EDDIE TRAINWRECK & THE MONSTERS
Renowned local artist and mischief maker Rob Brown returns to present his latest solo exhibition, this time, inspired by the monsters that lurk under the bed – or more accurately, as Brown points out, in the cupboard.
WORDS TIERNEY WHITE
MORE THAN 40 artworks, uniform in size in ornate golden frames, adorn the gallery walls of Qubit this month. Within each mismatched frame, quirky characters are on display, some with freaky or random expressions and – on brand for Brown – a bit of cheek, giving us a sneaky glimpse into the inner workings of his wildly creative mind.
The Monster Is Real is inspired by a range of childhood themes, like being scared of monsters, superheroes, cartoon characters, and going to the zoo.
But there’s one source of inspiration Brown was influenced by the most.
“Eddie Trainwreck is my adopted son, and I don't think I was a good stepdad, 'cause I'd never done it before. And he was a little sh-t, but then again, he'd never had a stepdad before,” he says.
“And he was cross-eyed. Well, probably, he still is. He's got this lazy left eye that, when you talk to him, it’d go in circles everywhere. It used to drive me nuts. And he dribbles. Probably still dribbles. He's a bit daft. Now , he'd be 30 -something? He still lives in Darwin.”
Brown was inspired through Eddie Trainwreck’s experiences, particularly fearing the monsters he was certain lurked under his bed. But luckily, his stepdad set the record straight for him.
“One time, he was crying in the bedroom, in middle of the night. I came in, and he said ‘there's a monster under the bed!’. I thought, well, what the f-ck am I gonna do if there's a monster under the bed?” Brown says.
“So, I just told him that they normally come from the cupboard, and they are real. The monster is real, and they turn the lights out. So, I left him there, and I didn't really know how to be a dad, but these things I thought were good. Good learning for the future. Toughen him up a bit, kind of thing.
“He was about 13 when he didn't want to play peek-a-boo anymore, 'cause it made him cry. So that's when I realised he was coming of age, turning into a man.”
Brown’s been drawing since he was a kid, only taking to the paintbrushes when he went to art school. Paint is the medium he’s been celebrated for across his more than 30-year artistic career.
“I was a little nervous about the free flow of painting, so that wasn't until art school. So, it was always pen and ink, illustration. And then painting at art school, after.”
Painting is a cathartic experience for Brown, as he engages some familiar rituals to get the creative juices flowing.
“When I’m in the studio, I get the wine going, the music going, the incense burning.”
Once creative mode is activated with the aforementioned steps, Brown doesn’t get to work with a set theme in mind. He reckons it interrupts the creative process. But somehow, at the end of each creative binge, there’s something that ends up tying it all together.
“I go with the flow, but then, suddenly, this one has a father and son. It'll be about my dad! And then after about three paintings, it's like, well, what's with all the animals? Okay, it'll be about Australian animals. Oh, what's the UFO in there for? Oh, there's another UFO. What's going on here? Oh, a monster. What's going on? It just progresses. And I can't keep with a theme, I’ve just never had that.”
The use of gold ornate frames around each piece is Brown’s way of, in a way, sticking his middle finger up at the prestige of fine art.
“That's the kind of irony of it too, right? Like those kinds of frames you find in very esteemed galleries, and castles and palaces, typically from the time when they were created, you know?” he says.
“Even though the exhibition itself is about an absolute idiot, the hardware is fancy … set in a gold-gilded frame. It's kind of poking fun at the history of art, which is kind of nice. The Mona Lisa, for example, that was in one of those fancy gold frames, and just I took that idea and put the monster thing in there. It's just fun. But hopefully, it'll look nice.”
A varied mix of bright and dark textured canvases depict cartoon characters, superheroes, quirky animals, and of course, Eddie Trainwreck, who features with Brown doing dad/kid stuff. You know, like kicking fish.
“There’s one of Eddie and I poking rocks with sticks – good, healthy stuff – and kicking fish. There’s also one of Eddie playing with his w-lly while I'm explaining the galaxy and universe to him.”
If this all seems odd, that’s because it is. But it’s nothing short of what we’d expect from one of Darwin’s most charismatic and unique creatives.
The Monster Is Real
WHEN FRI 16 – TUE 20 OCT, OPENING FRI 16 OCT | 6PM
AT QUBIT GALLERY
INFO qubitgallery.com.au
