Dr George Skeene at “Burning Cane” … Sold

Still time to take in the work of the far norths best portrait artists across all mediums at the Crate 59 “Burning Cane” exhibition in Cairns. Now in its second year the exhibition consists of over 40 works of great portraiture and it’s certain to become an annual firm favourite.

Crate 59 was packed for the “Burning Cane” opening eve event back in September … and I was very happy to have a photographic work on the gallery wall. “George at the Bus Stop” is a pretty straight forward piece of portrait photography … in contrast to many of the innovative and creative painted, drawn and sculptured works … but nevertheless seemed to attract a lot of attention. The framed work was bought by a local art collector (not sure If I can mention his name) and it was nice to see the ‘Red Dot’.

The story of “George at the Bus Stop” is one of those serendipitous twists of fate … a couple of minutes chance encounter that you can read all about George and our meeting in a previous post here.

Dr George Skeene OAM was a gentleman in those few moments … and he is very definitely a scholar (hence the OAM 🙂 ).

If you havn’t been already, “Burning Cane” is still open to viewers for the next couple of weeks but hours are limited to when Billy’s Coffee is open … Monday to Thursday 6am to 12.30, Friday and Saturday 6am to 3pm. Grab yourself a strong dark cuppa and take a look at some great art …

Last day is Thursday October 12th.

Image © Brian Cassey … “George at the Bus Stop” at the “Burning Cane” exhibition – Dr George Skeene OAM

Marilyn Monroe, Playboy Magazine … & Bonn …

… VERY much a departure from what I normally do … and for that matter … what I’ve ever done.

I admit … this image I produced may look somewhat ‘familiar’ to many of a certain ‘vintage’. However, I can assure you that it is brand new. The ‘polar opposite’ of photojournalism, documentary, reportage etc, it does, indeed, tell a timely story I wanted to tell.

The year 2022 marked the 60th anniversary of the death of arguably the planet’s greatest ever sex symbol … movie star and blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. She died at just 36 …

There were many thousands of photographs made of Marilyn (Norma Jeane) during her stellar but far too short career as an actress, model, sometimes singer … and undeniable centre of massive unrelenting attention.

What I aimed to portray in this work was a recreation of ‘Marilyn’ in the vintage style of the days of the mid last century when she captivated audiences around the World … and in Cairns character and model Bonn Marie I knew I had just the person to make that happen. (Bonn had previously featured in one of my works that gained a fair bit of International attention.)

In particular … this image I made of Bonn (below) mirrors one of the works of US photographer Tom Kelley who had the enviable task of shooting Marilyn’s infamous ‘red velvet’ set in 1949 before her acting career took off (when she had red hair pre the ‘blond bombshell’ era). Strangely Tom’s image didn’t receive lavish attention until Hugh Hefner selected it for the first centrefold in the first ever edition of Playboy Magazine in 1953 !

I still can’t get over the fantastic job that Bonn (aided by the mastery of make up artist Sue Kim) did in morphing into Marilyn’s character and look … the resemblance is chilling. Despite the fact that I didn’t attempt to copy the original pose in Tom’s work directly … the similarities in body shape, pose, style, expression and more are obvious. Bonn created a damn fine Marilyn …

A couple of little interesting asides about the original Kelley image. Originally … pre Playboy … Marilyn faced right to left in the frame. Hefner decided to reverse it in the magazine centrefold … and that’s the way I made the ‘tribute’ image with Bonn. As well as making Hefner’s new magazine a massive success, Kelley’s image … an image of tastefulness and sophistication … became truly historic, played a key role in shaping 20th century history, led to a redefinition of female sexuality in America and spawned a sexual revolution.

This is the first time ever I’ve ‘remade’ an earlier image by another photographer … and I’m damn sure it will also be the last … but I do hope you enjoy the resulting work, Bonn’s amazing ‘Marilyn’ portrayal and the rationale behind retelling a pivotal and timely part of the Monroe story.

This “Marilyn” – Bonn large framed work (below) is currently pride of place on the wall in the exhibition “Red Hot” (and available for sale) at the Kite Gallery in Cairns. The exhibition of great works runs until 16th January 2023 and is well worth checking out.

Image © Brian Cassey … with subject Bonn Marie and hair, makeup Sue Kim … (with Thanks and acknowledgement to photographer Tom Kelley)

Tribute to Marilyn Monroe sixty years after her untimely death in 1962 .... Image by Brian Cassey © (with Bonn Marie) based on the 1949 'Red sheet' work by photographer Tom Kelley which became Marilyn's and Playboy Magazines first ever cenrefold. in the magazine's first edition in 1953.