Painter poised for solo return

AN upcoming exhibition is signalling a creative’s solo return to visual arts after more than a decade away.

Local artist Garth Horsfield’s new show, Where Men Fear to Tread, launched last week at Art Space Ballarat and will run until Sunday, 13 November.

It’s his first solo show in Ballarat since displaying at Grainery Lane Theatre and he said it’s his first “full-scale exhibition” in about 20 years.

“This exhibition really represents my return to fine art and painting after quite a long time away doing my band and other jobs,” he said.

“This is me going I’m back now, doing painting, and I want to be a visual artist again.

“It’s great to have it at Art Space. It’s a pretty prominent location, smack bang in Lydiard Street and near the Art Gallery.”

The display showcases about 20 oil and acrylic paintings depicting ballerinas and male ballet dancers, or danseurs.

Horsfield said the idea came to him while he was finishing up his Bachelor of Visual Art at Federation University which he’d initially started in the 1990s.

He said the theme of the exhibition touches broadly on men’s roles and representations within society.

“Over the years, I’ve noticed there’s a huge discrepancy between female and male ballet dancers. Male dancers are much rarer in that profession,” he said.

“There’s also some psychosocial issues in there and things that affect men within society. It’s about where men fear to tread.

“I did want to touch on the fact that men are less willing to talk about what’s going on in their heads and the issues they may or may not face.

“I tend to let people make up their own mind about the subtext. So that theme is pretty broad.”