The Plum Spanky Motel

From rock stars to naked giraffes, princes to perverts, The Plum Spanky Motel has a sordid history of debauchery and indulgence. 

By  Tamara Howie

What’s The Plum Spanky Motel? It’s the imagination of artist Rob Brown.

“If you want to scratch below the surface of my paintings, do so at your own peril,” he says.

“Half your luck if you find a deeper meaning, but my intention is to have the paint talk louder than the story. 

“My paintings are skin deep, much like myself.”

Roughly every two years, Rob Brown manages to crawl into his studio and reacquaint himself with his “colourful paints and oily rags and dirty brushes.”

“I’ve got the motivation of a sloth,” he says.

“There’s nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices flowing. When I do get in the studio I work in a frantic pace I call ‘binge painting’.”

Brown says there is rarely a deep underlying meaning behind his cheeky and often sordid paintings.

“My concentration span is similar to a 2-year-old so I find thematically based shows a real struggle,” he says.

“I work laterally rather than in any clear linear structure. I tend to paint pictures rather than paintings. Using single characters or events to make an impact. 

“The moment there are several figures on the same canvas, the story begins to be elaborated and the moment the story is elaborated the boredom sets in.”

Fri 10 - Sat 18 May | Opening Fri 10 May, 6pm | Mayfair Gallery | Free