Stephen Nothling’s ongoing project is to randomly and quietly document all that interests and influences him in his leafy backyard garage studio in Highgate Hill. Nothling paints portraits, landscapes and still life imbued with warmth and humour. His exhibition Mixed Business at Woolloongabba Art Gallery showcases his quirky suburban take on life as highlighted with many images of local birds and fish.
“I don’t have to go very far for inspiration because subject matter just comes to me continually,” said Stephen. “A possum sleeps amongst my paintings every night and different birds fly in quite often to have a look at what I’m doing.” Stephen is particularly drawn to painting the discarded ephemera of local households finding amazement and amusement in the objects of everyday life.
“The things that I find on my walks around the streets and in the second-hand shops in West End are surprising. I find lately that I have to be a bit discerning otherwise the house will be overloaded with too much weird stuff. “Now I am more drawn to the ordinary. “The contemplation behind painting an ordinary thing like a kitsch vase or a bland street corner seems to me to instil the work with a sense of time and place that is more than the actual subject can seem to have. “Making paintings is just my way of figuring out what on earth is going on.”
The exhibition will open on June 1 at 6pm. Exhibition dates are between May 29 and June 30, 2018 at Woolloongabba Art Gallery.
