The World of Bluey – The Light, The Dark, and the Poetic

In the title image of the exhibition “The World of Bluey”, the small figure of a black-haired little girl in a short blue dress is seen standing on a planet in a bright, blue, starry universe. However, in the original version of this drawing, “Bluey is missing something”, the planet is surrounded by total darkness, signaling the unknown, fear and uncertainty. In this composition, the artist employs the “Rückenfigur”, a figure seen from behind contemplating the landscape, most famously exemplified by the work of Caspar David Friedrich, such as Wanderer Above the Mist (1818). Much like the latter painting, “The World of Bluey” presents a mystery figure looking into the emptiness ahead shrouded in blue fog, with its suggestions of loneliness, meditation and wonderment. The two versions of this image set the tone of this exhibition – a discovery of Bluey’s world that alternates between light and dark.

Bluey was born in late 2011, when the artist Clementine Chan was finger-painting on her iPad. A little girl of about four, Bluey got the name from the colour of her blood (blue-blooded), and because of her love of everything blue. Actually, this character may go further back, to the figures in Clementine’s oil paintings, which often feature a small figure in a vast landscape. For instance, The Encounter (2011), The Red Balloon (2009), Castle In the Air (2009) and I Want to Fly  (2008) all show a little girl in blue as the protagonist, who may be the prototype of Bluey. The preference for the colour blue has a long tradition in western painting. Vermeer, for example, is famed for depicting women wearing blue gowns or blue accessories, and his extensive use of ultramarine blue, the most expensive pigment available to painters at the time. Two of the greatest painters in the history of art, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, are also renowned for their use of the colour blue. The Bluey sketches can be seen as a celebration of this precious colour.

Bluey is an oddball character that sees the world from a unique and singular perspective, through eyes that are by turns innocent and sophisticated. As mentioned above, the Bluey illustrations can be divided into works of light and darkness, while a third group of works represents philosophical musings and poetic thoughts. The texts form visual puns with the images, or serve to illustrate the images in a pithy and witty manner.

The Light

A large portion of works shows the joys and trials of childhood, with Bluey having adventures in the big wide world, sometimes in the company of PiPi the penguin, actually a stuffed toy.

In “Bluey flies solo”, she flies happily across a blue sky on a broomstick with PiPi in tow. “Bluey needs a brake” expresses the same sense of exhilaration, with Bluey racing down the slope on a bike, apparently heading for disaster, but she couldn’t care less.

Bluey is intrepid, and imagines that she can accomplish all kinds of impossible feats. In “Bluey on mission impossible”, a drawing on a photograph, Bluey is gliding down an electric wire, hoping to reach the Colosseum , a mission that will prove to be impossible.  In “Bluey is dogged”, she is pulling a gigantic rock tied with rope, a sort of Sisyphian task.

Bluey is versatile, and assumes all kinds of role, playing politician, diplomat etc. She is a kid that likes to play different adult roles.

In some works, Bluey is simply shown as being cute and goofy, doing nonsensical things with a deadpan expression. One such work is “Statue of Bluey”, a humorous take on the Statue of Liberty, with the torch replaced by an ice-cream cone, and Bluey carrying her ubiquitous schoolbag and wearing a blue crown.

The Dark

Since blue is associated with melancholy and sadness, as in Picasso’s Blue Period, it is fitting that some Bluey pictures illustrate dark moods.  

Bluey suffers from mood swings, and is easily downcast. In “Bluey has the blues”, she sinks into melancholy at the prospect of getting older.

Life is hard, even for a little girl. In “Bluey is unplugged” and “Bluey is downcast”, Bluey is so drained of energy that even her blue dress has faded.

“Bluey’s Hobby is Resurrection” is a “dark” picture and an example of macabre humour, in which Bluey wakes up in an open coffin, rubbing one eye, in a parody of the resurrection of Christ. The scene is set in pitch-darkness, lit by a candle held by PiPi.

The Poetic

Two key works in this group are “Bluey is philosophical” and “Bluey is poetic”.  The first work shows a drooping, withered leaf on a thin, barren branch, with Bluey and PiPi looking on stoically. In the second work, we see the back view of their small figures waving goodbye to a falling red maple leaf against a vast empty background, constituting a minimalist landscape.

 “Bluey watches as time goes by” features a giant hourglass with blue sand, a vanitas symbol, with a tiny Bluey in simplified strokes watching the passage of time helplessly.

In “Bluey says adieu”, Bluey waves goodbye to the setting sun. The viewer is invited to do the same by placing himself in the position of the “Rückenfigur”, the figure seen from behind. Even the bright, vivid colours fail to offset the quiet melancholy of this work.

These works represent an essentially Eastern philosophy, with vague hints of Taoism and Zen Buddhism in terms of their meditation on time, depiction of quiet and delicate nature, and acceptance of the impermanence of life.

In the Bluey illustrations, Clementine draws from her own experience as a painter and from the painting tradition, as well as from the work of cartoonists and artists that she admires, such as The Little Prince, Peanuts, the work of Jean-Jacques Sempé, and Yoshitomo Nara. The result is a set of works that display a wonderful variety of composition, a keen sense of colour, and rich visual details. They take us into a world full of innocence, quirky humour and lyricism.