Eve Jeffery
Legendary band member of The Living End, one of Australia’s foremost musical exports, Scott Owen can usually be seen climbing the heights of his double bass on stage during high octane live sets, but in recent times, Owen has spent just as many hours climbing across fine art paper creating intricate and intense mandalas.
Scott says he started about six years ago, just killing time doodling on a page while his girlfriend was putting her kids to bed. ‘It felt good and it looked good, so I did it again and again…’
Scott, who has his first exhibition opening this week at P.O.M.E gallery in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, says he got excited about seeing the drawings grow. ‘With every stroke I’d see shapes appear before my eyes – images that I never expected. I like locking into a groove so drawing these has that appeal.’
Scott says he is looking forward to appearing with The Living End at Bluesfest this year, but he says that drawing mandalas gives him something that being part of a successful international music act (his day job) doesn’t. ‘This is something that I am solely 100 per cent responsible for.’
Would he give up his day job for this other work? ‘I wouldn’t be happy to give up my day job. Covid has taught me this. But I’d be happy to be drawing forever. I can’t imagine I’ll stop. There’s so many applications for these drawings that I’d like to explore and I enjoy teaching other people how to do them too.’
If you happen to be in Melbourne on either Saturday July 3 or 10 at 4pm, Scott will be doing a Q&A at P.O.M.E.
For more info visit: www.scottowenmandalas.com.
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