There is, however, another part of the tour – and that is a very special screening of the documentary "Kroonjuwelen". This is a chance to see the origins of graffiti not only in Amsterdam, but also the beginnings of a variety of styles that swept across Europe.
"The Calligraffiti Upside Down Tour’ is happy to present at the Rooftop Cinema in Melbourne the first ever screening in this part of the world of the Dutch documentary Kroonjuwelen (Crown Jewels), about the history of graffiti in Amsterdam, from the punk days in the 70’s and 80’s to the roaring train bombing times of the 90’s."
"Melbourne’s a street art capital, but so is Amsterdam, which since the late 1970s has been a canvas for graffiti legends including Rhyme, Shoe, Delta, Again, High, Zap, Quik and Dr Rat."
This is seriously old school, and is a perfect continuation from Shoe’s show tomorrow night. As there will be limited seating, you should probably go and book a ticket now so you don’t miss out!
Who: Rhyme, Shoe, Delta, Again, High, Zap, Quik, Dr Rat and more What: Kroonjuwelen (Crown Jewels) Documentary Where:Rooftop Cinema, On top of Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne City (Between Little Bourke and Lonsdale Streets) When: Doors open 8:30pm on Thursday 2nd February (enough time to get there after the show!)
Check out the Kroonjuwelen website for more info on the movie, and the Calligraffiti website as well.
This is one of those rare times we post up something about a photographic exhibition – but we have absolutely no qualms about this one. Girls Got Kicks looks to be not only a great night of entertainment, but there will be some luscious imagery from Cheech Sanchez of kicks and chicks, oh, and there’s street art in the too – and who doesn’t love that whole combination?
"In her first-ever solo show, Cheech Sanchez presents a series of photographic portraits of female sneaker enthusiasts taken exclusively for the recently released international sneaker book, Girls Got Kicks. The photo series has since developed into a unique snapshot of female street culture in Melbourne. Juxtapozing feminine curves against the graffiti-laden laneways and back streets of Fitzroy and St Kilda, the exhibition is set to throw a bright spotlight on an otherwise elusive group of uniquely Melbournian women.
The opening night – hosted by Melbourne’s very own sneaker queen, M.A.F.I.A. – also acts as the official Australian launch for the book Girls Got Kicks (by Lori Lobenstine and Amanda Lopez -www.girlsgotkicks.com). The first ever photo documentary of badass female sneaker heads, Girls Got Kicks bursts with portraits and stories as rich and varied as their ever-growing sneaker collections. Cheech Sanchez is a multi-disciplinary creative, tattoo enthusiast and sneakerhead from Melbourne, Australia. Spending her formative years in Sydney in the early 90s, she was introduced to graffiti and rave cultures as a young teen. These two cultures continue to influence her life and work every day, and form the basis for her personal goal to spend each day doing what she loves. Recently crowned Miss Illustrated Pinup VIctoria 2011 and completing a Bachelor of Design (Interior/ Industrial Design), Cheech’s relentless pursuit of her next big creative thing is seemingly never-ending – even she isn’t quite sure what she might try next! www.cheechsanchez.com.
A renowned sneaker freak and hip hop junkie, M.A.F.I.A. has been killing it on the wheels of steel for over 10 years. Growing up at the height of Hip Hop in the ‘70s/‘80s, she became FLUORO BREAKER after falling in love with Boogaloo Shrimp in Breakin. Here began her love affair with sneakers – no thanks to her brother’s obsession for all things adidas. Collecting kicks since the age of 13 (we’re talking 1985!) she quickly became known as one of the world’s most prolific sneaker connoisseurs. In 2007 she joined the infamous team at Sneaker Freaker magazine, and with a strong respect for the brand, she introduced and welcomed a roster of high profile artists, musicians and VIPs to the magazine. To top off her love of all things street, she’s also perhaps Melbourne’s hardest working female Hip Hop DJ, having supported and toured with everyone from Stevie Wonder, Missy Elliott, Spinderella, Ghostface Killah, Dizzee Rascal, Snoop Dogg and so much more! www.yomafia.com.au"
Fuck yeah, girls, kicks, graff, laneways, portraits, tunes – oh yeah, this will be totally mad! Oh, and we also just read a really fantastic interview with Cheech over at Profile Pub – go check it out!
Who: Cheech Sanchez What: Girls Got Kicks – Portraits By Cheech Sanchez Where:The Vic Bar, 281 Victoria Street, Melbourne When: Thursday 2nd February from 5pm, show runs until February 29th
In the second part of our small feature of photos from our Sydney trip the other week, we have a bunch of walls that we saw on our wanderings.
We really enjoyed our time up there, celebrated two close friends union and caught up with a bunch of others, briefly met a few new artists and had a chance to see a few things we hadn’t had a chance to see before.
So here’s some new stuff, some old stuff, some iconic stuff, some hidden stuff – just a snapshot, as it is …
These days, there are plenty of great shows on in Perth – and this year we’re betting that there’s going to be some crazy cool shit going on, like this one we saw the other day from tattoo, graff and illustrative artist Mike*D.
We contacted Mike the other day to get a bit more of the lowdown on his show, and not only did he tell us a bit about it, but he was kind enough to send us a few preview images as well.
