Alas, we missed getting this up in time for the opening of the show (welcoem to the world of Guatemalan internet – or the lack thereof!), but it looks like a great one! Crew / Cuts will be on for two weeks and you should get down to see it – RAWHIDE is one mad collaboration between two talented artists, acting as one!
"Adelaide staunch and fertile duo, Ankles and Smile, of the rollin’ Rawhide crew, return to the gallery in a follow up to their debut exhibition ‘Frontier’ last November (editor, see my website for pics). Friday, 29th March, sees Rawhide present their second show, ‘Crew Cuts’ featuring new work in cut paper.
Ankles and Smile’s own collage work predate their collaborative vandalism as Rawhide, so they’ve put our paint rollers down for the moment to combined forces in paper collage, the least popular artform known to man.
The work aims to be the visual equivalent of sample-heavy scratch DJs such as Cut Chemist, Kid Koala and The Avalanches. It is a time-consuming, yet therapeutic process digging through crates of pre-1970s magazines and books, removing type and image from their original context and rearranging it to form some self-referential narrative."
Check out the video for the show below!
Who: Rawhide (Ankles & Smile) What: CREW / CUTS Where: Magazine Gallery, 83a Hindley St, Adelaide When: Show opened last Friday 29th of March, and runs for two weeks – head down and see it before its over!
Last year saw a great collection of artists at GTNBZY, and this year is no exception – we’ll let the press release do the talking!
"It’s Fringe season again and GTNBZY is back with their next ‘Fringe Dwellers’ group art exhibition and music showcase – ‘Outside the Box’. Upstairs at the Light Hotel on Saturday the 2nd of March, ‘Outside the Box’ combines visual art with the local hip hop scene and will showcase fourteen exhibiting visual artists, two live visual artists and seven of Adelaide’s emerging hip hop acts.
A varied collection of artwork, all following the ‘Outside the Box’ theme of creativity will be displayed from 7pm, featuring artists Alex Gilchrist, Jelena Vujnovic, Dabman, Dan Adams, Donovan Christie, Fletch, Joel Sanders, Josh Muller, JPEG, Kevin Rumbelow, Luke Trevorrow, Munki, Nick Strutton and Pip Cocciolone. As a part of the exhibition Dan Adams is exhibiting his own custom vinyl toys which will be painted by each artist, and local art heavyweights Donovan Christie and Luke Trevorrow will also be providing a live painting demonstration using aerosol and acrylic mediums on the balcony outside during the exhibition, courtesy of Clinic 116. Entry to the exhibition is free before 8pm, and $10 from 8pm onwards.
Following the exhibition, ‘Outside the Box’ will transform from art-space to music venue, showcasing a broad and talented collection of local Adelaide performers. As well as performing, 2011 Hilltop Hoods Initiative winner Koolta will host the night alongside The Kid, with additional performances from Til the Break, Foreign Correspondence and Elapsed Time. DJ’s Chaps and Antrax will round out the night on the decks."
Looks like another great event from a great crew, who have a lot of experience in putting on some fine assed art events! Head down and see it for ourselves next week!
Who: Alex Gilchrist, Jelena Vujnovic, Dabman, Dan Adams, Donovan Christie, Fletch, Joel Sanders, Josh Muller, JPEG, Kevin Rumbelow, Luke Trevorrow, Munki, Nick Strutton and Pip Cocciolone What: GTNBZY Outside The Box Group show & Event Where: The Light Hotel, Adelaide When: Saturday the 2nd of March from 6pm, entry to the exhibition is free before 8pm, and $10 from 8pm onwards.
Ironlak and Published ArtHouse presents Linz, Reals, Sofles, Meks, Sauce, Tues, Vans the Omega & Treas in ‘Veil of Anonymity’.
From the press release “The title ‘Veil of Anonymity’ is somewhat ambiguous in itself. While graffiti artists seek to be seen and appreciated, there is often a disconnection between a writer’s nom de plume and their personal self. Masking their identity in an effort to maintain a ‘Veil of Anonymity’ from prying eyes.
In a national first, the Australian Ironlak Family have come together to exhibit new works at Published ArtHouse – 11 Canon St in Adelaide for what will no doubt be a truly incredible showcase of talent.
