23 home truths

Bent on art                      by Natascha Mirosch

A creative couple leans towards the unusual for the ideal work and home base, writes Natascha Mirosch

It is a fine line between art and life or, in the case of Kaye Fox and Mike Banx, it's a threshold.

The couple live in a quirky and slightly crooked old house in Brunswick Street, New Farm, which doubles as an art gallery, their private space barely distinguishable from the gallery.

The pair returned to Brisbane after many years abroad, deciding on New Farm to set up their business, Moving Canvas. "There was no other choice really," Kaye says.

"It's just such a great place - arty and eclectic and it has an amazing energy. I love the village atmosphere too. "

Moving Canvas represents 30 or so local artists, including Mike's own work. "We mainly feature up-and-coming artists who are still affordable," he says.

Mike and Kaye say they have sensed a real difference in the attitude to art in the years they have been away.

"People are really enthusiastic now; we feel like we are on the cusp of something really big here as people realise that having an original artwork is accessible, not to mention pleasurable," Kaye says.

The couple's clients range from corporations which want to liven up entire floors, to individuals who are keen to own a piece of original art.

As the name suggests, the couple take art in their van with Moving Canvas loudly splattered in bright orange and blue paint, to the client to view.

"If anything stands still long enough, it'll get splattered with those colours," Kaye laughs. Mike agrees those two colours are, for him, essentially Australian - the colour of the outback dust and sky.

Growing up on a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, the Australian landscape is still wondrous to him and, he says, provides the most inspiration for his work.

Mike paints underneath the house where a handwritten history of former owners is scrawled on one of the stumps.

“It has the names of people from 1955 and their heights at different stages in their lives," Mike says. "And sadly, it's noted on a particular date, 'Dad died'."

While painting, he is often accompanied by a neighbourhood cat. "We think he is a reincarnated artist," Kaye says. "He just loves to go downstairs with Mike and watch him paint. If he's not doing that, he's wandering through the gallery."

The couple's bedroom is almost in the middle of the gallery, only a small sign on the door making browsers aware it's a private space.

"We sleep among the art really, which is a fantastic way to live," Mike says.

The boundaries between art and home life, the couple admits, are very blurred.

“Really we don't think of there being a strict line between art and life,"

Mike says. "We are always talking and thinking about it.  We tend to put the art on the walls and live with it for a while before we hang it in the gallery.”

Most of the house is given over to public space, except a small, functional living area where canvases are propped up against walls and odd, exotic items Kaye has brought back from trips to Morocco sit on shelves.

Kaye claims they are happy to be back in Brisbane. “I assumed after all the travelling and big cities we've lived in, that it would have to be Sydney or Melbourne when we moved back, but Brisbane is great and we just love this house.

“She might be leaning over and the kitchen hasn't been touched since the '70's but we'll not hear a bad thing said about her," Kaye laughs.

WANT MORE? Moving Canvas, 870 Brunswick St, New Farm, ph: 3358 4388 www.movingcanvas.com.au

  10.9.05