"In these works I’m exploring the aesthetics usually found in the realm of arts. For the past few years I’ve been involved in the art of tattooing – being surrounded by art all the time is awesome, and it has also exposed me to lot more imagery.
The work is what I’m finding enjoyable to produce at the moment. Pieces range in medium, some are acrylic on board, lead pencil on books. Then there’s aerosol and paint marker on denim, and some water colour and inks on paper."
Who: Mike*D What: Dermographic solo show Where: Kurb Gallery, 310 William Street, Northbridge When: Show opens Saturday the 4th February from 6pm, exhibition runs til the 10th February (The gallery is open between 11am and 3pm)
Check out Mike Ds blog over here, and get down to the show!
We’ve had a quiet start to the year with the Transmissions column, we skipped last week as there weren’t very many videos released. However, it feels like we’re back into it and we have a bunch of video for you this week, so without further ado …
It’s not Australian, but we thought we’d end this weeks Transmissions with the preview of the documentary "Getting Up: The Tempt One Story" – we can’t wait to see this inspiring movie.
Whew. That’s all we have for this week, we’ll be back next week with more!! If you have any videos you’d like to send through to us, just hit us up with an email.
Artist Niels "Shoe" Meulman (NSM) has pursued many different variations of creativity throughout his life; graffiti artist, calligrapher, advertiser and gallery owner – yet it may be now, brush in hand, that he has truly found his niche.
Growing up in the Netherlands, Shoe picked up a spray can at the dawn of the graffiti era, writing his way into history. Meeting and befriending some of the greats of that early era, such as Dondi, Rammellzee and Keith Haring, he found himself in the unique position, (along with other artists at the time such as Bando and Mode2), of helping to guide the future direction and styles of graffiti across Europe, and, in turn, the world.
Moving away from graff in the 90s to pursue a career in design and typography, in 2007 Shoe unleashed unto the world a theory and movement of letter design that would set him on the path to becoming a full time artist – Calligraffiti.
A blend of intricate fonts with the aggression and raw attitude of graffiti, calligraffiti merged his love for typography and brash street aesthetics into a single entity. Lauded by older fans, and engendering a new generation of aficionados, it also eventually allowed Shoe to transition to yet another passion; painting on canvas.
Taking all that came before and pushing into themes and theories that were hitherto slightly restricted by his previous work with design, Shoes style and creative sojourn has truly come of age – he is a master in his prime at the beginning of a new, exhilarating journey.
When we caught up with Shoe before his flight down to Australia last week, we found him in the chaotic throws of preparation, readying for his frantic four week, three country "Upside Down Tour"
"I’ve just been getting ready for a thirty hour trip, its been pretty hectic," he remarked. "I’ve never taken a trip like this - a really, really long one, before."
So, you’ve never been down this way before?
No, I’ve never been. Though, I’ve been in contact with Puzle for a while now, he sent me that book he did about Melbourne in the 80s -Kings Way.
I do actually get a lot of feedback from Australia about the Calligraffiti stuff.
The book itself is quite popular down here …
Well, some people say that the book is very hard to come by, others say its pretty well known, I don’t know – we’ll see.
I’m working on a new book now, however, that focuses on painting and not design, so I’m not really promoting the book this time around – more the painting work. For some people, it might be a bit of a shock that its not the same thing as Calligraffiti – there are no logos and all that stuff …
That was one of my questions actually – you’ve been focusing primarily on your painting lately, and you’ve shifted a lot away from the design aspect with your work, haven’t you?
True. I stopped working at my job in advertising and I also stopped freelancing as a graphic designer. It was a bit of a transition, once I’d decided to stop and become a full time artist, but I had to be fair to myself. If you make that choice, then you have top go all the way, and I really want to give art my all. Plus its so much fun, and its been pretty successful too.
I mean, I did a tour of China a few months ago …
I read about that …
Yeah – I also had a show in LA called "Throw Ups" where I was throwing paint at canvases, and it felt so much like me - that it just had to be like that. Just, canvases. Nice linen paintings and all that – so I found the direction I wanted to go in, and at the same time, and its becoming more abstract.
Its a lot less restrained in many ways from what you were doing before, isn’t it?
Well, I guess if you work with calligraphy, or letters and text, then of course you have to think about what text you’re going to write. Even if its just one word, just "Shoe" for example, then there has to be some meaning behind it. if you don’t have a meaning to start with it will take on a meaning, of some kind, So about two years ago I started practicing, with my hand, just the basic calligraphy stroke. Doing it over and over again. Just the repetition there has a lot of meaning in it for me, personally.
It’s the search for the perfect stroke, in a way, and stroke are sometimes like people, none of them are perfect – they’re all different ..
That sounds very Japanese/Sumi-e in nature – always looking for that perfect stroke.
Yes, it is. I didn’t really set out for it to be like that, but now that I’m really into it, it is like that. Of course, calligraphy has always had a zen like connection.
Is your art at all a meditative thing, and do you find yourself in that zone fairly often?
Well, I feel very distant from everything to do with meditation. I’m not that type at all. However, a good friend of mine, Rebecca Mendes, a designer and artists in LA … we were talking about mediation, I told her I’ve never done it in my life. She replied that I probably don’t need it, because I’m in a meditative state ten per cent of the time.
I’m the kind of person that can look out a window and be totally blank – then snap out to it. Maybe that’s my kind of meditation – that’s just a theory, really, but I like it.