The opening reception runs from 6-10pm on Friday 1st March. And the exhibition will continue on Saturday & Sunday between 11am- 6pm.”
Ironlak – Veil of Anonymity Exhibition flyer
Who: Ironlak family (Linz, Reals, Sofles, Meks, Sauce, Tues, Vans the Omega & Treas)
What: Veil of Anonymity
Where: Published ArtHouse – 11 Canon St in Adelaide
When: Opens 6-10pm on Friday 1st March runs through to Sunday 3rd March at 6pm.
As you know, we do all the stuff here on the website without any real expectation in return, but there are costs associated with it all … so if you’ve ever wanted to directly help support us, now’s your chance!
First up is the classic Invurt T from Pierre Lloga – Pierre did this one for us prior to the Outpost Project up in Sydney, and its the shirt we have rocked the most over the past two years – big fans. Available in colours, as well as in both Pullover and Zip up hoodies.
Second up, is of course, our now logo from the man himself, Hancock (also check out @hancock_art on instagram). This is the same graphic from both here on the website, as well as on all of our stickers and other swag – we love this design! Also available in hoodies, yep!
The third shirt design, is from the hand of our friend Mikaela Jane (@mikaelajane on instagram) – we haven’t released this logo before and this sees its first outing! We love her custom type and we love our orange on purple (though there are other colours available also)! Yep, there’s hoodies available as well!
Lastly, I have actually gone through and put a whole bunch of my own personal artwork on a bunch of shirts as well – okay, so not Invurt related, but I hope you think there’s some cool designs of some creatures, nonetheless!
Anyways, head over to Redbubble to see them all and thanks to Hancock, Pierre and Mikaela Jane for their designs – and, again (regardless) to you – for reading and for all your continual support!
Well, without a doubt one of the busiest galleries last year was Espionage Gallery, and they’re back for the new year with a new show already!
This one looks pretty interesting, we’re not too familiar with Filthy Ghost, but if that flyer is anything to go by … well …
“The Filthy Ghost Presents: Dead Birds, Fresh Juice. A Solo Exhibition by Duncan Berg The works chronicle a year of travels through parts of Asia and time here in Australia by The Filthy Ghost,aka Duncan Berg. Originally hailing from Wisconsin, North America, this will be the first solo exhibition here in Oz.”
Head down to Espionage Gallery tomorrow night to see it all for yourself!
Who: Filthy Ghost What: Dead Birds, Fresh Juice Where: Espionage Gallery, Suite 1, Level 2, 93 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA, When: Show opens Thursday Jan 10th 2013 from 6pm and closes : Jan 21st 2013
We don’t often post too much news here on the website, so please excuse this break from our regular services.
We’ve been slightly remiss with some of our updates lately, due to the fact that we’ve been hell busy on a variety of different projects. We do apologise for this, as we haven’t had much time lately to get to everything we usually would – but, it’s all for the better! Amongst things here and elsewhere, we’ve also been helping Dean Sunshine out with his upcoming book launch, moving our studio and, wonderfully, we’ve just entered into some new territory with a great collaborative project with out friends over at Nothing To Nobody magazine … so, read on!!
We’re pretty excited about this one, and we’ve been looking forward to sharing it with you properly for a while now.
For some time, I’ve harboured a wish to begin a print magazine. I’ve been writing and editing about art, music and general creativity for well over ten years now in various forms and for various different avenues, and starting up a print project has always been the dream. Given that it’s a huge endeavour, I had never gotten much beyond the planning stages for the project I had in mind (which is still bubbling away!).
By a random chance catch-up conversation at Secret Walls in Melbourne, Jo Jette from Nothing to Nobody fame told me of a project she’d begun working on – it sounded great, we talked some more, and, long and short of it, I’m now the Editor for our new print venue – Damn It! Magazine.
"DAMN IT! is a triannual, 96 page, limited edition magazine, whose staff work for smiles, mainly as we can’t afford to pay them yet! Instead we put every cent we have into the publication, so that each issue will kick the can of the previous one.
We’re firm believers in the spoon full of sugar mantra, DAMN IT! magazine features juicy articles on super talented peeps – illustrators, photographers, typographers, painters, couture designers, writers, and other creative types as well as reporting on the more serious happenings in the world.
