. Oh joy!

1. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #3, rubber block print, water-based ink and stamp, 14.8cm(w) x 10.5cm(h)

2. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #12, ceramic and rubber block print, painting, water-based ink and stamp, 14.7cm(w) x 10cm(h)

3. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #15, wood block print, water-based ink and stamp, 14.8cm(w) x 10cm(h)

4. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #16, ceramic and rubber block print, painting, pastels, water-based ink and stamp, 14.8cm(w) x 10cm(h)

5. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #19, wood and rubber block print, painting, pastels, water-based ink and stamp, 14.8cm(w) x 10cm(h)

6. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #20, vegetable and rubber block print, painting, water-based ink and stamp, 10cm(w) x 14.8cm(h)

7. Original hand-made print postcard Abstract #23, wood block print, pastels, water-based ink and stamp, 10cm(w) x 14.8cm(h)

8. Original hand-made print postcard Landscape #4, wood and rubber block print, water-based ink and stamp, 14.8cm(w) x 10cm(h)

9. Original hand-made print postcard Seasons #3, fruit and leaf block print, painting, pastels, water-based ink and stamp, 14.7cm(w) x 10cm(h)

10. Original hand-made print postcard Seasons #5, rubber block print, painting, pastels, water-based ink and stamp, 14.8cm(w) x 10cm(h)

THE BALD ARCHY PRIZE 2011 
Watson Arts Centre, Canberra, 11 February-14 March 2011
Tumut Art Society, Tumut, 18 March-10 April 2011
TAP Gallery, Sydney, 19 April-15 May 2011
Bunker Cartoon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, 20 May-18 June 2011
Masonic Hall, West Wyalong, 25 June-5 July 2011
Regional Gallery, Griffith, 8-31 July 2011
Grenfell Art Gallery, Grenfell, 5-27 August 2011
Peppin Heritage Centre, Deniliquin, 2-25 September 2011
Milk Factory Gallery, Bowral, 1-30 October 2011

THE BALD ARCHY PRIZE 2010
Watson Arts Centre, Canberra, 5 February-8 March 2010
Masonic Hall, West Wyalong, 12-28 March 2010
ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney, 1-25 April 2010
Bunker Cartoon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, 30 April-23 May 2010
Royal South Australian Society of Art Gallery, Adelaide, 30 May-20 June 2010
Peppin Heritage Centre, Deniliquin, 25 June-25 July 2010
Milk Factory Gallery, Bowral, 29 July-29 August 2010
Brewarrina Information & Cultural Centre, Brewarrina, 11-26 September 2010
Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne, 5 October-6 November 2010
Cootamundra Creative Arts & Cultural Centre, Cootamundra, 12-28 November 2010

2010 GLEBE ART SHOW, Benledi, Glebe, 18-26 September 2010

BLACKTOWN CITY ART EXHIBITION, Blacktown Arts Centre, 19 September-17 October 2009

THE SESQUI SHOW: 150 Year Glebe Anniversary Celebration- A response by artists to the history of Glebe, Gallery Adagio, Sydney, 6-23 August 2009

In the cartoon portrait of aspects of the bookshop Gleebooks a postmodern approach was employed to celebrate the store’s significant contribution to the intellectual and entertainment life of Glebe, its nearby universities and the wider academic community. Glebe is represented at the Village of Glee, home of Gleebooks which promotes the joy of reading. The main road is constructed from the writings of some of the French literary critics and philosophers whose work the store made available in the 1980s. One of the proprietors, Roger Mackell, is presented as a Dickensian character in period garb gleefully scattering books along the street. Harry Potter is referenced as an example of the store’s support of fiction.

COMICS N SUPERHEROES, Knot Gallery, Sydney, 29 August-14 September 2003

FISHIBISHION, Knot Gallery, Sydney, 19 July-4 August 2002

PRINTZ: An Exhibition of Experimental Printmaking  Knot Gallery, Sydney, May 2002

RUBBERHEAD: An Exhibition of Comix and Animation, TAP Gallery, Sydney, part of the 2001 Sydney Fringe Festival program, 22-29 January 2001 

TECHNE, UTS Gallery, Sydney, July 2000

VIRTUAL TOYS + RETRO PULP, Silicon Pulp Animation Gallery, December 1999

ART & CRAFT SHOW, Forest Lodge Public School, Sydney, October, 1993

CARTOONS and ILLUSTRATIONS

Created more than 30 cartoons and illustrations whilst working at University of Technology, Sydney for official magazines and journals.

 

ANIMATIONS, FILMS and VIDEOS

The Ghost Net, woodcut print animation, screened at Art Gallery of NSW

Toxic Fish, woodcut print animation, screened at Paddington Town Hall and the Big Day Out, 2000. Digital version also screened in the Boiler Room at the Big Day Out, 2000. Art work exhibited and animation screened at Silicon Pulp Animation Gallery, 1999 (see Toxic Vengeance entry under Exhibitions, above). Also screened at CINANIMA 90 International Animated Film Festival, Espinho, Portugal, 1990.

The Ascension, fashion video, for Katie Pye

Hair Cut Dance, experimental fashion video, screened at The Australian Video Festival 1986, Showcase Screening, finalist in Art category, Chauvel Cinema, Sydney

Blacking Out A Blonde, live-action and animation short film, screened at State Theatre, 1980

Sweet Tooth Scharotti, live-action short film, screened at State Theatre and Sydney Opera House, 1979

AWARDS

Finalist, 2010 and 2011 Bald Archy Prize, for portraits of Roger Mackell and J.C.Banks, respectively

Finalist, Experimental Category, Fifth International Video Festival, Sydney, 1990, for Toxic Fish

Certificate of Participation, CINANIMA 90 International Animated Film Festival, Portugal, 1990, for Toxic Fish

Finalist International Design Competition, Osaka, Japan, 1989, for animation storyboard Bushfire Warning

Finalist, Art category, The Australian Video Festival 1986, Hair Cut Dance

Finalist 1980 Australian Film Awards, Experimental, Animation & Short Fiction Category, for Blacking Out A Blonde

Finalist 1979 Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films, General Category, for Sweet Tooth Scharotti and screening at Sydney Film Festival

Finalist 1979 Australian Film Awards, Experimental, Animation & Short Fiction Category, for Sweet Tooth Scharotti

Screening 15th Chicago International Film Festival, Short Subject Category, for Sweet Tooth Scharotti