For sure, each to their own – I think it comes in many different forms – I definitely think that art lends itself to those meditative states, no matter how chaotic it can often be producing it.
It may be because the actual work and act of putting the ink on the canvas doesn’t really take me that long. Most of the time the work has been done beforehand. I’ve thought about it, envisaged it, in my mind, and then I can just go ahead and put it down – and its right or wrong. I either keep it, or throw it away.
Interestingly, I read a quote from you that leads back into that, you said "the moment you write something, its already designed."
True, true. You know what you want to achieve. There is a lot of room for impulsiveness and there is some room to move, but in a way you already have a vision in your head, you’re just trying to make it like that image. Sometimes the outcome can be even better than what you had, and that’s and that makes me really happy – sometimes you’re just like, fuck! I fucked it up! But, the more I’m doing it, the more confident I feel about letting go, that it doesn’t have to be like the picture in my mind. There’s always improvisation as well. I guess the more you become, say, like a master, the more you can play with improvisation – but I guess that goes for anything creative, whether its acting or music or whatever.
You’re in a good position though, because you’ve worked on the letterform for so long – you obvious dabbled in the painting on the side previously, but it wasn’t your primary practice …
Exactly.
That’s kind of a great thing, because you have all of that work behind you, so that you can explore something entirely new.
Right. If you work at a certain trade, graphic design, making ads, or even designing a chair, its a trade. You can try to be really good at it … but if you invent your own realm, your own rules as a artist, then its pretty easy to be the best at it in the world – as you’re the only one doing it!
[laughter]
Do you feel like you’re heading in that direction with your painting?
Of course. A lot of painters and people will say, it reminds them or this or that painter, and I like that, because I like the tradition behind painting. Sometimes there’s a remark like "hey, its drippy" and then you’re the new Pollack, or if its calligraphic, it could resemble Japanese calligraphy. So it does tie in to certain traditions, and I guess I just named the two most important ones for me – abstract expressionism and calligraphy.
Well, you’re from a country with a very rich history of classical art – there has to be a lot of influence and ideas coming to you from that?
That’s certainly the case. It’s only recently, in the last few years, that I’ve embraced it. As I was exposed to it so much in my youth, I guess I thought it was all a bunch of crap. Maybe I was just an angry young teenager! m
My parents weren’t really taking me to museums all the time, but they were showing me things. I also had the Van Gough museum round the corner from my where I grew up … but its only recently that I’ve become interested in it all. I recently took a trip with my girlfriend Adele, who I also work with, we went to some galleries in Venice and Switzerland – it was such an eye opener. Its a great thing to help reinvent modern art, and to not look at it from a distance, but to be a part of it.
That’s something as well – we often get our fix of art from the internet, small images, and we see its in books. I guess a lot people have only seen your work like that, wider world small designs and photos, and stuff like that – it must be a nice feeling to just paint, and to have a real, painted physical representation of your work and to expose new people to it – is that where you’re at with this tour?
I really think so. In the beginning, back in my early graffiti days, there wasn’t a wall big enough – "too big a wall" just didn’t exist. The bigger the better. I still paint like that.
I’m not scared of any surface, and that’s the graffiti attitude. You attack your surface, whether its a ten meter tall wall, or whatever. I’m always looking forward to doing that. The size, the bigger the better .. but then, also, having done logos and logo types, which have to be pretty …
Concise?
Yeah. For example, designing newspaper print, or a stamp or something – there is so much detail goes in to it. So, there’s a real range between the really small and the really big, and, with my paintings, I think that those come together. I think a very big painting should also be looked at from a really short distance, just to see the detail, its really all about the detail.
You have the splashes and, maybe, the less though of happy accidents, but I do think that abstract paintings are all about the details. People always say "you have to stand back and get the whole picture", but there’s a lot of stuff you should be looking at really close up.
Well, in one way or another you’ve been working towards all of this for over thirty years. In that time, how much of it has been right place right time, blind luck or pure chance?
That’s a really good question, actually. If I think back to how many random chances and things have helped everything to turn out this way … its really incredible. That there was a gallery, the Yaki Kornblit gallery, just around the corner from where I grew up, where I met all those early 80s New York writers. Or the fact that there was a big punk scene in Amsterdam, and people would be writing their names, up, well,the two didn’t have anything in common. I felt like writing my name on the wall, but i didn’t feel like a part of the punk movement. Then all these New York guys came along and I just realised that that’s where I wanted to be. Then to be able to go to New York and meet Dondi again … I was so lucky to be part of that world wide phenomenon.
Then I kind of distanced myself from it all in the 90s. I thought it was time to move away from it and move into design, and then I decided to start my own company. From there I went into advertising … until suddenly, out of the blue, I didn’t feel like doing it anymore – I just wanted to paint. So, as it turns out, I did this huge exhibition, without any funding, I put my life savings into it … and I sold everything. I thought, "fuck, this is where I want to go!"
I guess, like you … you have the website and other things. If you can be free, have your business, paint a lot, support yourself, well. That’s the dream … and some of us are living the life much more luscious than I am! I’m not selling my work for 20 grand – but hopefully I’ll get there.
Also, I have the gallery in Amsterdam, Unruly Gallery …
Did that spin off from your previous agency?
