This was published 9 years ago
Tom Polo eavesdrops on train-travelling teens for art's sake
By Nick Galvin
While riding home on a bus in 2009, painter Tom Polo noticed a tattoo on the back of a passenger.
“The guy had this singlet on and you could see his shoulder blades,” says Polo. “He had this massive curvy text straight across his back that said, ‘Such as life’.
On track: Artist Tom Polo in Campbelltown.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“Did he not know the phrase or did the tattooist make a mistake and he didn’t realise? Perhaps the owner of the tattoo was blissfully ignorant. Or maybe he was aware of the error and didn’t care.”
As Polo explores possible explanations it is clear the incident still fascinates and charms him. The artist, who is based in western Sydney, builds much of his work around such observations of the everyday. For years he has taken note of seemingly inconsequential events, exchanges or overheard conversations, often centred around the public transport on which he spends much of his time.
Tom Polo poster display
“It’s just a way for me to keep entertained on the train or the bus,” he says. “I always have a look at what is going on around me. They are fascinating moments – little and almost banal but in a way they are also important.
“But I don’t roll my eyes at these things. I’m glad to hear and see them, and hear this real humanness in people.”
Sometimes these moments find their way into Polo’s Twitter stream. In a tweet earlier this year he wrote: “Lady at bus stop furiously waves down bus. Bus pulls up, opens doors. Lady says, ‘No, I was waving to my friend over there’. Bus drives off.”
It is a curiously evocative vignette – at once mildly amusing and very human.
Tom Polo poster display
“I’m really interested in analysing people – what they are about and what makes them tick,” says Polo. “Why they act the way they do and what has contributed to that – psychologically, culturally, socially …”
Polo’s latest project will make use of snippets of conversation from young people overheard on buses and trains. He has spent hours eavesdropping on young people travelling between Glenfield and Campbelltown, tuning in to interactions most other adult travellers are at pains to ignore.
Tom Polo poster display
The phrases he harvests on his quirky field trips vary in character depending on the time of day. “In the morning people are more silent, on their phones or maybe tired from the night before,” he says. “In the afternoon they are active and screaming out insults and sarcastic things to each other. It’s often very funny.”
Polo takes note of unusual and innovative uses of language, such as this snippet: “What did you do today? I legit just sat in class and did online shopping.”
The conversations can be quite emotional – “You think you had a bad day; well, I spilled hot chocolate in my hair this morning!” – or just plain funny – “Your face is a fail.”
Having collected his material, Polo plans to mash-up the words into one representative phrase that will then be displayed, one word at a time, on a series of billboards down the rail corridor for passengers to see and puzzle over.
“I like the idea that the public might see the first one and think, ‘That’s strange’,” he says. “Then they’ll see the second and think, ‘Hang on, this is something’ and then by the third one realise that it’s almost like a little game and start watching out for the next one.”
Polo’s project is part of a Campbelltown Arts Centre exhibition called The List, which celebrates youth culture in western Sydney. Centre director Michael Dagostino says: “Campbelltown has such a big group of young people – about 23 per cent – and we wanted to engage directly with them through contemporary art.”
Other artists involved in the exhibition include Abdul Abdullah and Abdul Rahman Abdullah, who have been working with local high-school students of Pacific Islander background to produce paintings, photos and installations, and video artist Shaun Gladwell who has collaborated with skaters at Campbelltown Skate Park.
“Anyone of any age can walk into a gallery and feel a bit disengaged," says Dagostino. "But when you have the opportunity to talk to the artists, everything changes and you can understand the why behind the artist’s practice.”
Closing the gap between the artist and the audience is a subject that is close to Polo’s heart. He is known for taking shots at the concept of the artist on a pedestal. “I like questioning and poking fun at that because I’m really just a guy who grew up in the suburbs,” he says.
But it is also possible to let a little too much daylight in on the magic. For instance, how does he expect the train passengers of the Campbelltown region to respond to his teasing billboards? “Probably three-quarters of the people that see it will never know what it was about,” he says. “I like that it becomes this little mystery.”
The List is at Campbelltown Arts Centre from August 9 to October 12.