Hello Brisbane. This is the place to be tonight. Thom Stuart’s lastest show Backgrounds opens from 6pm at Love Love Studio in Teneriffe. It’s seriously a must see, so be there!

Thom’s a good friend of Design Montage, so it’s exciting to feature him again for his latest show. If you want to do your research, check out his full interview here.

After returning to Brisbane from London early last year, Thom’s new collection is inspired by the traditional still life and landscape paintings seen on his travels.

As you can see from the cheeky behind-the-scenes photos, Thom’s artwork involves an exciting mix of acrylics, aerosols and screen-printing. And read on below for a quick interview with Thom before his big night.

The info…

Opening Night Event
Friday 27th January 6–10pm

Love Love Studio
27 Florence Street
Teneriffe, Brisbane

Gallery Opening Hours
Saturdays and Sundays 10am–4pm

You can RSVP via the Facebook event here, view the official invite here and check out more details on Thom’s website. See you there!

Tell me a bit about your upcoming show and your inspirations for your latest collection of paintings…

Well, coming back from London and after seeing so much art history in the galleries over there, my ideas shifted slightly towards the work I’m doing now.

One of the last shows I saw at the Royal Academy was by this group called the Glasgow Boys. Basically what I got from the show, was they said look, let’s just depict what was around us. The subject matter might not be considered cool now, landscapes and lower class farmers tending to ducks or whatever, but that idea of connecting with the things that you are directly surrounded with was a important one I thought. I think it’s probably the honesty in it that tells an informed story about a specific time and place.

With that in mind, the work in the show only deals with objects and landscapes that I have encounter in everyday life while painting the show. For example a still life with objects from my house or landscapes that I walk through to get to work in Brisbane… Modern day interpretations of classical art traditions I guess.

You’re also working as a graphic designer, so how or what motivated you to work towards this exhibition?

More and more I see art and design as totally different things. There are some crossover elements like colour theory that come to mind, but they can be quite disconnected at times. I find design is more a collaboration with the client, understanding what they want, the constraints of a project etc which can be an art-form in itself.

Basically the fine art gives me another avenue to work within where I can get across visual ideas that don’t sit with-in a design context. It’s also a lot more hands on so its nice not to be relying on computers to make images all the time.

Has it helped your creativity by working towards the deadline?

Making a conscious effort to set aside time to paint during each week has helped a lot. Even if your not motivated that day or would rather sit in the pub or whatever, it helps to try and get something done.

Just the process of steadily working usually unlocks new ideas so its always keeps your creative ideas moving along and developing.

Are there any interesting stories or challenges you faced in preparation for the latest show?

Just finding the time to physically make the work and balance other commitments have been the biggest challenge. Lots of solo nights and weekends spent in the studio. I think that falls well short of an interesting story though. Maybe I will collect few during the opening weekend.

How has your painting style or technique changed over the years of your creative practice?

I think right now for me, its all about working larger and trying to move away hard edge line work. Like you mentioned before, I work in design and after graduating from QCA, it been a long exercise in trying to unlearn all things that were taught there.

But saying that you need to learn the basics before you came start manipulating them. I think the most interesting elements in the new paintings are the unplanned mistakes created by doing things, usually in my case, the wrong way.

Sometimes creativity can work in the strangest ways, and affect other parts of your life, no matter how simliar or connected. Has the creativity from painting rubbed off on your design or music practice?

Well most of friends and crew now are from creative circles right from high school and university days onwards, so I guess creativity has effected everything in my life on some level.

I guess I’m just interested in being surrounded by other creatives and trying to move things forward. Just seeing what your peers are up too keeps you motivated. Whether it be in Art, Fashion and Design… Everything really.