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A painting hangs on your wall with a hand creeping slowly along it, red droplets following close behind. The hand comes to an edge, fingers holding the side of the canvas. A trail of red painted letters follows: “Don’t forget me...” scrawled beneath, a message to an onlooker unknown.

The canvas has been created over the last year and is now being presented to the City of Townsville as part of a Youth Art exhibition. Taking on the role as Curator for tonight’s exhibition entitled Give us a Break, is Shane Keen.

Shane was an inspired artist at school, and art was his best subject. He recognised the amount of talented young artists in Townsville and their inability to express their creativity to the public. Realising that there wasn’t an outlet for young artists to show their art, the idea of a Youth Art Exhibition came about.

“It is near impossible to get a chance to show you artwork in a professional environment, “says Shane.

Shane is in his final year at the Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE, and is about to receive a diploma for Visual Arts. Being accepted into TAFE gave him further ambition to pursue the opening the exhibition. He decided to apply for a Youth Art Grant and was successful in his application. The process then began of gathering photographs of art from a selection of Townsville schools.

“Every week, Alex Castorina and I went to schools putting together a portfolio of youth art in Townsville by taking photos,” says Shane.

Shane and Alex slowly sifted through the photos of artwork and finally narrowed them down into 30 pieces of art from 25 young artists. The artists were then invited to partake in the exhibition and each had to prepare an artist’s statement. Their statements will appear in the exhibition booklet along with a photograph of their artwork.

“For many of these artists it will be their first exhibition,” says Shane.

The whole idea behind the exhibition was to give young people a chance to exhibit their artwork in Townsville. The exhibition gives young people a chance to be recognised as artists. With only one art gallery in Townsville, the opportunities to exhibit artwork in a gallery are limited.

“So I took the initiative and decided to do something about it. Give us a Break is about helping young artists to take the next step,” says Shane.

Showing his art at the exhibition is Aaron Richardson. He is also studying at the Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE. His artwork has been created over the past eight months and the majority was completed at TAFE. He feels pride in showing his artwork in a professional environment. “It is good to be acknowledged as an artist,” he says.

While completing his final year of TAFE, Shane has been doing a lot of work with the gallery in preparation for the exhibition. He has been constantly busy with writing letters to the artists, completing the booklet for the opening night, and preparing the space for the exhibition.

"The title of the exhibition 'Give us a Break' is self-explanatory," says Shane. "The Youth Art exhibition is a social commentary expressed through visual art which enables young people to have their say."

“I want people to see youth’s opinions and views.

“Young people feel passionately, they don’t really get the chance to have an opinion. The art is the young peoples opinion, it is there social commentary,” says Shane.

Shane wants to pursue a career in the arts and has the ambition to open his own art gallery one day. The whole experience of putting together and finally opening an exhibition has been a huge learning experience for him. Working with the gallery on the exhibition, he has received lots of training in the arts, which has helped him get vital professional arts practice. The exhibition is a one 'off-event.'

“I want to hold more exhibitions. It just depends if I get the support to hold more. I guess I will see what the future brings,” he says.

Two years of hard work and persistence has seen Shane Keen’s vision of opening his own art exhibition become reality. The exhibition will open tonight at 7pm on the top floor of the Perc Tucker Gallery. Invitation is by RSVP only.

“Anyone can do art if they want. Do not be afraid to put your art forward. Other people’s opinions do not matter. It is what you believe about your art that counts,” says Shane. Although mellow about the opening night, Shane is excited that he is able to finally give a voice to the voiceless and give the youth of Townsville a break.