Each issue will also shine a Bat-signal on some of the amazingly selfless work done by caring peeps setting up and running not-for-profits all round the world. We’re not afraid to put our money where our damn big mouths are, and we pledge to donate $0.50 from each copy of DAMN IT! sold to the not-for-profit we feature in that issue.
The name DAMN IT! was chosen as the expression can have both positive and negative connotations. For example: “Damn it! That’s some good cider!” or “Damn it, I just trod in a pile of ginareinheart!”
We’d Love Your Help
Myself and Jo Jette have been working on various magazines, online publications and print magazines for over ten years. On our first foray together into our new project, we are looking for a little help to get us started with our own. We have started a campaign over at Indigogo, and we are looking for a few generous donations to kickstart the whole thing. This is a long term project for myself and Jo, and we’re really looking forward to it. Damn It!, like Invurt and Nothing To Nobody will be a labour of love, and any help thrown our way would be hugely appreciated and would mean a lot to us both!
DAMN IT! Will always remain limited edition so it’s special – a collector’s item if you will, and we also promise to limit the number of advertisements to 5 per issue – never more. By helping us raise the money to print DAMN IT! you’ll also be a part of making these great things happen – you’ll be part of the DAMN IT!! community and not just a ‘reader’. Plus you’ll have our never-ending thanks and undying love to keep you warm at night!
Of course, we don’t expect something for nothing, so incentives include a whole range of great swag – issues of Damn It! Magazine, toys, custom designed Damn It! t-shirts by prominent Melbourne artist Hancock and apparel from our good friends Boy Wolf are all up for grabs when you throw us your support.
After two years at our Prahran studio, we’ve packed up and headed over to Richmond to join the guys over at SafeHouse Studios. If you haven’t heard of Safehouse, well, chances are you probably actually have!
The crew at the studio have been responsible and had their hands amongst a huge range of shows and events across Melbourne since they all got together, and comprise some of Melbournes leading design, aerosol, printmaking and art project management talent. Dangerfork, It Stands Out, Graffix Creative, MT Design, MV Communication and DJW Creative all have homes at Safehouse, and now so do we …
"The SafeHouse is based in Richmond. We are a creative studio that specialises in design & art-based productions.
SafeHouse is not only a collective of artists & designers but also a mixed lolly bag of creative businesses. The Studio encompasses many traits and individual insignias of various art, design & production facets. All involved at the studio seek to benefit as a group from each others experience & knowledge as a whole. Through our mixed specialties we are able to hit the ground running with virtually any creative project or artwork at hand.
The individuals who work from the studio and/or operate their own creative businesses all come well trained in their respective fields. As a whole the SafeHouse is on the forefront of modern art & design. SafeHouse prides itself on strong design aesthetics & also professional project management, brillant production & outstanding results. We have a proven track record of getting what needs to be done, done… with the best possible outcome & in the timeline provided.
SafeHouse is a sanctuary for various urban designers & artists that have chosen to infuse their skillsets & work together for a greater creative community based calling.
The people that make up the SafeHouse team all come from different backgrounds and their skills include: Creative Management, Design, Web Design, Animation, Art Direction, Advertising, Campaigns, Strategy, Marketing, Guerilla Marketing, Branding, Brand Strategies, Photography, Fine Art, Illustration, Exhibitions, Product Launches, Product Promotions, Exhibition Curation, Furniture Design, Signage, Shop Fit-Outs, Fine Art Murals, Graffiti Murals, Graffiti Management, Printing, Fine Art Printing, Screen-Printing and the list goes on, and on, and on."
We can’t tell you how happy we are with our new home – we’re looking forward to our stay there, and looking forward to bringing you more news, events and other cool shit from our studio mates.
Great times ahead, all, thankyou for your continuing support!!!
Ah, we do love ourselves a great fkn customised toy show, and, as always Espionage Gallery puts on one of our favourite types of shows in the best possible way – we’ve seen some of the hints and previews, and damn this looks good!
"Espionage Gallery has invited 41 of the best artists from Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Argentina to modify, customise, paint and decorate 41 Blank Munny Vinyl Toys. This is one of the BEST exhibitions to showcase at the gallery this year."
As far as we are aware, this is the first toy show from Espionage, and damn, but they’ve done a great job at assembling the artists involved! Some great names in there – head down this Thursday to check it all out!
