OFTEN in a career, timing is everything.
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Beechworth’s H.Fish feels blessed that his 45 years as an artist coincided with eras of significant social and creative development.
“I just think in many ways my life is Forrest Gump,” he said. “I happened to be at the right place at the right time in any number of pivotal changes – to be part of it was just part of what was happening.”
And people like George Lucas, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix also just happened to be around.
Born in California in 1948, Fish moved to Australia in 2003 and arrived in Beechworth two years ago.
“I was looking to make a segue away from years of being a beach addict,” he said.
His latest exhibition of contemporary art opens in the North East town on Tuesday.
“This year I’ve actually spent two and a half months making a large painting that encapsulates for me all the great essences which are Beechworth,” he said.
“It’s quite a multi-layered image of the colonial history of the town. It’s a big effort, but I wanted to give back to the community.”
The artist’s name, short for hogfish, comes from a nickname his father bestowed during their diving adventures in the 1950s.
“Then came the ‘60s and having a quirky nickname simply worked, and I never looked back,” Fish said.
He entered Berkeley University near San Francisco in 1967 and became part of a scene teeming with art, music and growing anti-war sentiment.
“The summer of love, the entire psychedelic revolution was exploding,” Fish said.
“All the people that are big names now were just going to art school back then.”
In the 1970s Fish did a lot of car and motorcycle customising, which was noted by college mate turned film maker, George Lucas.
“From that I got the tip of the hat to do some contributing design work for Raiders of the Lost Ark and things like that,” Fish said. “In the ‘80s movie props were still physical, the world hadn’t gone digital yet, so they needed to have a car for Batman to sit in, they needed to have another one for them to blow up. If you could get it done to their specifics on time and on budget, you got work.”
These days, Fish focuses on painting, sculpture and drawing as well as working on his autobiography.
“My art is basically what is called worldwide popular surrealism,” he said.
“My paintings, the big important ones, are basically dealing with visual answers to complex social problems.”
- H.Fish’s exhibition opens on Tuesday and continues until January 29 at Beechworth’s George Kerferd Hotel, Mayday Hills, 11am to 6pm daily
