Shepparton artist Tank makes his SAM debut.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Tank has long pushed for local art to land on bigger stages across Shepparton’s art scene, and now that persistence has landed him his debut at Shepparton Art Museum.
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The local talent swapped his usual surrealism for realism in the spirit of the Archibald Prize, bringing to life the portraits of three local figures across the region, which now hang in the foyer outside the Elsewhere café.
Wanting to paint people he already knew, he decided on three: Nic Healey, Carmel Johnson and Anthony Brophy.
“Nic is a good friend and such a stylish dude, I knew he’d be good to capture, and he didn’t let me down,” Tank said.
“Carmel works here [at SAM] and I wanted to paint someone connected to SAM itself.
“I chose Broph because he’s well known in politics around Shepparton, and the Archibald is meant to be someone celebrated in their field”
Tank’s portraits of Nic Healey, Carmel Johnson and Anthony Brophy are on show at SAM.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Tank sat with each subject and took his own photographs, some of them composites.
For Carmel, he combined two images so her dog would face the right way.
The paintings themselves were an incredible challenge.
“I just went through the torturous pain in my life trying to paint them,” he said.
During the process, Tank rode the waves up and down, becoming happy when moments came together only to be sent off on “another crazy tangent of ugliness” with his next stroke.
More than once he wanted to give up, but he kept going until the deadline.
“I didn’t know when to stop,” he said.
But after five months and 50 hours, Tank’s portraits came to life.
Carmel, Anthony and Nic all loved the results, with Brophy’s reaction simply being “Wow.”
The SAM project led to something bigger.
Inspired by the Archibald Prize exhibition at SAM, Tank organised a Shepp Archies at his own gallery on Corio St.
It ran from September 3 to 14, featuring 17 local artists, and became the studio’s most popular exhibition.
After its success and seeing the appetite for local talent, Tank is planning to run it again next year.
“It’ll be bigger and better,” he said.
Tank’s portraits hang in the SAM foyer, outside the Elsewhere café, until February 28.
Carmel Johnson sees her portrait by Tank in SAM for the first time.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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