Gillie and Marc

Gillie and Marc is the professional partnership of artists Gillie and Marc Schattner. The husband-and-wife team has worked side-by-side for nearly three decades and are best known for their autobiographical characters, Rabbitgirl and Dogman^[1] as well as producing sculptures of rhinos and dogs which have attracted media interest.

Personal life

Gillie was born in London, UK in 1965 and Marc in Melbourne, Australia in 1961. Marc studied graphic design at Swinburne, Melbourne, while Gillie received no formal art training.^[2]

Gillie and Marc first met on a film shoot in the Regent Hotel in Hong Kong, 1990, where Gillie was a model and Marc was the creative director. They were both engaged to other people at the time. Gillie also was a trained nurse, artist and illustrator from England. Marc Schattner was an artist from Melbourne working in an advertising agency. She is Catholic and he is Jewish.^[3] Seven days later, they were married in the foothills of Mount Everest, Nepal, in a Hindi ceremony. ^[3].

The couple returned to Hong Kong for a short time before moving to Singapore to start their family of four. Their daughter Jessie was born in 1991, and Ben was born in 1995. Following the birth of their son, they moved to New York due to a job opportunity for Marc with McCann.

Gillie and Marc now live in Sydney ^[4][5][6].

Art career

Gillie and Marc's The Travellers have Arrived at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, 2012.

Gillie on "Shandu, the Buried Rhino" in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, 2016

Gillie and Marc's "Pyramid" in Forbes, NSW, Australia, 2015

Gillie and Marc's mural in Bondi Beach, Sydney, 2013

Gillie and Marc's paintings, 2017

Snoop Dogg with Gillie and Marc's "Paparazzi Dog", 2014

The Schattners first exhibited as a pair in Singapore in 1990 with a show entitled A Blue Eye View of Singapore. They continued to exhibit together in New York. Upon returning to Australia in 1999, they had a joint exhibition called Life Can’t Wait, painting portraits of twenty Australians who face death and were on the organ waiting list. The project was sponsored by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and was used to create awareness and encourage the public to sign up to be organ donors.In 2006 they were Archibald Prize finalists with a portrait of former Olympic swimmer John Konrads next to the Black Dog of Depression to symbolise his battle with bi-polar disorder.^[5] Their hybrid characters, featuring animal heads on human bodies, first emerged with their fibreglass sculpture Good Boy in 2005 before the exhibition I love my dog and my dog loves me. The character of Dogman was joined by Rabbitgirl in the artists’ work in 2011.^[6]

Gillie and Marc's characters Dogman and Rabbitgirl tell the autobiographical tale of two opposites coming together to become best friends and soulmates. They first appeared together in 2011 and today can be found in over 500 public collections and museums through 40 different countries across the globe.

Lost Dogs

The artists first gained recognition with their Lost Dog project after they placed 100 of their Lost Dog sculptures around the streets of Sydney. Within a week all but three were stolen costing the artists almost $500,000 in damages.

This experience led to the Lost Dogs of Hope video series^[7] to show the world that everyone at some point will feel lost. In just 10 weeks they had overwhelming support from celebrities including Matt Moran, Mia Freedom, Layne Beachley and Heather Maltman. The videos received millions of views and had a huge attention from media across Australia.

Rhino works

Shandu, the Buried Rhino – fibreglass sculpture

In 2016 the artists built a rhino sculpture for Sculpture by the Sea^[8]; Buried Rhino was placed on Sydney’s Tamarama Beach in October, 2016. The rhino was nicknamed "Shandu", which means change in South Africa after a poll of ten names put to their Facebook fans.^[9]

During the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, Sydney was hit by freak tidal wave where most of the artworks were lost to sea^[10]. Buried Rhino, however, survived the floods^[11]. Not only did millions of visitors come to see Shandu but thousands of photos were uploaded to social media. Shandu won both the Allen's People’s Choice Award and Kids' Choice Award.^[12] Gillie and Marc donated all their prize money to rhino conservation. The five-metre tall rhino can now be found in Monarto Zoo, South Australia, the world’s largest open-range zoo.

In 2017 they launched a Kickstarter campaign to build what they claimed would be the "world's largest rhino sculpture" in Astor Place New York's East Village to campaign for rhino conservation.^[13][14] Another rhino sculpture, Run for your Life, was exhibited in various places around Melbourne before ending up at La Trobe University.^[15]

The Paparazzi Dogs

In 2013 Gillie and Marc launched a series of sculptures in Melbourne called The Paparazzi Dogs. The sculptures were later exhibited in Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai and installed in New York City in 2016.^[16][17] The sculpture series developed from a 2012 work depicting a dog holding a camera made as a commission for the Ying Ren Hotel in Beijing.^[18]

While in Melbourne, the work was reappropriated by street artist CDH who added a plaque reading in part, "The sculpture equivalent of ‘dogs playing poker’, the work is symbolic of the culturally vapid public art commissioned by Melbourne’s civic institutions."^[19]

The Jing'an Sculpture Park, Shanghai, China

In 2016, After covering New York, Melbourne and Sydney the Paparazzi Dogs were invited to the Jing’an Sculpture Park in Shanghai. Joining the Paparazzi Dogs were Gillie and Marc’s Dogman and Rabbitgirl characters, as well as Deerman and the Celebrity Animal crew – a posse which includes Arnold ‘Stag’ Schwarzenegger, Pamela ‘Poodle’ Anderson, Dr ‘Bear’ Evil, Michael ‘Dog’ Jackson and Jessica Rabbit.^[20]

Bondi Beach Promenade

Gillie and Marc were delighted to contribute a mural to the Bondi promenade as part of the Activated Walls project. Using their alter-egos Dogman and Rabbitgirl as subjects, Gillie and Marc were excited to give some love back to their town. The location of this mural is important to the area, as Bondi is a neighbourhood made of people from all around the world and this artwork encourages togetherness and interactivity in a beautiful environment.

