STEVE NUTTALL By Rose Fisher 2012
Steven Nuttall, also known as OX King, is a versatile, adaptable and outrageously gifted master of the arts. There’s no restricting OX. Over the years he has worked on film animation, small-scale fine art illustrations, sculpture, large scale live work and lo-fi street art. ‘I tend to move through periods of style quite rapidly changing my techniques a lot, use of colour, texture and medium always seem to be different just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity and to stave off boredom.’ Although OX’s work is so diverse there is a common thematic link which is a combination of religion, science, myth, insanity and fears.
OX has been creative since he was a kid creating new places on paper. ‘I grew up in a kinda dodgy neighbourhood in Manchester and as a result I spent a lot of time inside. I created my own worlds through drawing and playing.’ Thankfully he continued on his inventive and curious path and went on to study film and animation at Sydney College of the Arts. These institutions aided him in defining the conceptual aspects of his work, which displays eastern and western comic influence, dark humor and surrealism. Since studying OX has been exhibiting around Sydney in group and solo shows as well as participating in a group show in Tokyo. ‘Being an artist is an incredibly selfish path to take in a lot of ways. Rather than attempt to be a doctor or someone who impacts other lives directly in a positive way, as an artist you have to make work that is the best possible thing you can make and blindly hope that the work is strong enough to touch others with the same strength of conviction that you put into it.’ OX has used his creativity to convey messages, change perspectives and trigger a reaction for his viewers.
At The LLR we have been lucky enough to have OX paint our walls live at our last exhibition opening. He filled two walls with spray paint to create a winter cabin scene filled with daggers, booze, bears and arrows. Not dissimilar to the LLR really. ‘There is just a particular feeling to using spray paint that is incredibly seductive. When it comes to the complex system of construction that goes into a lot of my studio work; spray painting centers on the actions of the moment, simplicity of movement, speed, colour and even getting one line of paint perfect can give me a feeling of success that months of animation used to.’ We certainly shared that feeling of success and onlookers had the opportunity to see it all in action.. The opposing walls set the scene for the ‘Hunt or be Hunted’ theme of the exhibition.
“There is a feeling you get the night before a show at 5 in the morning when you
finish the last brush stroke on something you have been frantically pouring your
heart into for weeks, when you frame the work, polish the glass and set it by
the door in bubble wrap, waiting to get set up in the gallery the next day. You
stand out in your back yard, light a cigarette and crack a beer that you really
shouldn’t be having at this hour in the deliriously exhausted state that you are
in. You breathe in the cool air as the blue glow of dawn starts to fill the sky and
something swells in your chest that shatters all the worry and stress from you.
That is the best part of a creative life and it’s that feeling that I chase. It gets
harder and harder to find the more you work so it pushes you to bigger and
crazier projects. What can I say, I’m hooked.” – OX King
The Lightbulb Lounge Room is looking for a new intern starting July.
