Kerry Tylor’s first solo exhibition opened at the Powerhouse Gallery on Thursday evening.

He said it was a great experience.

“You don’t know what it’s going to be like until you do it,” he said.

“It gives you confidence. The confidence is what you need. 

“People are so supportive, and they love to come and see works of art.”

Tylor said about 30 people attended the opening at the gallery.

He had about 12 paintings on display, and was happy to have two sold on the night.

“Because I’m still an ongoing student it was sort of an exercise in seeing how I would go in doing a gallery, setting up a gallery and doing all of the intricacies that come with setting up an exhibition,” he said.

“To sell some pieces was icing on the cake.

“I had to have deep conversations with pretty much everyone explaining how I [created the pieces].”

Tylor said his artwork was abstract, but semi-figurative.

“I use a flow painting method, so you basically pour paint onto a surface,” he said.

“Then you manipulate the paint, let it mix and do whatever it wants to do, and then hope that the result comes out looking good.

“When you do fluid painting, you have [the canvas] flat, and you let the paint flow, then you can tip the canvas around and try and get the paint to go where you want it to go.

“Of course, it usually does it own thing. It’s kind of like a fight between you and the paint.

“I thought, I’d try this system and see how it works. A lot of it is pure chance and accident, things happen that you don’t expect, which is really nice. 

“It’s quite an interesting process.”

Tylor said the artwork made up part of his honours project.

“The final result of my honours project will be video works,” he said.

“I’m going to film the painting process, and then do something with the video.”

Tylor said when he completes his honours at UTAS, he would love to make a comfortable living out of creating art.

“I’d really like to be pursuing painting,” he said.

“I’d like to thank Powerhouse, because they’ve given me the opportunity to do this [exhibition].

“If Powerhouse weren’t here, I probably wouldn’t have done a solo exhibition in my life.

“They’re just so supportive, it’s just a great thing.

“It’s given me the encouragement to branch out when I leave uni and do my own exhibitions.”