Public Art

Gillie and Marc's "Shandu" sculpture survives Sydney's freak storm, 2016, Bondi

Gillie and Marc with their dog Indie in their home, 2017

The artists have been creating public sculptures for over ten years and have collaborated with over 50 councils and governments worldwide. Some of the monumnetal bronze and fibregalss ^[21]

• Black Rhinos (2013), Dubbo City Council, NSW, Australia
• The Celebrity Animal (2016), Jing'an Sculpture Park, Shanghai, China
• Cheeky Chimps (2012), Wellington Zoo, Wellington, NZ
• Coffee Drinkers (2013), Rundle Mall, SA, Australia^[22]
• Fetch Boy (2010), Maitland Regional Gallery, NSW, Australia^[23]
• Flying Fish (2015), Bondi, NSW, Australia
• Happy Birthday Mr President xo (2013), Salamanca Square, TAS, Australia^[24]
• Henry Lawson (2013), Weddin Shire Council, NSW, Australia
• Paparazzi Boy (2012), Yin Ren Hotel, Beijing, China
• Paparazzi Dogs (2017), Greenwich Village, NY, USA^[25][26][27]
• Pit Pony (2014), Collinsville, QLD, Australia^[28]
• Run for your lives (2015), La Trobe University, VIC, Australia^[29]
• Shandu, the Buried Rhino (2016), Monarto Zoo, SA, Australia^[30]
• Tandem Riders (2012), Perth, WA, Australia ^[31]
• The Travellers Have Arrived (2017), Industry City, NY, USA^[32]
• Wave Riders (2016), Jing'an Sculpture Park, Shanghai, China
• We Go Together (2017), NoMo Soho, NYC, USA

Controversy

Over the years, Gillie and Marc have incurred nearly half a million dollars in theft and damages. Even though their public artworks are all over the world including the U.S., China, New Zealand and Singapore, they have only experienced theft and vandalism within Australia. Gillie and Marc have also made headlines across the world because of the nudity in their artworks.

Pyramid in Forbes

The town of Forbes, New South Wales, Australia loaned the Schattner's sculpture Pyramid for one year following a public sculpture exhibition. The sculpture featured the artists' signature characters, Dogman and Rabbitgirl, nude and posing in a pyramid formation. It caused controversy in the town with some labelling the work as obscene, while others felt that Forbes should exhibit sculptures focussing on the town's history rather than anthropomorphic rabbits (which are not native to Australia).^[33] This led to The Daily Telegraph article Statue cops a bum wrap as Forbes locals demolish artistic merit of The Pyramid. Following the incident the artists donated the work to Forbes.^[34]

Lost Dogs

In 2013 the artists promoted an edition of Lost Dog fibreglass sculptures by placing 100 of them in various locations around Sydney; some hidden and some in plain sight.^[35] All but three of the sculptures were stolen within one month creating considerable publicity.^[36]

Paparazzi Dogs

In 2016 Gillie and Marc had two of their sculptures stolen^[37]. The Paparazzi Dog (valued at $25,000^[38]) was stolen outside of Opus Design Store on Oxford Street in Sydney. Thanks to an anonymous tip-off, police found the 200kg bronze sculpture hiding in the basement of an art thieves gang.^[39] The Paparazzi Dog was also damaged.

Awards

• 2016: Allens People’s Choice Award, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney, NSW, Australia
• 2016: Kids’ Choice Award, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Books

Gillie and Marc's Paparazzi Dogs at Federation Square Melbourne being photographed by Trey Ratcliffe, 2013.

Gillie and Marc's "Run For Your Lives at Federation Square, Melbourne, 2014.

The artists have produced a number of art books and children's books. The Perfect Gift is about a boy called Harry trying to find a present for some birds; Girl.com.au called it "thoughtful and entertaining ... easy for children to relate to."^[40]

Pup Art (2016) is an art book with pictures of dogs in a pop art style. The Australian praised it while conceding its price of AU$ 120 was expensive.^[41]

Bibliography:

• 2017: Gillie and Marc – 25 Years of Love and Art
• 2016: Pup Art
• 2015: We Go Together
• 2013: Gillie and Marc – 20 Years of Marriage and Art
• 2009: I Love My Dog and My Dog Loves Me
• 2008: True Love
• 2007: The Perfect Gift (Random House)^[40][42]
• 2006: The Happiest Day of My Life (Random House)
• 2005: Zac’s PB (by Michael Stanford and Mare Schattner, Hodder Headline)^[43]
• 1992: Wizards of Willow (by Gillie Schattner, SNP Publishing)

References