Who: Joshua Smith, Gary Seaman, César Zanardi, Rebecca Murphy, Cameron Brideoake, Creature Creature, Michael Duncan, Luka Va, Nic Bic, Fredrock, Fletch Cuts, Donovan Christie, Caitlin Millard, Peter Fong, Lilian Choo, Scatterbrain, Lampin, Elita, Alphamanta, Chris Edser, Sam Barratt, Ali Harmony Brown, Sally Jo Cook, Claire Wee, Trent Lambert, Mustachio, No Hope, Rem, Dave Court, Backyard Jesus, Michael Carney, Tiernan S, Hex 1, Tiff Rysdale, Julian Lee, Daniel Purvis, Lucas Croall, Kat Coppock, Shane Haddy, Jerry Pendleton, Alyshia Eming What: Unboxed custom toy show Where: Espionage Gallery, Suite 1, Level 2, 93 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, (entrance off Lindes Lane, next to Zu Shoes) When: Opening Night Thursday October 18th at 6:00pm til 10pm
There is no other place we love in the city as much as Blender. Home to a multitude of our friends and a bastion of amazing talent, we find ourselves spending a lot of time there in the company of more than welcoming community of artists. This veritable fortress of creativity in the heart of the CBD is lead by a man who has, over the past few years, helped and promoted the Melbourne street art scene, and emerging artists, in more ways than can be counted – Adrian Doyle.
Over the past year, Jacob Oberman has been putting together a documentary, Subtopia, on Doyle, Dark Horse Experiment and, of course, Blender Studios. This is awesome.
"Adrian Doyle is the dynamic face of the urban art world in Melbourne – part artist, part academic, part entrepreneur and part social activist. In 2001 he set up The Blender Studio as a co-op for artists and street artists alike. The old warehouse has become a hub of Australia’s finest practitioners. He runs an enormously successful council program that gets ‘young punks’ to stop doing graffiti and instead ‘beautify’ the walls of Melbourne. All this is on top of his own art that is increasingly obsessed with the suburbia of his upbringing. He’s not sure if he loves it or hates it but he has such a deep fascination with it that he’s doing a PhD studying the aesthetics of suburbia. Doyle frustrates and excites the art establishment in equal measure. Many see him as a breath of fresh air, while others regard him as a pushy kid with a runaway ego.
Doyle’s fiancé and business partner Piya is the brains behind the highly successful Melbourne Street Art Tours that operates out of the studios. With street art now the top tourist attraction in Melbourne, the couple have continuous media attention that has placed mounting pressure on their lives. Their latest venture is a gallery called Dark Horse Experiment, a partnership with the Dickerson family, scions of the traditional art world, in an effort to bring wealthy collectors to street art.
With multiple projects on the go, can Doyle manage to balance his bohemian lifestyle with his super strict fiance and the maelstrom of his fractured existence?
Created by Adrian Doyle, Jacob Oberman, Piya Suksodsai, Renegade Films, and ABC"
Definitely a unique look at Melbournes art scene with this one, and a unique insight into Doyles world, as you can see from the preview below.
Subtopia: The Myth Of Doyle is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in both Australian street art as well as the struggle involved for artists and creatives struggling to do new and exciting things with art.
Who: Adrian Doyle, Piya Suksodai & Jacob Oberman and a whole swath of friends, artists and Blender denizens! What: Subtopia: The Myth Of Doyle Where: On all TV screens across Australia When: Screening Tuesday 11th September and Tuesday 18th September at 10pm on ABC1
You know those times when you sit back, casting your mind back to older walls, and go "man, whatever happened to …", well, the guys at Espionage Gallery have done just that – digging into the past and bringing out the new. Well, they never went away, thats for sure, they just evolved – and what a group of evolutionary brilliance this show looks set to be.
"In a time before facebook and instagram began, street art existed on the walls, streets and signs of Adelaide.
This was a time when street artists remained secret, anonymous and didn’t have websites. In the late 90′s/early 2000s just before the stencil craze of the early 2000′s in Melbourne, Adelaide was the breeding ground for some of the best sticker and stencil artists in the country.
Espionage Gallery now presents: Oldschool, A Retrospective Exhibition by some of the most prominent sticker and stencil artists from the late 90s/early 2000′s."