Oh, I’ve had the name for a while. I keep the name, and I then change the company! It’s also become a silk scarf brand.
Really?
Yeah, if you go on unrulygallery.com, you’ll see some art, of course, but you’ll also see some scarfs.
It’s a project I started a few years ago.
That’s an interesting one?
Of course, t-shirts are shirts – everyone does t-shirts, but I always felt like those plush silk scarves were for old ladies, you know? They were so beautifully made, Versace and Hermes and all that, but they just had such bad feel about them, and I wanted to do them differently. Now Hermes has a graffiti scarf as well – not done by me, sadly … but I’m sure they got their idea from … somewhere …
[laughter]
I have no problem with that, though, we all do it.
The gallery is in an interesting neighbourhood, isn’t it?
Yeah, it’s a nice place. It used to be squatters only, junkies, but like the whole world … a bit less anarchy since the 80s, hey?
Well everything has become gentrified, but I guess that maybe the good thing is that those anarchists now probably have jobs, and get money they can use to buy the art by the same people they loved to see up on the walls.
Oh for sure, I’m not complaining, everything changes. But if you see some old photos of the chaos that the city was in back then, well, I’m sure it was the same over there – its the nostalgia of the 80s.
So, speaking of the tour, how long are you actually down here for?
Its going to be a very compressed trip. We have four cities in four weeks. I’m in Sydney first, then Melbourne for a week, Auckland for a week and then to Singapore for a week.
Then I’m off to London to present a women’s shoe that I designed with a brand called United Nude. Then, I’m back in Amsterdam for a week and then off to San Fran – I’ll be doing a show with the guys at White Walls Gallery.
You know, I feel like I’ve read so many interviews with you, and I feel like you’ve been asked so many questions before about what you’re doing, and what you’ve done – but what else are you thinking through at the moment in regards to your art?
Well, I can tell you something that’s in the process of being worked out in my head …
You’ve probably seen the repetitive strokes I’ve been doing. Well I’ve always felt that there’s something there I want to keep pushing, and trying to shape it in different ways. I guess I was right, too, because I keep doing it, and I’m getting more and more specialised in it.Then other things suddenly became important, the structure, paper, the type, the width – and, what does it stand for? it can stand for a lot of things .. but I came up with a title for it; for the blocks. They could be i’s without dots, or repetitive un’s, or just n;s … but .. I’ve named it "Justified Scripture."
I guess it really has a double meaning. Right now I believe that whatever you read or what we see in the news, well, it could be true or not, and we don’t really know.
For me its became more and more realistic that you never actually know if something is true or not, and, that it doesn’t really matter if it is or not. If it is, like I said in another interview, with truth, also comes untruth, so there are always two sides. So, that’s the justified. It doesn’t matter what the story is – there are stories, and what’s behind those stories, often, is text. Another part, is that it is about the monks. For centuries, the Bible was the only thing that was being written …
The illuminated manuscripts – some of those are quite beautiful.
Yeah, I have nothing to do with religion, I think most of its a load of crap and i leave it alone. Yet, some beautiful things were made into the name of religion …
… and destroyed.
Yeah, that’s right. So, that’s the scripture. Usually the word "scripture" is used to describe the Holy scripture, but it also refers to the monks. I’m sure that those monks, writing away in their dark monasteries, must have been in some kind of drug like or meditative states, and I feel connected to that. Also, the blocks, they can remind you of a cemetery or a military parade, or a bookshelf with books stacked on them. It stands for all the stories that are being told – some of them are true an some of them aren’t – you just don’t really know which is which.
Okay, it’s a bit vague maybe …
No, not really, I get it.
That’s good!
At the end of the day, all of this just proves to me that there’s really something there; something I can keep on going with for a couple of years, at least …
Cobalt 60. Lizards. Cheech. If those names don’t ring a bell, then you sure as shit need to go and do your research, and do it now.
"For two generations Mark and his father Vaughn Bode have forged an artistic legacy that has had a profound effect on graffiti, street art and underground comics.
In the mid seventies, the iconoclastic Vaughn Bode’s comic book characters, particularly Cheech Wizard resonated so closely with the revolutionary spirit of pioneering graffiti artist that these characters were adopted as the mascots of the movement, becoming the first used in graffiti.
In recent years Mark Bode, an accomplished graffiti artist, tattooist, illustrator and writer, has stretched the horizons of the Bode universe beyond imagination, creating several cult classic comics, perhaps the best known being Colbalt 60, which is currently slated by Zac k Snyder for a live action film.
Bode is also something of a nexus for the world street art and graffiti art scene, the heir to the first graffiti characters, a genuinely positive visionary and a backbone of the community he has painted murals around the globe with an extended family consisting of the most respected graffiti and street artists.
For “Bode in Oz“, In FebruaryMark Bode will be taking a 2 week tour of Melbourne and Sydney, painting murals with Australian artists and exhibiting a collection of original work along with the performance of a CartoonConcert in both cities."
Cartoon concert? Fuck yeah.
Personally, I’m hugely excited about this. Both Mark and his father had a major impact on my early interest in graffiti and comic books – Junkwaffel and Cheech were some of my first comic book loves, I loved his sprayed up lizard murals and tributes to his father, Vaughn (the first one I saw him do was in Subway Art) and his work with Eastman and Laird in the original (and the best) TMNT comic book series (seriously, Bode characters and Ninja Turtles?) absolutely blew my mind.
