According to one critic, Brack's early works captured the idiosyncrasies of their time "more powerfully and succinctly than any Australian artist before or since.

He made an initial mark in the 1950s with works on the contemporary Australian culture, such as the iconic Collins St., 5 pm (1955), a view of rush hour in post-war Melbourne.

Set in a bleak palette of browns and greys, it was a comment on the conformity of everyday life, with all figures looking almost identical.

Most of these early paintings and drawings were unmistakably satirical comments against the Australian Dream, either being set in the newly expanding post-war suburbia or taking the life of those who lived there as their subject matter.

In the 1970s, Brack produced a long series of highly stylised works featuring objects such as pencils in complex patterns.