2014 Jan Cleveringa "You've Got Stars in Your Eyes" Interactive Installation

2014 "You’ve Got Stars in Your Eyes"
Microscope and Australian Flag
33cm x 11cm x 20cm
& Photograph
An Interactive Installation Artwork

“Looking, literally, through a microscope” the viewer is focused on the Australian Flag as part of Australian identity and more specifically on the smallest star in the Southern Cross. The flag is bedded down as a sticker onto a transparent plastic slide. A torch light hits the mirror underneath elucidating and reflecting onto the flag literally “shining a light” on probably the most prominent symbol of Australian identity. The circular image with a star shown here is a photograph taken through the microscope as a viewer/participant would see it. They would also see the various colours in the image that make up the blue and white colours in the print, perhaps, representing the various peoples and different attitudes that a democracy like Australia might represent through a flag when an issue arises in the national interest.

The artist is interested about how this symbol can be manipulated by people to achieve their goals and the dangers involved with regards to Australian Identity and how Australians see themselves For, example, the seeming political football about ‘Boat People’ and along with it the fears, myths and misinformation used and shaped by political parties, interest groups and individuals to achieve their goals in the community. This could also be said true about the subject of climate change in Australia as part of national identity as part of the dominant cultural hegemony of thought that exists (currently) and how it's formed, shared and digested as a population creating a future cultural direction.

“You’ve Got Stars in Your Eyes” is a serious artwork despite the sarcastic title and visual puns involved in the work. The title is a colloquial phrase from the artists upbringing that means to the artist- be warned about being blinded to dazzling things, about being a dreamer or about being starry-eyed to celebrity and charisma. (A phrase likely to be based upon Shakespeare’s words “All that glitters is not gold”.) It can be dangerous without discovering for one-self the seeming objective driven facts and making an informed decision rather than relying on trust and attraction. A person does not need to go far to remember the Flag of Nazi Germany in WWII to understand the positive and negative aspects of such a symbol as a catalyst for using and growing underwritten semiotic values and attitudes. It may seem an unfair comparison in this context regarding WWII but again we need to continually ask ourselves, “Have We got Stars in Our Eyes?” about any of these current and future issues about who Australian's are as a people and who you are personally.

2014 Jan Cleveringa"Belly-ache"Sculpture/Installation

This Sculptural/Installation work is about Australian Identity in terms of symbolic and textual cultural signifiers within the dominant and growing Hegemonic Anzac culture in Australia.

The Anzac biscuits, coated in resin, are symbolically preserved and locked into history as the biscuit that Australian families sent to the troops in WWI due to their capacity to stay edible over time. Every year the tradition is kept alive by Australians eating, sharing and digesting these biscuits on Anzac day, and other days, reinforcing it as a social, visual and digestible cultural symbol.

The word ‘belly-ache’, is used, because it is derived from soldier slang in WWI meaning a ‘mortal wound in the guts’ (Bruce Moore (2000) The Anzacs and their Words). It is an Australian word that is still used today, though it has lost its original meaning it is still used contemporarily to describe an upset stomach. It is idiosyncratically Aussie.

'Belly-ache' is ascribed to the serving tray which is placed upon Royal Blue velvet as a symbol of the boats landing at the shores of Gallipoli. The biscuits represent both the soldiers sitting in the boat and also as a foodstuff that was sent to the troops later by those people that love/d them. They also act as a symbol today.

This reflective artwork is based in a symbolic reality that is both semiotically and literally digested, shared and refashioned every day in Australian culture.

The artwork represents the crisp, starry-eyed, anxious feelings by soldiers in their boat going on an adventure, fresh and unblemished by the hell that is war, and the future to come. These poor soldiers will get eaten alive.

2014 Jan Cleveringa"What On Earth Are We Eating Exhibition"At The Vanishing Point Gallery, NewtownAssorted Paintings

Cleveringa’s painting is an act of sharing, digesting, and reproducing a cultural perspective into something that is current, refashioned and new.

He raises issues about the symbols, signs and signifiers involved in the context of Australian identity.

The subjects,words and phrases he uses are from a perceived ‘Aussie culture.’ They create a semiotic awareness used in everyday life. They pose questions about cultural Hegemonies, group polarization, and the ingredients of what an ‘Aussie culture’ might be.

He uncovers change mechanisms, attitudes, world influences, technological change, political leadership, and other shared acts that create or reinforce Aussie culture.

These paintings are about semiotically digesting supposed iconic ‘Aussie Foods’. What makes them Australian? How are they an act of culture, associated with producing, sharing, and digesting them both literally but also their related symbology, signs and signifiers? How do they promote, include, exclude and reinforce Aussie values in terms of Australian identity?

2013 "A Dinkum Anzac Bickie Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2013 "A Humdinger Pav Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2013 "Vegie Toast and a Cuppa Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2013 "A Ripper Steak and Veg Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2014 ResidencyPurple Noon Gallery (2 Mths)

2014 Residency (Apr-May, 2mths)
Freeman's Reach, NSW.

Thank you Robyn Williams, Director.

2011-2013 Jan Cleveringa"Power Tool Paintings"

Cleveringa is interested in the idea of culture as a shared experience between people. He sees his painting as act of sharing, digesting, and reproducing cultural experiences into something that is refashioned and new.

