Stephen Bush, Pool Hall, painting, Melbourne, 1980
Summary
‘Pool Hall’, like ‘Kings Way’, also held in the collection, is a beautiful tonal work that cuts a great line between the painterly and the photographic. A tightly focused view of the entranceway to Lindrum Billiard Centre, it is a counterpoint to ‘Kings Way’, which is almost panoramic in its depiction of inner-city factory rooftops. Stephen Bush has worked with the subject of the city over a long period, often fascinated by its banalities, such as rubbish bins. His work takes a great interest in aspects of the city that would not normally ‘get a guernsey’ on canvas in a Town Hall – pool halls, rooftops and the like. ‘Pool Hall’ offers a painterly documentation of Melbourne in 1980. The billiard champion Walter Lindrum ran his pool hall business at this site until the late 1990s, when it was transformed into a boutique hotel – aptly named The Lindrum.
