The ‘bland’ suburb behind new Brisbane exhibition

A new art exhibition that focuses in on one ‘bland’ Brisbane suburb and also finds inspiration in Bunnings car parks has opened in the city.

From flowers to power poles to a Mini Van in a Bunnings car park - Brisbane artist Stephen Nothling gets inspiration where he can. Often it’s in his locality of Highgate Hill. His show The Last Street in Highgate Hill at the Museum of Brisbane in 2017 demonstrated his love of the suburb and that continues in his new show which is now on at Woolloongabba Art Gallery. Entitled Bellevue it’s a colourful tribute to his locale.

“Just about everything in this show is within two kilometres walk from my house,” Nothling says. “The house is featured too.”

Stephen Nothling’s Bellevue View

Mind you the Mini Van he paints in Delivery Van, Bunnings Car Park, took him further afield. Why paint a Mini Van in a nondescript car park?

“Because it brought back memories,” Nothling explains. “My dad was the local butcher at Redcliffe and he had a Mini Van.”

Stephen Nothling’s Beach House, Gloucester St

The one Nothling spotted in the car park was blue but he painted it grey in homage to his dad’s.

The exhibition title of this latest show comes from Bellevue Street in Highgate Hill and includes a number of paintings of houses and one of Torbreck, which was the first high-rise and mix-use residential development in Queensland.

Artist Stephen Nothling in front of his painting Bellevue View. Picture: Richard Walker

Nothling likes to include roads and power poles and the other aspects of inner urban life juxtaposing their prosaic nature with bursts of colour from flowering trees.

“”I’m very aware of what’s around me,” Nothling says. “I love a bland Brisbane streetscape and find them incredibly interesting.”

Mind you there’s nothing bland about those streetscapes when he is done with them because he has an eye for colour and doesn’t mind making things appear brighter than they really are.

Stephen Nothling’s Now More Than Ever

Half this exhibition features streets and buildings but the other half is composed of his floral paintings. For the past few decades Nothling has painted flowers and his many fans love him for it. It wouldn’t be a Stephen Nothling exhibition without flowers.

“The flower paintings have come and gone,” Nothling says. “But people always say they love them. After painting streets I thought I’d paint some floral works and use the colours of the street paintings so each flower painting matches another.”

Stephen Nothling’s Living in Real-time

There’s also a portrait of his wife Deirdre wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words Power Girl.

“That’s the T-shirt she was wearing when I met her,” Nothling says.

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