Everyday's A Birthday: Donovan Christie
I'm taking us indoors, into the suburban family home, the kitchen/dining room to be more specific. It's a place where magic and mayhem collide: taking aim at the holy grail of kids' birthdays, a mother's nightmare at times; the 1980s Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book!
Growing up as an '90s kid, nostalgia naturally runs deep in my veins. It was a time when the world seemed simpler, and childhood was lived outdoors, from sunrise to sunset on anything that had wheels. A handful of shrapnel could buy you kilos of hot chips wrapped in newspaper from the local fish and chip shop, with enough change to fill your pockets with mixed lollies from the snack bar. Nostalgia has always taken the main role of my work; I see it as the overarching subject. Today, my practice focuses on the Australian landscape and the pop culture embedded within it. I'm perhaps best known for my oil paintings of humble corner stores and shopfronts, with my last exhibition shining a light on the character and charm of Australia's iconic milk bars. For this upcoming series, however, I'm taking us indoors, into the suburban family home, the kitchen/dining room to be more specific. It's a place where magic and mayhem collide: taking aim at the holy grail of kids' birthdays, a mother's nightmare at times; the 1980s Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book! Every mum owned a copy during the 80's, 90's up until today. Each year, you'd sit down with mum the night before your birthday and pick out which one you're going to torture the poor woman with... A true labour of love! Being raised by a single mother, she gave me independence and ambition from a young age. I got my entrepreneurial spirit from her very early on; handmaking gift cards and bookmarks to sell door to door from the age of 4. I truly don't believe I'd be an artist today without the drive, creativity, and resilience she instilled in me as run amuck kid. This exhibition is dedicated to you, Mum, thanks for everything!
Everyday’s A Birthday By Katie Spain (award-winning journalist, author, and food/wine writer)
Every now and then an artist reaches into your heart and gently pulls at its strings with all the deft mastery of a puppeteer. Donovan Christie is one of them.
Nostalgia is a curious beast. Sometimes it creeps up on you, appearing as a sentimental longing for the past. Other times it whispers melancholy musings, seeping into the subconscious with sadness for times gone by. Often (and this is when nostalgia is most powerful) it appears as joy evoked by precious childhood memories. The “those were the days” kind of moments. Donovan navigates these emotions with each careful brushstroke.
Over the past decade I’ve watched this talented artist turn frowns upside down with depictions of snack bars, video stores, much-loved vintage snacks, and household icons. His oil paintings capture charming everyday items and streetscapes that provided a backdrop to our suburban Aussie childhoods.
Everyday’s A Birthday is the latest chapter in Donovan’s ongoing series of Australian nostalgia. I believe it is also the most profound. Is there anything more Aussie than flicking through The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book and choosing your next edible adventure? I think not. ‘Should I choose the dolly this year? Maybe the train with the popcorn-packed carriages? Ooh, the pool with the jelly ‘water’ looks fun. Hmmm, should I ask Mum to tackle the duck with potato chips for a beak? Will she lose her marbles if I ask for the tip truck cake?’
Full marks to any parent who attempted the latter. Pamela Clark (the book's creator) described it as an engineering feat that proved more difficult than she anticipated. As the story goes, she advised parents to glue the pages together to avoid temptation. I’m not sure what was more agonising; the decision-making process or the baking and decorating debacle that followed. It was always worth the effort. Just look at happy snaps taken over the past four decades. Family photo albums across the nation are full of pictures of happy little faces blowing candles out over carefully constructed cake and icing.
Much like the creations in this 1980s treasure, there is nothing slapdash about the way Donovan works. He meticulously planned this exhibition over the last three years. In 2022, he teamed up with pastry chef Emma Appleyard (also a master of her craft) who recreated cakes from the iconic book. These were photographed as references for Donovan’s large-scale oil paintings and sculptures. As the former primary school friends worked on the project, they connected on a new level. As years passed, not only did an exhibition emerge - love blossomed. You couldn’t make it up if you tried.
It's enough to make you believe in magic. The magic of art, the magic of love, the magic of nostalgia, and of the magic of the well-flicked cultural zeitgeist that lives on in hearts and households today.
Thank you for the memories and the smiles, Donovan.
