The Thousands

Tom Polo takes the advice, statements, mantras and slogans in his artwork from life: a person overheard on the train, the misspelling on a grocer’s signage, the mantras of motivational speakers. I think that makes it ok for me to lift some of the text for this write-up from the information he’s provided about the show. Because I can:

‘Tom Polo’s ‘DISAPPOINTED WITH EVERYTHING (It Happens)‘ takes a more personal approach into notions of fulfillment and aspirations through extensions of portraiture. The paintings, neon, and site specific wall paintings in the exhibition further Polo’s engagement with text and humour to engage with a corrosive anxiety of the human condition and examine our relationships with others.’

And because I couldn’t say it better, you know?

I guess I am trying to Tom Polo my way through this process of writing about Tom Polo by being a little bit clumsy and going with a deadpan vibe that is in allusive/elusive/illusive relation to irony and earnestness. His art is basically a Contemporary Art Self Help seminar, an immediate reminder that lots of things are silly and good to laugh at, and immediately after that a reminder of the importance of making sure that your interpretative and evaluative rubrics are not making you be a total dick in your judgement of people and things.

(Oh and Tom would like for us to say that, ‘This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its funding and advisory body’. So, thanks, those guys!)