Archives: Essays

Essay by Luke Foster “The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.”  Thomas Paine I like this quote and it reflects my impression of the Australian SAS but I also realise that it’s also strong women SAS soldiers who have equal bravery. I also realise they are super […]

Essay by Luke Foster “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” New Testament John 3:16 Some of my fondest memories as a child was going to Avalon Catholic church on a Sunday morning with mum. Mum used […]

Essay by Luke Foster If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.” Mahatma Gandhi In 1999 I studied a multimedia certificate four at Crow’s Nest TAFE. It was an advanced course and my computer skills were basic but I got in as I had just completed a Masters Degree […]

Essay by Luke Foster I am at the airport in Manilla the Phillipines and after only a few wafts of sleep I am feeling very vague and tired as the leg from JFK was 16 hours. I am on my way home from New York. With a 14-hour stopover I feel ridiculously tired and realised […]

Essay by Luke Foster “I feel about bagels the way a tree must feel about birds’ nests.” – Tom Robbins I have been in Brooklyn New York for about a fortnight now and have done a lot less than I expected I would. The residency is fantastic and there are several painters, a play-write and […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Of course, technology is not an exogenous force over which humans have no control. We are not constrained by a binary choice between acceptance and rejection. Rather, the decisions we make every day as citizens, consumers, and investors guide technological progress.”  Klaus Schwab I can’t imagine for someone to be teleported […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985, born out of a picket against the Museum of Modern Art the previous year. The core of the group’s work is bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Martin Luther King Jr While I was talking with my support worker Yannick today, I had an idea to write a book about the international civil rights movement with a trickle-down effect from America to around the […]

Essay by Luke Foster Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder. It is loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly about three female African-American mathematicians: Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), who worked at NASA during the Space Race. Other stars include Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Cara MacLeod lives on Yaegl country in Northern Rivers NSW and works as an artist educator in galleries, museums, schools and community settings. She develops learning resources and facilitates fun and inclusive creative learning experiences for people of all ages and abilities. Cara values curiosity, experimentation and collaboration and builds connections […]

Essay by Luke Foster “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”  Aristotle This opening quote kind of sums up the kind of art I make when I do international travel once a year for a month. I am excited about leaving for New York in […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Things outside you are projections of what’s inside… what’s inside…. Is a projection of what’s outside.” Haruki Murakami I have been drawn to Japanese culture for decades and visited Japan several times for a month, a fortnight and a few brief two-day trips from Busan South Korea to Fukuoka by jet […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Everywhere you walk, every place you go is full of art, explicit or hidden! If you can see them, you will be the richest art collector and your memory will be the richest art gallery!”  ― Mehmet Murat ildan Since art school days I have been doing swaps with other artists but […]

Essay by Luke Foster “In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” Khalil Gibran These days what makes me happy is pretty simple. I like to go grocery shopping and then knowing that I have […]

“I go to Paris, I go to London, I go to Rome, and I always say, “There’s no place like New York. It’s the most exciting city in the world now. That’s the way it is. That’s it.” – Robert De Niro I have been to New York twice and shall soon be coming for […]

Essay by Luke Foster “If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for […]

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”  — Martin Luther King Jr While I was beach walking this morning, I was thinking about agents in the world whose whole life mission is to make world peace. I know the world leaders employ political […]

Essay by Luke Foster I get those fleeting, beautiful moments of inner peace and stillness – and then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, I’m a human trying to make it through in this world. Ellen DeGeneres Doctors heal the body and psychologists and shrinks heal the mind but comedians heal […]

Essay Luke Foster “I’m looking to evolve the concept of the new renaissance artist, taking the world by storm through the art of public display and demonstration, with technical savvy, using cell phones and computers.” Perry Farrell I’ve had a fascination with Perry Farrell since my final year of high school when his band Janes […]

Essay by Luke Foster “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”  Eleanor Roosevelt I feel that the burden of solving the world’s most pressing problems should not only be wrestled with by world leaders but must be […]

Essay by Luke Foster “The advice I’d give to somebody that’s silently struggling is, you don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. You can live well with a mental health condition, as long as you open up to somebody about it, because it’s really important […]

“There is no other love that’s as special as the love of a grandma. / So warm and fuzzy, so calm and sweet, so cheerful and joyful.” Hopal Green From my own personal experience, I think grandmothers are the kindest wisest people on the planet as that’s what my mum was like and her mum […]

Essay by Luke Foster Derivative definition adjective imitative of the work of another artist, writer, etc., and usually disapproved of for that reason. I feel my drawing is terribly derivative not of other artists but repeating myself and not a new idea every drawing. Ever since Yoshitomo Nara gave me a drawing in 2000 in a […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Across NSW more than 20,000 surf lifesavers dedicate their time each year during the peak season to make sure beach goers can enjoy the surf in safety. Every single patrol member is trained to the highest possible standard and dedicates countless hours each weekend during the season protecting the beaches along […]

Essay by Luke Foster “Our lives are made up of a series of mundane moments, but those little moments are often the finesse that shapes our entire existence, it’s not necessary the big, dramatic events, although they do, too, of course.” Andrew Haigh I am always doing way too much creative stuff than doing less […]