The West Australian Pulse 2022: Bailey Arundell lands Captain Cook and macaroni in Year 12 exhibition

If having one artwork in the annual Year 12 Perspectives exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA is quite an achievement, Bailey Arundell should be doubly proud.

The John XXIII College graduate has two works on show at this year’s event, now called The West Australian Pulse 2022.

One, a vibrant oil painting called We’re All in the Same Boat, depicts Captain Cook on a small boat with two young refugees.

The other, Effeminate Flamboyance, is an equally eye-catching depiction of a macaroni, the Georgian-era forerunner of the foppish dandy, rendered in coloured pencils and gold leaf on paper.

The latter work features on one of two covers of today’s STM magazine — the other uses former St George’s Anglican Grammar School student Mckenzie Wilson’s two-part oil painting Afterglow.

Now studying a bachelor of fine arts at RMIT University in Melbourne, Arundell recruited schoolmates to pose as Captain Cook and the gaudily made-up macaroni of Effeminate Flamboyance.

“I love bold colours and I think that in Effeminate Flamboyance, it matched the theme of macaronis because they wore a lot of garish, feminine, over-saturated colours,” he told The Sunday Times.

“It gave the work a very camp quality.”

While the macaronis were shunned for their rejection of English culture in mid-18th century England, Arundell said that androgynous or effeminate teenage boys still face persecution today.

We’re All in the Same Boat addresses the hypocrisy of white Australia in the treatment of both asylum seekers and First Nations people.

Arundell said he intentionally painted Captain Cook looking off into the distance while the two refugees stare out of the painting towards the viewer.

“I wanted the viewer to feel uncomfortable and create that feeling that they have some sort of responsibility, or can create change themselves,” he said.

Both of the highly detailed works took “an hour or two each day for quite a few months” to finish, according to Arundell, who thanked his Year 11 and 12 art teacher Ms Kiri Moore for her support.

“The workload in Year 12 was very heavy,” he said. “It was very stressful, but she gave me a lot of emotional support and was always there to talk to and get advice.”

The runner-up in the Year 11-12 category of the 2020 Lester Prize said he loves painting.

“It’s my favourite thing to do,” Arundell said. “It’s therapeutic, it’s a way to express myself.”

He hopes to pursue a career as a full-time artist after finishing the three-year course at RMIT and recently started selling clothing painted with his designs via his Instagram page.

Arundell was disappointed he was unable to return to Perth for the opening of Pulse, but was delighted to be part of the exhibition.

“It feels great,” he said. “I was so excited when I found out. It’s great exposure.”

The West Australian Pulse 2022 is at the Art Gallery of WA until July 24.