EVERY year gallery@bcs — not in the Belconnen Arts Centre, but Belconnen Community Centre at Swanson Court, contributes a three week exhibition, print and design of promotional material, and exhibition opening catering to the ANU School of Art’s Emerging Artist Support Scheme. 

This year they’re supporting a 2011 painting department graduate, Thomas Farrell, whose rather dark paintings explore human mannerisms.

The artist comments, “I intend to explore the idea of sub-conscious physical expression; how a person carries themselves, their stance, their gestures, their gaze and their expressive qualities. I aim to create paintings of people conversing in various environments and subtly showcasing these original moments.”

Adding that his work is informed by artists like Edward Hopper, Lucien Freud and Alex Katz, he says, “I’m also very concerned with using light and the interior space as compositional tools, to see how they affect an image, and guide the viewer.

Farrell has named the show “Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards” after a Tom Waits album, saying, “These pieces, much like Wait’s songs, have a melancholic and rough air about them, and a very particular style that lives in a world of its own.”

“Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards,” at gallery@bcs in the Belconnen Community Centre at Swanson Court Belconnen, Open 9am-4:30pm Monday-Friday until September 28. Official opening 6pm Thursday September 13, all welcome.