Gone and done your research now? Good. Now its time to see the work in person. If you have even a vague interest in comics, graffiti and street art culture, which we know you do if you’re here, then you must go and check out these shows.
Who: Mark Bodé What: Bodé in Oz tour
Melbourne.
House Of Bricks (around the corner from Backwoods) 40 Budd St, Collingwood, Vic Opening. Saturday 18th February 6-9pm Running from the 19th Feb – 4th March
Sydney
China Heights Level 3, 16-28 Foster St, Surry Hills, NSW Opening, Saturday 25th February 6-9pm
CDH, a Melbourne street artist, recently sat down for a chat on behalf of Invurt with Harold Mitchell, philanthropist, business man, Melbournian of the year, and the man behind the highly anticipated and acclaimed Melbourne Underground project …
Harold Mitchell is one of Australia’s most successful businessmen. He is a dedicated philanthropist, serves on many arts and cultural boards and was named Melbournian of the year in 2011. In preparation for the interview, I read his autobiography ‘Living Large’ from which you quickly get the sense that he’s a quick witted and relaxed guy, but also a shrewd and resilient businessman.
When I arrived, he was reading in the waiting room. He was wearing matching red tracksuit pants and jacket, which was reminiscent of Ali G. Friendly and jovial, he immediately started cracking jokes and was just easy and disarming. He’s quite the opposite of the Donald Trump persona you might expect; he’s warm, open minded and considerate.
He recently dedicated his underground car park in South Melbourne to a graffiti art project: the Melbourne Underground Project. 90 artists have been invited to paint the three levels. International artists Ces and Nash were flown out for it. It’s similar to the five level car park project at the base of the Condor Tower in Perth, except the focus here is more on graffiti writing rather than street art.
When I ask if it will be repainted, in keeping with graffiti art’s urban renewal ethos he tells me “We won’t repaint it. You wouldn’t repaint the Sistine Chapel”. It’s a distinctly different approach from many other similar projects around the world. The intention is for the car park to serve as a permanent street art gallery in Melbourne. However after the opening weekend, once the novelty has passed, what will really happen? It seems more likely the large metal roller doors at the entrance to the car park will close and for the next thirty years the only people that will venture down there will be drivers going to park their cars – but this is precisely what is genius about the idea! The car park will serve as a time capsule for urban art from Melbourne, 2012. When people rediscover it in thirty years, it’s likely the majority of the urban art of 2012, on the street, will have been lost; tagged into oblivion, repainted by new artists or buffed by councils. It’s exciting to know that this cultural artefact will be preserved for future generations to be able to see original street art from our time, not just photographic catalogues on the internet. We will withhold a review of the space until it’s fully complete, but the concept at least is really inspired.
In the waiting area of his plush South Melbourne office, Harold has a copy of Banksy’s ‘Wall and Piece’ mixed amongst a variety of other magazines and books.
Oh, I have this book too. What do you think of it?
Harold: Oh it’s a good book. In fact I think we might make a book out of the Project Underground as well.
Can you tell us a bit about the project?
Harold: Yeah, well it’s a great story. One of clients (we have 2,000 clients in Australia; we’re Australia’s biggest advertising company) said to me at one time that the new building was fantastic, the staff were very pleased with it, aesthetically it looked good but he mentioned there weren’t enough car spaces for clients. So I walked down there. I owned the building with my family but I’d never been into the car park. Why would I? I walked in there and I thought he was right, and by the way this is really boring.
[Both laughing]
We run a whole host of things in advertising and creativity. I went to one of our companies who have a lot of street art on one of their own walls and said ‘Can you go and do something about our car park?’. They were really busy because they’re very successful.
Who is that?
Harold: Visual Jazz. They said ‘we’re really busy’ and I said ‘that’s great’. We want to be busy for our clients but we better do it some other way. I still thought it was a great idea to do it. I knew I wanted an Australian base to do it. I knew at the back of my mind, we’d been involved with Musée du quai Branly, which was a new museum that Chirac had put together in Paris. We had eight indigenous Australian artists who had contributed something to become part of the building. It’s a five or six storey building. It’s part of a very big museum. It’s within a kilometre of the Eiffel Tower. Our family had paid for the eight Australian artists to be part of that building. They are giant representations of their work. They didn’t actually paint them, but their designs were taken, copied and then became part of the building. And so that project was partly what we had in our mind, as something that will be permanent. I went there when Chirac came in it. To Stéphane Martin, their director, I said ‘This is great. It’ll be here for 20, 30 years.’ Stefan replied ‘Harold it will be here for 400 years.’ The point is the permanence of it.
So, I had that in the back of my mind. I said to one of our people, Anthony Charles (he’s very good at organizing things) we should organise the Project Underground to get Australian street artists to do it. I thought in the beginning there might be ten who would come and do something. In the end it took off, and we have people from all over Australia, 3 from Europe and 2 from New York. When you look at it, you’ll say ‘this is spectacular’. It’s permanent. It is art directed to some extent, so they fit together. It’s generally themed, but you’ll see that and work it out for yourself. We then quietly organized it over a period of about six months. We planned for three weekends in the month of January for the cars to be cleared out. It would follow from there that they would complete it. They all got so excited, meeting each other and getting on with the work that it was over halfway completed by the end of the first weekend. We had some publicity as a result of it, which we had expected, but it just took off in the beginning. We had to close all the doors because we had buses of people coming up wanting to have a look at it.