His current work is about the symbols and signs of ‘male-ness’ in the context of Australian identity. The text that is incorporated are words invoked from Australian culture. These works are about the semiotics behind Australian Identity.

2013 Jan Cleveringa"The Australian Identity Series"Collage Series

"The You Beaut Country and the Cricket BBQ"
Collage on Paper

This artwork is about the typical Aussie Cricket Barbecue (BBQ or Barbie) where people can be invited over to watch the Cricket on TV either whilst having the BBQ. It might also be a family affair at home.

The use of "The You Beaut Country" text comes not only from a phrase used in Australian culture but also comes from John Olsen's Video documentary some many years ago when he painted Lake Ayers when the rains hit and made the lake massive and full of life (A childhood memory of mine so to say).

The picture, though seemingly humorous using the visual pun of the cricket, is a serious part of Aussie culture in the Summer season and some of the glue that informs Australians that they are Aussies and part of Aussie culture. This may be true for the new migrants too who may learn about Cricket to be less culturally different to others. It exposes one way of fitting into Australian life and an opportunity not to be so different. There are plenty of semiotic undertones and signifiers here into Australian culture, its formation and production, for those theorists amongst us. Perhaps, it's part of the dominant Aussie cultural Hegemony.

Hit it for Six mate!

2013 "A Wilful, Lavish Land Holding up Australia Day"
Collage on Paper

2013 Australian Identity Series
"Scanning the Aussie Meathead My Homing Thoughts Will Fly"
Collage and Paper

2013 Residency (6mths)Blacktown Art CentreBlacktown City Council

2013 Jan Cleveringa "Not Everyone Gets Cake"Collage On 220gsm Paper

2013 Jan Cleveringa
"Not Everyone Gets Cake"
Collage On 220gsm Paper
42 x 59.5cm

Cleveringa's continuing delving into the context of Australian Identity in his arts practice and his fascination with grid forms, repetition and collage are used to create a tapestry of colour and exaggeration in terms of the welfare state in Australia.

The use of the words 'Dole-Bludger' is common place in Australian households. It is used to describe lazy Australians who are unemployed or refuse to work. It is part of the Hegemonic cultural stereotype used negatively for the unemployed, mostly young people, in Australian society. It has various connotations and uses, including those uses that are humorous and serious in conversation of everyday life. This word is also invariably used by political parties, and those in power, when there are points to be scored. Rarely is the term used when one uncovers the real need for a helping hand and their desperate, fragile position when needing the assistance. In the past, particularly in the Great Depression in Australian, the word 'Susso' was used meaning sustenance. Having a benefit was okay back then as half the country was unemployed including the middle class and rich.

Cleveringa's somewhat ironic use of the saying- 'not everyone gets cake' and his use of the aesthetically saccharin, pink iced cupcakes which are seemingly attractive to the eye and the stomach speaks about the 'Haves and Have Nots' in Australian society.

2012- Jan Cleveringa "Fair Go Mate" Finalist- Fishers Ghost, Campbelltown City Art Prize

2012 "Fair Go Mate, Thumbs Up and Circular Saw"
Acrylic and Enamel Gloss on Canvas"
122cm x 152.5cm x 4cm

2011 Jan CleveringaIn Art Monthly Australia

2011 Jan Cleveringa, artist- An Original Contemporary Public Art Work- Street Painting-Stanhope Gardens, Sydney- In Art Monthly Australia- Review p56 #237 March 2011. A Picture and a mention. (right hand corner. — with Jan Cleveringa at Stanhope Gardens).

2011 Jan CleveringaHills Shire Times

2010- Jan Cleveringa "Tony Planing Our Doors" Finalist Blacktown City Art Prize

"Tony Planing our Doors (The Endless Knot)"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Canvas
75cm x 100cm x 3.5cm
“Cleveringa devotes himself to capturing ‘a moment of experience’ by using the cultural symbols, semiotic signs and stories that surround him. He uses knowledge and images that he comes across from everyday life, work and other interests and invests this into his artwork.
Cleveringa is interested in the idea of culture as a shared experience between people. He sees his painting as act of sharing, digesting, and reproducing cultural experiences into something that is refashioned and new.

About This Work
“Tony Planing our Doors” is a painting that draws upon a moment of experience whereby a friend of the artist, Tony, in his generosity and selflessness came to the artist home to plane the bottom of the doors that no longer shut properly because of the swelling heat of the house. The artist was inspired by the act of altruism. The image of an electric planer is meshed with symbols of the day and interconnected with an event in time. The Kookaburra could be heard laughing in the morning, the Buddhist symbol in the right corner represents the artist attempting Yoga and spirituality during the week and the gum leaves perhaps representing the Australian spirit. The ants were inspired by Dali as a thought in the background about the art world and the Pop Art colours and dots were inspired by the artist love of Warhol and Lichtenstein. In the moment of experience there is a complex air of interconnectedness between the symbols but also a feeling of openness and simplicity. The painting is not only a reflection of feeling and gratitude but also a reflection of interconnected experiences making that memory in time.

2010 Jan CleveringaCommissioned Public Work- LandCom Pty. Ltd.

2010 Jan Cleveringa
Commissioned Public Work- LandCom Pty. Ltd.
"Semiotic Poetry in the Suburbs"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Industrial Wall"
30m x 1.8 m x 0.08m

2010 December Studio shot.

One section of ten.