A collection of some of Adelaides old school finest, indeed – head down and check it all out!
Who: 8175, Aesthetic Activism, Blotchwoman, Cadet, Cloak & Dagga, Dlux, Draw, J2K, Kab 101, Konsumterra, Koven, Lone Wolf, Monk, Rah, Solo, Subvert, Sync What: Oldschool – a Retrospetive Exhibition Where: Espionage Gallery, Suite, 1, Level 2, 93 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA, (entrance off Lindes Lane, next to ZU Shoes). When: Show opens Thursday September 6th at 6pm
We’ve all heard of 80s parties, but an 80s exhibition just takes it to the next level!
One of our favourite newcomers on the block, These Walls Dont Lie will be laying down some serious 80s panache this week with their newest group show – aptly titled "Whatchu Talkin’ bout Willis!?" – ha! Great name …
"We’re going ‘Back To The Future’. So come on down and have some ‘Good Times’ and see ‘What’s Happenin’ at These Walls Dont Lie Gallery and bare witness to the ‘Different Strokes’ Adelaide’s finest artists have to offer including established and the ‘New Kids On The Block’.
So, get out of ‘The Breakfast Club’ and join the ‘Culture Club’, come on the ‘Excellent Adventure’, ‘Wear Your Sunglasses At Night’ and get ‘Footloose’.
But whatever you do, by all means ‘Don’t Put Baby In The Corner’!"
We like a little humour injected into our art, and we reckon that this will have a fair dose of it – along with, we hope, a shitload of popular icons that we all know and love! Err, if you’re an 80s child, that is .. and, if not, well, get ready to learn!!
Who: Store, Joshua Smith, Fletch, Rem, Donovan Christie, Dan Withey, Seb Riebolge, Scatterbrain, Cadet, Tom Borgas, Cohen Gum, Duncan Berg, Gary Seaman, Tiff Rysdale, Rebecca Murphy, Sione Bouts, Eli Francis, Mark Mcdonald, Mustachio, Angus Long, Nick Strutton, Demize, Cameron Brideoake, Mady Stentiford, Lindsey Bryant, Alex Gilchrist, Fruzsi Kenez, Joel Sanders, Peter Fong, Chris Barnes What: Whatchu Talkin Bout Willis group show Where: These Walls Dont Lie, Rear 8 Unley Road, Unley, Adelaide When: show opens Thursday 30th August, 6pm til 9pm
Shows that feature typography based works have always been a favourite of ours, and we always enjoy seeing new ones crop up.
This time, however, its Adelaides turn to hit the letters and rock the walls with them as These Walls Dont Lie presents Spoken Word. Over twenty local artists are involved in this one, and with such a large diversity of styles there is guaranteed to be something for everyone.
Not only that, but there’s also shitload of live music in the offering as well, with Koolta, The Kid, Teaz and CJD on the mic with some rhymes.
Letters, art and hiphop. Fkn rad.
Who: Dan Adams, Chris Barnes, Donovan Christie, Pip Cocciolone, Sam Evans, Jayson Fox, Alex Gilchrist, Gobles, Luke Hosking, Angus Long, Munki, Mustachio, Alexandra Palombi, Kevin Rumbelow, Joel Sanders, Roger, Joshua Smith, Nick Strutton, Rem, Scatterbrain, Tarns, Luke Trevorrow, Russell Freer, Dabma What: Spoken Word typography group show Where:These Walls Don’t Lie, Rear 8 Unley Rd. Unley When: Show opens Thursday August 9th from 6pm til 9pm and runs til August 19th.
Shit is totally going off over in Adelaide these days, its scene is absolutely pumping – and that’s not just due to SALA festival being on this month!
Speaking of SALA though, Cold Krush will be holding an event this Friday night, playing host to one of our favourite Adeladian crews – MS, or the mainstays. We’ve seen a heap of their work coming out from over the past few years, and couldn’t be happier to see them getting up inside the walls – because they’re going to smash them just as well as they do the ones outside.
"Cold Krush Store/Gallery presents ‘Group Dynamics’. A visual art exhibition forming part of the SALA Festival featuring new works by members of the Adelaide based graffiti crew The Mainstays.