I came early to have a look at it, but it was all closed.
Harold: Well this is three floors. When you see it you’ll be blown away. And it’ll be permanent. Forever. Fabulous. And I didn’t tell them what to do or what not to do. Probably wouldn’t have got the best people to do that. Also they’ve respected it. It’s graffiti free pretty much around South Melbourne. These people respect that. They have got interesting backgrounds. One guy is an illustrator for Walt Disney and Marvel comics. Good people. Very exciting. It’s an expression of modern times, from people who respect modern times. It’s our way of being able to contain it, without it being up and down alley ways, which we’re not entirely opposed to if it’s approved and ok. This is a good way to do it.
You have an impressive record of supporting the arts in Melbourne. You’re a very highly regarded member of the community and served (among other things) as Chairman of the NGA, President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, President of the Museum Board of Victoria, and as a board member of the Opera Australia Council.
Harold: There’s a lot of other stuff too.
[Laughing] I’m just hitting the highlights. Now you’re supporting street art through your Project Underground. Are you giving your endorsement to street art in Melbourne?
Harold: Where it’s legal, approved and proper of course.
But not in the case of unsolicited street art?
Harold: Never. Never. Where we can do it in a way that’s contained and appropriate we shouldn’t control it absolutely – but there’s some that I’m appalled with because it’s in inappropriate spots. After the first weekend we painted the carpark, we had someone who wasn’t one of the participants do a couple of signature pieces up one of the laneways here. I was appalled.
Tagging, is that what you mean?
Harold: Yes, tagging. I was appalled. It had disappeared within an hour. We knew who it was and he’d been spoken to. I thought it was inappropriate. How disrespectful of his fellow street artists, I would have thought. Here’s something that’s going to be looked at and enjoyed by many people and also relatively contained so it’s appropriate. One of the street artists goes to an alley way near by and just starts to do that. So that’s where I’m at – but as quickly as I decided to do this, I even quicker decided to paint over someone who had done something wrong.
Just to push this a little bit further; some street artists prefer to work illegally. So if an artist does something without permission, does that automatically make it vandalism? Does that mean it has no artistic merit or cultural value? Can it not be art?
Harold: Yes. It’s wrong. As far as I’m concerned it’s vandalism. I dealt with this tagging immediately.
Regardless of the quality, it makes no difference?
Harold: It makes no difference. We understand and respect that people want to be separated from society and make a statement. We understand that Banksy wants to do his in a way so that overnight secretly he arrives and the next morning there it is. Clever.
But in Banksy’s case, that would be vandalism then?
Harold: I wouldn’t say that. I think he probably knows where he’s doing it and it’s appropriate and right. I wouldn’t pre-judge Banksy. I think he just wants to make statements in his own way. So this is a project where we would like to know that Banksy was there. So we’ve left the premier spot right at the beginning free. And a sign will go at the beginning ‘left free for Banksy’. That’s the way we think we can approach it. He may come in one night and do it. He may not.
You obviously admire Banksy. So if Banksy came along and left something in the laneway, instead of in this free spot in the car park…
Harold: I wouldn’t want it. I’d paint over it straight away – but where I’ve left a spot for him, I’d accept it. So that’ll be an interesting challenge to see if he wants to do that. What do you reckon?
Ahh, I think he’s a pretty busy guy.
Harold: This is one of the biggest street art installations in the world, in one of the most creative cities in the world right now. It is an economic strong point with people who are very comfortable with their life and who they are. Where else would you do it if not Melbourne? I’m chairman of the MSO. We’re just about to lose of chief executive. He’s 42. I specially picked him from Houston. I wish him well and allowed him to accept a job as chief executive of the New York Philharmonic. How good is that? It’s exciting for everybody. For him, for Melbourne, for New York. That’s where Melbourne is. Banksy doesn’t want to come here, that’s ok with us.
Well he’s been here. Hopefully he’ll come again.
Harold: This’ll just be too much for him. I don’t know of anywhere that will look as spectacular as this. That is as encompassing of it and arguably has the best street artists all there. We got the guy from Perth with all the silver in his teeth (Stormie Mills), wonderful bloke.
You said in Living Large that you never stay too long in public roles …
Harold: Yeah the Opera is the exception. I was the Chairman of the museum for five years or so. National gallery, five years. I think what happens is the enthusiasm you bring creates success in the beginning, that wanes over time. Then you should help pick the person who will replace you and get out of the way.
So will street art advocacy be your new philanthropic public role?
Harold: No, no, no. I’m not adopting street art as the new religion for me. I’m turning a very boring car park into one of the most exciting car parks in the world. How good is that? I’m done with car parks now. I’ve only got one. I’m grateful to the street artists of the world for turning a boring car park into a place people want to go to. I guess people could hold parties in there. I know we’ll open it on the weekends from time to time for people to bring their kids in. So we should. I’m happy with that. Our staff talk about it. I’m happy about that. They bring their mum and dad and kids in. Probably a grandfather. Street art is exciting. You wait until you go and look at it all together.
