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Pentimento and the solitary cyclist 

The Italians had a word for it– pentimento – the half seen image of an earlier painting, a ghostly image of a gesture no longer made, a road not taken.
Paintings with pentimento are like a gold mine for art historians as they show that art is not made from certainties but from indecision. Sometimes pentimento reveals that the artist originally had a key figure facing another direction, before confidently overpainting it, while leaving shadows of the past. Or it could be that an impoverished artist has overpainted a rejected work to save the cost of materials.
Shane Forrest’s exhibition is both a whimsical observation of pentimento in the public sphere and, in the case of his paintings, an example of it. Forrest was a long time friend of the late Guy Warren, who gave him discarded fine art paper he used for his watercolour paintings. Forrest gessoed over Warren’s discards which, while they cannot be seen, are still ghostly presences. The subjects of his paintings can be described as pentimento, albeit on a less precious surface. Forrest is a cyclist, and as such is a close observer of the textures of roads, and the painted signs that tell riders and drivers where to go.
Signs fade, worn away by weather and traffic, then they are repainted to show a different direction. Sometime arrows are reversed, confusing the unwary. Council workers use stencils to show where pedestrians may walk, cyclists ride and the presence of wheelchair users and children. These too fade, and are repainted – sometimes in a slightly different position, but in other works, the ghost work is upside down, indicating the direction has been reversed. Forrest has used his own stencils to paint the glorious absurdity of these echoing images, painting them over an evocation of the stippled surface of a road. The echoing poses of these stenciled figures at times almost evoke Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase.
Shane Forrest is a cyclist of Sydney’s inner west, but because his daughter is living there, he has also spent considerable time cycling the streets of Strasbourg. Some of his paintings pay tribute to the subtle cultural differences. Instead of overlays of whites, the stripes defining Strasbourg’s roads are sometimes teal blue overlaying chartreuse as directions change. The stencils for European pedestrians appear more confident as they stride forth across the painted lines. Wheelchairs are more common than in Sydney, and apparently take precedence over families when crossing.
The stenciled shapes he made for the paintings are echoed in his small sculptures, made from layers of cutouts. In one work these are overlaid by splintered fragments of paint stirrers, giving the work ghostly appearance. In Shane Forrest’s world, nothing is wasted.

 

Joanna Mendelssohn
Art Historian

 

Road Markings:

Ponder                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     79 x 53.5cm
2023

Passage                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 740 (framed)
acrylic on paper     78 x 53.5cm
2024

Slight Shift                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76.5 x 57cm
2024

Returned                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     76.5 x 57cm
2023

Juggle                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76.5 x 54cm
2023

Foresight                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76.5 x 53.5cm
2024

Fatigue                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2023

Look Back                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2024

Pause                   $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2024

Fade                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2024

Circulate                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     56.5 x 76cm
2024

Proceed With Care                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2024

Return                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2024

Squid                   $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2024

Shuffle                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56.5cm
2023

Leaving                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56cm
2023

Stagger                    $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56cm
2023

Cross Purpose                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56cm
2023

Crossing                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     76 x 56cm
2024

Hook                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 56cm
2024

Within                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 55.5cm
2023

Grilled                    $ 500 (unframed)     $ 720 (framed)
acrylic on paper     76 x 55.5cm
2023

Embrace                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2023

Walking On Eggshells                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2023

Grate                    $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2023

Lift                    $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2023

No Parking                    $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     50 x 70cm
2023

Turn                     $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2023

Echo                    $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2024

Look                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2024

Shower                    SOLD
acrylic on paper     70 x 50cm
2024

Entry Point                    $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     65 x 50cm
2024

Lift Off                    $ 450 (unframed)     $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     65 x 50cm
2024

Look Forward                    $ 450 (unframed) $ 650 (framed)
acrylic on paper     65 x 50cm
2024

Road Repairs:

Stockpile                    $ 2, 000
acrylic paint on cardboard with steel display trolley
200 x 40 x 40cm
2024

Running Repair                    $ 350
acrylic paint on cardboard
50 x 28 x 35cm
2024

Patch                    $ 300
acrylic paint on cardboard
45 x 31 x 16cm
2024

Retouch                    $ 250
acrylic paint on cardboard
40 x 30 x 17cm
2024

Mend                    SOLD
acrylic paint on cardboard
31 x 26 x 20cm
2024

Makeshift                    $ 150
acrylic paint on cardboard
27 x 25 x 8cm
2024

Sculptures:

Further Reference Too                    $ 600
acrylic paint on found wood
69.5 x 59 x 14cm
2023

Accretion                    $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
66 x 34 x 15cm
2023

Shift                    SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
64.5 x 31 x 12.5cm
2024

Median Line                    SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
61.5 x 30 x 13.5cm
2024

Surface                  $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
61 x 39.5 x 11cm
2024

Stride                   $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
61 x 30 x 13.5cm
2023

Stick Figure                    SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
58.5 x 34 x 15cm
2023

Dash                    SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
58 x 34 x 14cm
2023

Further Reference                    SOLD
acrylic paint on found wood
58 x 25 x 14cm
2023

Criss Cross                    $ 450
acrylic paint on found wood
72 x 40 x 14cm
2024

All artist’s profits are donated to The Nature Conservancy Australia

https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/