The Mainstays (also known as MS) formed in May, 2007 when like minded members of Nasty Arts and Rock City Funk decided to amalgamate. The crew is not limited to SA and has since recruited an interstate member, Quas from Queensland. While staying true to the core traditions of the movement, MS does not like to be pigeonholed, with this in mind you can expect to see an extremely diverse body of work.
Thanks to Molotow there will be a live graffiti art demonstration during the opening. There will also be t-shirt giveaways courtesy of Scribe Apparel and two of Adelaides finest Hip Hop practitioners – DJ Snair and Dialect, will be providing the tunes for the evening."
So fucking good – live art, tunes, and mad shit up on the walls – what more could you possibly want for a Friday night?? Head down tomorrow and see it all for yourself.
Who:Jumble, Tarns, Orbs, Typer, Tomb, Nme, Dkae, Chek, Quas What: The Mainstays group show Where: Cold Crush Store & Gallery, 109 Unley Road, Unley, SA When: Show opens Friday 10th August from 6pm til 9pm.
There are many artists who would belong in a “top [insert number here]” list of graffiti artists in Australia, and it would be no surprise to us if Vans The Omega featured in a majority of them. His work is sublime, forward thinking, tenacious and quite often tinged with massive hints of visionary thought. He has a show on this weekend, and if you’re in Adelaide, its a must see.
“Joel Van Moore has been long-consumed by the bountiful allures of wanderlust. Gracing surfaces across the planet with vibrancy and colour, the artist also known as Vans The Omega has received warm acclaim on the global stage of Graffiti Art.
A milestone event in this artist’s career; PLUTONIC RELATIONSHIPS will be the first solo show in his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. This exhibition is devised to expose the underlying nuances of soul and contemplation that are fused within Vans The Omega’s mindscape, manifested through an array of expressions and forms.
In his own words, PLUTONIC RELATIONSHIPS “is a visual footprint of the myriad of human emotions and conditioning we face within every moment, reverse engineered through sacred geometric visions, textures and soundscapes.”
Hosted on the walls of ABEO’s studio space on Unley Road, PLUTONIC RELATIONSHIPS is a must-see event for the expansive observer during 2012’s SALA Festival.”
Last year SALA brought us a great variety of art and we wondered what would top it – this show, and others that we’ll be sharing with you in the next few days, may very well have.
Awesome.
Who: Vans The Omega What: Plutonic Relationships solo show Where: ABEO Interior Design, Studio 4/235 Unley Road, Malvern, SA When: Show opens 6:00pm to 10:30pm, Friday 3 August, and runs for the duration of the SALA festival.
Check out the website for Vans The Omega for more info on the show and the artist.
Ah, Espionage Gallery, bastion of so much that is good and right about the burgeoning Adelaide emerging art scene – and, again, as always, they have something pretty cool in store for us with their next show.
"down from the sun up from the ground on land and in sea domesticated or free fur & fins scales & skins alive the world over, but in our minds they begin.
Animalia gives life and stories to the elusive creatures that are born from the mind of Emmaline Zanelli.
Espionage Gallery Proudly Presents : animalia, the first Solo Exhibition by Emmaline Zanelli. Emmaline’s illustrations have to be seen to be believed. Intricate line work creates weird and wonderful creatures by this young artist."
We have to admit, we weren’t too familiar with Emmaline Zanellis work until we saw news of this show, but having checked out her work we will definitely be following both any images we see of this show, and her work in the future.
We wish we could be there, but if you’re in Adelaide, you do – so head down there tomorrow night!
Who:Emmaline Zanelli What: Animalia solo show Where: Espionage Gallery, Suite 1, Level 2, 93 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA When: Show opens Thursday 2nd August from 6pm til 9pm
Several weeks ago, we got wind of a new project that was being put together by Coopers (admittedly, one of our favourite brands of amber liquid) that was featuring legendary Chicago artist, Pose. Of course, our curiosity was most definitely piqued, and we decided to see if we could track the man down and get a little more info behind his recent visit down here to Oz for the Life After Dark project.
Pose is well known for his craft across the world – starting out in his native Chicago, he crisscrossed the gamut of experiences that a graffiti artist working within a notorious anti-graffiti city had to deal with. From the illegal work of his youth, and his many hours spent honing his style against the adversity that comes with territory, to now being a name prominently acknowledge amongst global art circles, there is no doubt that he is an influential and integral part of the global graffiti community – a perfect fit for a project such as this.
