Brisbane-based artist Cosima Scales presents Lantern Focus, a new solo exhibition exploring the quiet beauty of everyday life through observational painting.
Initially inspired by the interior of her parents’ home, Scales found herself increasingly drawn to the small and often overlooked details that populate familiar domestic spaces—paper daisies, textured glass, colourful fabrics, backyard flowers and the soft illumination of everyday objects. These observations became the foundation of a body of work that celebrates attentive looking and the extraordinary qualities of ordinary moments.
The exhibition title references the concept of “lantern consciousness”, coined by psychologist Alison Gopnik to describe the broad, curious attention children bring to the world before perceptions become shaped by hierarchy and expectation. Through expressive brushwork and a balance between representation and abstraction, Scales translates this spirit of curiosity into painting, inviting viewers to slow down and rediscover the richness of the everyday.
Since completing a Master of Visual Art (Research) at the Queensland College of Art in 2018, Scales has exhibited widely across Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. She was a finalist in the 2020 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and presented her solo exhibition Personal Cinema at the New England Regional Art Museum in 2025.
Image: Red bed glow 2026, oil on board, 50 x 75 cm
