Historical information

Turbo is a portrait of beloved local artist Trevor ‘Turbo’ Brown by Brunswick-based artist Amaya Iturri.

Brown was a Latje Latje artist known for his bright paintings of dogs, birds and other Australian animals. Iturri worked with Brown in 2013 for the One of a Kind mural commission, supported by Merri-bek City Council, which can still be seen at Sparta Place, Brunswick.

The two artists complement each other’s work, as they both use bright, figurative methods of painting to explore their subject matter. Iturri uses vivid blocks of colour to bring together a candid image of Brown drinking a coffee, which he often carried when out and about in Brunswick. The flecks of colour in the portrait blurs what is light and shade, and what is paint on Brown’s hands and face. True to Iturri’s painting practice, this portrait depicts Trevor ‘Turbo’ Brown as a local icon inseparable from his artworks – the perfect meeting place between life and art.