"Inspired by Australia’s night owls, the underground and those that rise at the demise of daylight, Pose’s Life After Dark installation is a world-first in street art, handcrafted using luminous paint that literally comes to life after dark.
The Chicago-based artist collaborated with the country’s largest remaining Australian-owned brewer, Coopers, to create the unique artwork in celebration of their cult dark brew – Coopers Dark Ale.
Similar to how Coopers Dark Ale is handcrafted using the finest ingredients; Pose’s Life After Darkinstallation was handcrafted using a collection of special ingredients including the debut use of luminous UV paint. By day the installation appears to be a blank canvas, yet transforms by night to reveal an eclectic mix of images reflecting Australia’s creative and artistic underbelly.
From conception to completion, the art installation handcrafted in Coopers hometown of Adelaide, was months in the making before being shipped to Melbourne for display. The Life After Dark installation pays homage to the night’s musicians, mixologists, rhymers, riders, writers and midnight marauders who truly love what they do."
We were also, very happily, able to connect with Pose over the last few days and were able to throw a few questions over to the man himself about what he’d been up to in his recent stay down here in Melbourne.
Read on for a short interview we did with the man himself, a bunch of images and all the videos from the project – including the final video wherein all has been revealed!
How did you become involved in the Coopers Life After Dark project, and what lead you to painting down here in Oz?
Although Australia is on the other side of the globe from me, it’s a small world and like-minded people always have connections.
The collaborative artwork between myself and Coopers Dark Ale pays homage to the night owls and underground communities.
We heard you used some fairly different techniques for this project, could you elaborate a little on the mediums that you used that made the piece unique?
Yeah, this was my first time ever using invisible UV paint, and I’m pretty sure it never been used for a campaign like this as well. So there was a ton of experimentation and a ton of challenges, but as they say the greater the risk the greater the reward.
It was really tricky cause I’m used to using really bold one stroke mediums for my line work, like black spray paint on a white wall or black animation paint on a white surface. For this you are essentially painting blind in daylight, the UV paint is basically white and I was painting my line work on top of that with white paint.
Needless to say, it was a crazy experiment but payed off well in the end.
What was the most challenging aspect of this project for you, and even within the confines of the brief, were you able to sufficiently imbue the project with enough of your own creative spark to keep you happy? Is this ever a challenge for you when doing commercial projects?
It can be really challenging doing commercial work if a client is heavy handed with their feedback or agenda. Many times they don’t really understand that its way more successful and authentic to let me do my thing rather than me being their hired help. I don’t mind doing commercial work if I’m hired to do my thing and I dig what the clients about, its when they want me to fake my style for their thing that it gets into murky water.
That said, I really enjoyed working with Coopers because they let me do my thing, and were totally open to things I thought they might be scared of. For a 150-year-old family brand to tell me to just go for it, was insane. Also, I really dig the brand and how they approach their craft, so the whole thing was killer.
Were you able to get much of a taste for Melbourne culture whilst you were down here? What were your impressions of the city, and how did you enjoy painting in Fitzroy during your visit?
Although my time was short I did get to hook up with local friends, eat well, paint, run around and party so I had a blast.
Overall, I was blown away with the scene in Melbourne, Not just the Graff and art, but the food, street fashion and overall attitude was rad. I felt right at home with everyone I met and completely energized by the scene, I will definitely be making it back out soon.
Now that you’ve returned home to Chicago, what’s next on the agenda for you, and what projects will you be hitting up?
Way to much to mention but as far as gallery work, I am trying to wrap up a bunch of commissions and am working on a solo show with Sanrio/Hello Kitty at known gallery for the release of the “Hello Kitty Hello Art” book, as well as two man show With Revok at Jonathan Levine Gallery, which will be epic.
Such a great addition to the Melbourne graffiti and street art presence. Check out the final video from the project above, as well as the Life After Dark website – and a big thanks to Pose for his time!
Invurt webzine provides information on AustralAsian street, urban, illustrative, graffiti and other genre defying, nu-contemporary art to readers around the world. It specialises in events and artists who are working, displaying and visiting Australasia – particularly with a focus on exhibitions, live art and other events the artists are partaking in.
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