I’ve heard street art described as a way of bringing art to the people.
Harold: Well that’s because it’s out in the streets, I suppose,but galleries are free. I think it’s just an expression of people in a different way. We’re sitting here with some of the greatest street art in the world. My office is filled with some of the greatest indigenous painting in the world. When you go to our office down the street, there’s a guy Tommy Watson. Tommy is 69 years old. Probably the greatest living Aboriginal artist. His artwork is expensive but they’re an expression of what he felt and did. They would paint those often on cave walls and in the sand. Over the last 30 years they’ve put them on more solid formats – but that was an expression of 1000 years plus of Australian indigenous people. What is street art but an expression of individuals? When you see what people have done it’s incredible. They’re all clever.
Melbournes street art is generally ranked among the top 5 cities in the world, while most of the ‘fine arts’ (the MSO, the Australian Ballet, Melbourne Opera) are considered mediocre in their respective fields on the world stage. Street art is inherently egalitarian while the fine arts are often labeled as elitist. Street art generates a lot of positive economic externalities in the form of tourism and adding to the liveability of the city. And yet the fine arts are subsidized to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year by the taxpayer while street art is actively hindered by the state government.
Do you agree that there is a funding imbalance here? If so, what can street artists and our advocates do to redress this situation? So for example, how do we get to a situation where there might be state grants available for endeavours like your Project Melbourne Underground?
Harold: I think you need to put the arts into perspective with regard to public funding. It’s largely funded by the people. It’s not like Europe where it’s largely funded by government. Here it’s largely funded by private enterprise and the sale of tickets.
I actually have the data here. This is the public funding given to the arts by the Australia Council in 2009-2010 financial year. So for example orchestras were subsidized by the tax payers to the tune of almost $50M by public funds.
Harold: About a third of their operating cost. It’s half what happens in Europe. I just completed a major review for the Federal Government. So what’s your point?
When other branches of the arts are subsidised like this, why isn’t their funding for legal street art projects? How can we get to a situation where there are similar subsidies for things like your Underground Project?
Harold: But why should there be?
Why should there be tax payer subsidies for the MSO or the Australian Ballet? Why these selected arts and not street art? I feel like street is stigmatised by this bad publicity and it means it doesn’t qualify for arts funding like other fields.
Harold: I don’t agree with that. I’ve been sitting here for a week with people enjoying this street art in my car park and no one has said to me ‘this is bad’. Everyone has smiled every time they thought about it. No one has expected anything other than that this would be done by the people and funded by the people (ie, I’m one of the people).
But you’re not the people – you’re a private person who has ponied up this cash for this one project. I think it’s a great project. I love that you’ve done this – but why aren’t our civic institutions supporting street art in Melbourne? Why is it just private individuals who have to do everything?
Harold: Happens all the time. You look at the arts and dig right into it and find all the individual philanthropy that no one talks about. I won’t talk about my own case, but I have been supporting individual artists in many places all over the world. It’s wrong to pull out something where over a long period of time society has wanted ballet companies, orchestras and it would have been very hard for them to get started and so government decided that they will assist the people and the culture by giving support. That happens in many different ways. You could contrast symphony orchestras with the fact that a greater sum of money is paid to support the orchestras, bands and musicians in our defense forces. They receive a greater support that our symphony orchestras do. No one seems to have a problem with that. It’s part of the way society is.
I don’t know that street artists actually want their help.
I think many street artists would take financial assistance if it was offered. I don’t think all would but I think many would.
Harold: I’ve dealt with them up closely. They’ve given their time and their effort beyond what you’d imagine. We’ve met some of their costs. Project Underground will come in at a quarter of a million dollars. That’s ok. They all understand that we pay for the airfare of international people coming in. That was a good thing to do. So I don’t believe that the tax payers dollar needs to support many other things. Then taxes just keep going up. Society doesn’t want that to happen. They vote people out who do that, so it just doesn’t happen. So you’ve got to have a balance. Australia has to continue to have a very good policy of helping ourselves. That’s not helping ourselves to the tax. That’s just helping ourselves. There are so many places where you would see the arts supported by the people. You can pick out some examples of symphony orchestras which are supported. Now it’s a very minor amount of the total amount that finally gets used to run the organization. I don’t believe that street art needs government taxpayer support. Equally I’m pretty certain that the street artists don’t want it. They’d do this anyway, because they do. You won’t get me going on that one.
By the way, you were wrong about the standing of Australian cultural groups like the Australian Ballet. The MSO is about to be invited to play at the Edinburgh festival. Not a bad effort. The MSO played the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg; one of twelve orchestras in the world that went there in 2001. My family paid for it, that’s how I know that. This is what I do, so I know.
By the way, in 1901 Australia had the highest per capita income in the world. Over the next seven years we bought over one third of all the great masters paintings that were ever sold in the world. One third. They are down the road in the National Gallery of Victoria.
But there’s no Europeans or Americans coming to Melbourne specifically to visit the NGV. Not when they have the Guggenheim, Moma the Louvre or the Tate just down the road – but a lot of tourists do come here for the street art. Tourist guides rank it as the number 1 free tourist attraction in the city. It’s a draw card.
