Essay by Luke Foster
“The destiny of every walking man is to immerse himself in the panorama surrounding him, to the point of becoming one with it and, ultimately, to vanish”.”
― Federico Castigliano, Flâneur: The Art of Wandering the Streets of Paris
“Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable.”
― Charles Baudelaire
Flaneur
/flaˈnəː/
noun
a man who saunters around observing society.
For approximately the past 15 years I have travelled abroad to a country or up to three countries around the globe for a month.
I always take around 60 sheets of a4 watercolour paper and draw everyday while travelling. But just this last year I have applied for international art residencies and in February next year shall be doing one in Brooklyn New York and in March 2025 in Fukuoka prefecture in rural Japan.
I feel in Australia that there is a cultural cringe that means that the art world in Australia doesn’t take you seriously until you have done some international projects or exhibitions.
If you look at the drawing section of my website you can see a few of the series of drawings from my international travel.
https://lukefoster1972.com/drawings/
I have done 7 1-month long studio residencies in Australia since year 2000 but plan to now do one-month long residency abroad a year in a different country each year for as long as I can.
Also, I have applied for some small international group exhibitions and accepted in Sao Paulo, New York and Berlin. They are relatively expensive but perhaps worth it to get international exposure.
I am still getting ready for my New York residency and need more spending money in US dollars and travel insurance and art supplies to be delivered directly there.
