‘Speedscapes’ explores the experience of travelling through the landscapes of north central Victoria by road and rail.
Drawing on journeys between Wodonga, Bendigo, Echuca and Seymour, Baylart transforms fleeting impressions of agricultural plains, vast skies and distant horizons into richly layered mixed-media works.
The exhibition reflects the unique way regional landscapes are encountered at speed, through brief glimpses framed by roadside trees, railway windows and changing weather conditions.
“It’s all about skies, horizons, silhouettes, fast glimpses of the landscape — the landscape experienced by road and rail,” Baylart said.
Through an innovative process that combines paper, paint and spray, Baylart constructs atmospheric landscapes that move between abstraction and representation.
Fine layers of kōzo tissue are tinted, manipulated and torn using techniques informed by his professional background as a paper conservator, creating works that evoke memory, movement and place.
The exhibition’s deliberately varied arrangement mirrors the experience of looking through gaps in roadside vegetation while travelling.
Together, the works form a visual map of journeys across the Goulburn Valley and beyond, encouraging audiences to reconsider familiar landscapes and the ways they are perceived.
Benalla Art Gallery Director, Eric Nash praised the exhibition and the work that has gone into creating it.
“Nick Baylart has developed a remarkably distinctive visual language that captures something many of us recognise but rarely stop to consider - the fleeting experience of the regional landscape seen through a car or train window,” he said.
“Speedscapes is both technically accomplished and deeply evocative, inviting audiences to see familiar places with fresh eyes.”
Baylart’s practice is influenced by the legacy of Australian landscape painting, particularly the work of Arthur Streeton and Fred Williams, alongside the spatial sensibilities of American painter Barnett Newman.
These influences are evident in his distinctive use of vertical forms, gestural mark-making and layered compositions that suggest both distance and movement.
An emerging artist based in Shepparton, Baylart has exhibited throughout Victoria, Queensland and NSW since 2022.
He trained as a paper conservator at the University of Melbourne and has worked in collection care and exhibition roles at museums and galleries across Australia.
He was awarded Highly Commended in the Milburn Art Prize in both 2023 and 2025.
Speedscapes offers a compelling contemporary perspective on the Australian landscape, capturing the rhythms, colours and fleeting moments of regional travel through a deeply personal and technically accomplished body of work
Nick Baylart: Speedscapes will be on display at the Benalla pop-up art gallery, until November 8, and is free to enter.
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