Harold: I’m not sure how you balance my comment I just made about the NGV. Not a bad effort is it? A lot of people from the northern hemisphere don’t understand that the southern hemisphere is here. I run Australia’s biggest advertising company. We’re less that 0.3% of the world’s population. We have 5% of the world’s advertising. We have the largest per capita advertising in the world. You try to tell that to someone in New York. What? Where? Didn’t you win the America’s cup? It’s the dilemma of who and what we are down here but we’re very comfortable with ourselves.
Separate things have emerged here like the comedy that grew out of comedy halls thirty or forty years ago. They all did it for nothing. Around here we had a recording studio. Johnny Farnham used to record here. South Melbourne was the home to some of our greatest advertising people. They’d work for next to nothing. That’s the way that art works. I used to drive Peter Carey to work why? Because his wife had the car. One of our great writers, who won the Booker Prize many times over. You don’t need to subsidize great creativity because history has shown that it has never happened. Equally because it is invasive of society it needs to be handled with great care. I’m respectful and in awe of street artists and equally respectful of society and the fact that they want order in the streets. I think I’ve got it ok in my head anyway. I don’t want tax payers to have street artists in streets where they shouldn’t be. And I’m pretty certain, nor do the street artists.
When we had the one isolated incident of one street artist using out alleyways to tag, you know what happened? They told us who it was.
One of the other street artists told you who it was?
Harold: Yes. They weren’t happy. Not a bad effort is it, on behalf of all the people you represent. They understood it. One out of all the people there; he just wanted to make a statement. Who was unhappiest? The fellow street artists because they see the project as being so good. It’s one of the best things to ever happen to street art. We just have to work out how the people are going to get to see it. I had a boring car park. Street artists are incredible people. I’ve given them an opportunity to prove how credible they are.
Melbourne is not usually considered the best city in the world for street art (compared to San Francisco, Berlin or Sao Paolo) but it’s not far behind them. In fact pipping many of these cities to become number one seems well within reach. What would it be worth to Melbourne to be at the head of an art movement? Not just in economic terms but in cultural terms as well.
Harold: No, I’m not getting into that one. If I encourage it as a destination because of street art it means that more of our streets will be covered with it. If the Melbourne City Council organises it, and says it’s ok, then I’m ok with that – but I think the Underground Project will have added to pushing us up the ladder. It’s 3 floors. Someone will copy it soon enough. Just to see the excitement of the people doing it, when they were doing, it was fabulous. Three floors of these people, just being so excited and talking to each other as they do it. We supplied them with a big box of spray paints. I said to one of them ‘You’ve probably never had anything like this.’ He replied ‘No it’s fantastic’. I am just in awe of how they do it.
I don’t know how they found them all, we had one guy who decided upon the artists and organised them all.
We will have a whole bunch of photos from Melbourne Underground when it is all released – for now, you can also check out some previews on the Just Another Agency blog, Kompound and Everfresh! We’d also like to note that Sirum and Esky had a big hand in helping to curate the artists for the project, and they did an amazing job at that – kudos!
Not too long ago we took ourselves out to Cocoa Jackson Studios to have a bit of a look around, visit Junky Projects and to see first hand what him and his crew have been up to in the past few months with their new studio space. Somehow we hadn’t quite been able to get out there since they opened their doors late last year, and we were pretty amped for our visit.
The building itself is located just off Lygon Street in Brunswick, nestled in the historic Cocoa Jackson laneway, named after a local boxing legend. As we walked up the laneway, we were impressed by an already great array of artwork on its external doors. As we arrived, Junky Projects greeted us from a roller door on the second floor of the building and we headed up.
The main ground level floor is pretty expansive – well and truly enough room for all kinds of functions, events and workshops. Bits and pieces of artwork adorned the walls, as well as several privately owned pieces and others still up from their opening show.
The second floor, where the studio spaces themselves are, was even more impressive. You can tell that these guys have put a lot of work in bringing an old, dilapidated industrial warehouse up to scratch. The second floor has some great studio spaces, nicely partitioned and clean, some with views out over Brunswick towards the city. As an added bonus, there are also several large storage spaces.
Beyond the studio spaces there is the private office and kitchen areas – it’s all been ingeniously put together with recycled materials. For all of that though, it doesn’t feel like some kind of throw-together, there has been a bit of thought put into it – hell, one of the walls is even made out of an array of timber beams, giving it a beautifully rustic appearance.
After a couple of beers, we headed back downstairs to take a look at the walls outside – some really impressive work, and its nowhere near done yet, "plenty of space for more art" Junky remarked.
Cocoa Jackson is still a relatively new space, but its brimming with potential – having heard some of the plans for its future, we’re pretty excited. As it is, it stands several artists have already moved in, or and the studio areas are all ready to rumble. We absolutely loved this place, and having heard so much about it even before they opened their doors, it was a great feeling to see it at what is only the start.
Studios are available at Cocoa Jackson and if you’re looking for some space in that area, then this new hub for street art and creative practices in Brunswick could be a perfect spot. We really can’t wait to see what shows, events and artists Cocoa Jackson has in store for us.
For over thirty years Niels Shoe Meulman has plied his craft across the world – traversing design, calligraphy, graffiti and painting. Yet for all the places visited and travelled to, it is only now that Shoe is making his way down under – and it has the look of one epically cool tour. He’ll be hitting up four different cities and several galleries whilst he’s here, RTIST Gallery in Melbourne, