Taking My Art To New Heights With Red Bull

Red Bull has never taken an artist to extremes like this before. For my HIGH Collection, I wanted to do something that involved high stakes. Something so absurd, it matched Red Bull’s energy of it #GivesYouWiiings. That’s when it popped into my head. Why not ask Red Bull if I can paint in one of their hot air balloons? They suggested something even crazier: let’s hoist you down onto a platform BELOW a hot air balloon, thousands of metres above the ground, and then fly three guys in wingsuits as close to me as possible. Now that was something with high stakes. Suspended underneath the balloon with nothing but the sky around me, I was strapped onto a platform and began painting while three professional wingsuit pilots flew straight past. The wind, altitude and movement turned the process of painting into something completely different. It was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had, and definitely one of the most extreme environments I’ve ever painted in. While I was high above Bath in the UK, the blue and white blend of thick paint became the action painting I created in the sky. Every brushstroke was made while suspended in the air, thousands of metres above the ground. This wasn’t just about creating an artwork. It was about creating an experience that could only happen up there. Once the canvas was dry and back in my studio in Sydney, I painted the tiny scene as the ground crew saw it. Three small wingsuits, one enormous hot air balloon and a tiny me suspended on a platform in the middle of the sky. I called the artwork 'Hiiigh Stakes' because, quite literally, the stakes were HIGH. This project with Red Bull became a completely new chapter in the HIGH collection. I’ve spent the last nine months looking up at the sky and finding stories in everything from planes and balloons to skydivers and clouds. But for this one, I didn’t just paint the sky - I went into it. Video By: Dream Beach Media Dan Will Media Thank you to: Carlos Ramos and Patricia Garcia Calabuig at Red Bull Steve at Hot Air Balloon Co Athletes: Marco Waltenspiel Marco Fürst Scott Paterson