We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

Sayre Gomez

A campervan, with a dog on the roof, is parked between a telecommunications tower and a neon sign. Lightning cracks across a purplish sky.

Sayre Gomez Friday night 2021, Art Gallery of New South Wales © Sayre Gomez

Friday night 2021

‘I’m not homeless. I’m just houseless’, says the main character in the 2020 film Nomadland about her precarious existence as a ‘van-dweller’. What would the inhabitants of the mobile home in Sayre Gomez’s painting say if we could meet them? The vehicle has seen better days. Perhaps it will never move again. The dog on the roof hardly welcomes visitors. The windows deny our gaze. A Chicagoan who obsessively paints the streets and urban vistas of his adopted city Los Angeles, Gomez is fascinated by the parallels between painting and driving – by the way both encourage viewers to stare from a distance at problems that are not (or not yet) theirs. Made in 2021, the year of the Capitol Riots and the California wildfires, Friday night crackles with ominous energy.

  • K–6 discussion questions

    • Look closely at Friday night. Is it a painting or a photograph? How can you tell? What does the term ‘hyperreal’ mean? How has the artist achieved this effect? 

    • Describe what’s happening in this artwork. Who do you imagine is travelling in this motor home and where might they be going? Can you guess where they are in the picture?  

  • K–6 activities

    • Many of the realistic details in Friday night come from Gomez’s daily drives across Los Angeles in the United States. Record details from your own neighbourhood or school to create an artwork that represents that place. 

    • The title of this work tells us that this is someone’s Friday night. Create an artwork that depicts your Friday night. Where are you and what are you doing? What does the sky look like?

    • Imagine what it would be like to live in this motorised home. Write a story about your journey to this place in this motor home. Where did you come from? Where will you travel to next? 

  • 7–12 discussion questions

    • Gomez creates semi-fictionalised photorealistic paintings, which he calls ‘X-scapes’. His techniques include trompe l’oeil, airbrushing and methods used to paint Hollywood sets. Discuss how Gomez’s techniques and images explore the relationship between our everyday surroundings and manipulated digital culture.  

    • Investigate the language of cinema, literature and music. Discuss how these other creative forms engage an audience. Is there evidence of similar techniques and strategies being used in this work? 

    • Compare and contrast the top and bottom frames of this artwork – the celestial realm of the sky above and the earthly realities below. How do they each make you feel? 

    • As he does in Friday night, Gomez often depicts empty blacked-out windows in his artworks. What do you think these signify? Do you see signs of human life? 

  • 7–12 activities

    • Describe your immediate response to Friday night. Write a short emotive narrative or poem using your own experience of a trip with your family or class as inspiration. 

    • Go for a walk and take photos of ordinary places and objects in your neighbourhood. Notice driveways, letterboxes, streetscapes, road signs and cars. Make a collage of your photos to show your route, and explain why you chose to photograph these places and things.