By Tate Papworth
What’s your connection to Brimbank?
I’ve lived in St Albans all my life. I also run my art school here in my studio and create most of my painting here too.
What do you like best about the area?
I’ve got so much family around here, but I also love the subject matter. I’ve always been interested in suburbia and the growing of new suburbia. That’s happening all around us. When I was a child it was all paddocks and now you look at it and it’s changed so much. It’s something that interests me, but it also frustrates me in a way to see all that beautiful open space disappear.
What could be improved?
I think we could do with more cafes. There’s only a couple around here, so when I have a friend over we always have to go for a bit of a drive. It would also be great to have more galleries, but this isn’t really an area where people go to galleries. Public transport is also a little lagging at times.
Tell us about your recent success as a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait prize.
I submitted a painting of my daughter. I’d re-worked it and now I’m really happy with it. I didn’t expect to make the final and I was a bit shocked when I found out. A lot of people have been commenting how it really reflects today. That’s what I want – I want people to associate my work with their own families.
Tell us about the painting.
We are in an age of accessibility where information is endless and anonymous – a contrast to face-to-face communication. My daughter Eva, like her generation, conducts her conversations online. The hooded onesie in this painting evokes the creepy experience of not knowing who or what we are talking to online. I placed her in Buddha’s pose to draw a relationship between the Apple logo and the tree of knowledge. I began this portrait four years ago and made Eva look older than she was. Now it is complete she looks the right age.
What’s next?
I’m completing a six-metre long painting I started 20 years ago. I’m hoping to display it somewhere, but given its size I’m not sure where. I’ll also continue teaching. Over Christmas students have more time off so it’s a busy time.
