20 Shot Sequence: Tom Gerrard

Tom Gerrard

20 Shot Sequence

5 - 29 November 2025

Exhibition Launch: Thursday, 6 November, 6-8pm.

 

Each painting in this series unfolds across 20 individual frames, capturing sequences of movement and change. Some span mere seconds, others stretch over months. But each tells its own story. These are not just narratives of time, but personal glimpses into the rhythms of life as I experience it.

Drawn from my sketchbooks, where daily drawings form the basis of my practice, these sequences reflect the moments that stick with me, a sunrise, a roadside view, the act of painting on city streets, a transformative move. They are snapshots of a life in motion, filtered through my lens and translated into paint.

The title 20 Shot Sequence is borrowed from the 1994 skate video by World Industries — a cultural touchstone of my youth. That video opened my world to music, style, and a diverse community of skateboarders pushing limits in the streets of California. In skate photography, a “20 shot sequence” was used to break down the complexity of a single trick. Each frame essential to understanding the full picture. That concept resonates with me: the idea that movement, whether on a board or through life, is made up of many interconnected moments.

This approach to painting in sequences has been a part of my work for over a decade. Unlike traditional paintings that freeze a single moment, these works stretch time, capturing the feeling of being fully present across a duration. They invite the viewer to slow down, follow the rhythm, and observe how a story unfolds frame by frame.

A recurring theme throughout the exhibition is the natural world, escapism, and what I call "the good life." I find inspiration in stepping away from the everyday. It’s those breaks we all need, but don’t always allow ourselves. Often, it's the quiet, unremarkable things that stand out the most on these trips, the details that spark reflection and stay with me long after.

Time is always moving, but how we experience it depends on how present we are within it.

 

 Tom Gerrard is an Australian painter whose works focus on his personal environment. His style developed through his prolific international output on the streets, and he incorporates contemporary techniques such as spray paint and airbrush. Gerrard’s works compress space through bold flattened colour schemes, employing a signature black outline which frames his graphical forms. The heads appearing throughout Gerrard’s work follow the lineage of graffiti characters, reimagined through the multicultural lens of Gerrard’s youth in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Observation is key to Gerrard’s practice; the architectural elements and domestic objects are taken directly from his environment, both at home and through travel. Gerrard has exhibited in Los Angeles, Barcelona and Tokyo, and his works have been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. He is an active international muralist, having been commissioned in London, Berlin, Quito and Rio de Janeiro.