See and believe with Toby Zoates’ latest show

Toby Zoates is an artist who, in a long career, has worked across many disciplines, including painting, street posters, filmmaking and author.

His latest show The Naked Eye- Seeing is Believing is the culmination of many years living and working on the fringes of Sydney streets and politics, where he has been an acute observer since 1977.

At age 75 and not in great health, Zoates feels that this show could be his swan song. Then again, maybe not.

“There are 16 works in the show and the range of images is very eclectic,” Zoates said.

“In one of my blurbs for the show I say it is binary in that it is a critique of our society and Sydney in particular, but it is also a celebration.”

Zoates’ life story gives him the experience to have a unique outlook on society and the way that it deals with outsiders.

Brought up in a Melbourne housing estate,  Zoates realised in his early teens that the was gay. Through an acquaintance was lured into Anne Hamilton-Byrnes “Family” cult and underwent a number of LSD-induced  conversion sessions.

He loved the LSD but hated the cult and soon made his way to India, a place for which he has formed a deep life-long attachment.

Landing in Sydney in the late 70s, life came at him from street-level, experiencing squatting, demonstrations (including being a 78er), and discovering art and poster making at the Tin Sheds.

“Half of my work in this show is political commentary on the human condition and the other half is fun, like rock’n’roll posters and iconic imagery like the big wall hanging I have done of Jimmy Hendrix,” Zoates said.

“I have tried to create art that does talk about what is going on in the world, whether it is environmental exploitation or racial tension or war.”

Past shows have often been held in places that Zoates frequented socially such as the Piccolo Bar and the Rex Hotel in Kings Cross, the Kings Cross and Newtown libraries.

“I like having the reputation of a street artist and that the walls of Sydney are an art gallery,” Zoates said.

But for this show Zoates has gone with Damien Minton Galleries, one of Sydney’s premier spaces with a reputation for being adventurous in his curating.

“I have been with Damien for 20 years,”Zoates said.

“We met at the Tin Sheds when I was making a poster and he was a 19-year-old.

“The beauty with Damien is that he doesn’t try and own you. A lot of galleries say that you have to sign everything over to them, but I want to be free.”

Promoting The Naked Eye- Seeing is Believing, Zoates has gone back to what he knows the best; the streets, where he has been covering the inner city with colourful posters.

“We could go and drop a lot on advertising, but I love street art and in all the years that I have worked in Sydney, that is what I have done,”Zoates said.

Whether this will be Zoates’ last show remains to be seen, but right now he is in a happy space as he hangs his work.

“I really put my talent into this show,” Zoates said. “As you get older, and this goes for any crafts person, a cook or whatever, you get better as you have been practising for so long.”

The Naked Eye- Seeing is Believing by Toby Zoates
24 Sept to 5 Oct, Damien Minton Galleries
50 Buckingham St, Surry Hills
https://damienmintonpresents.com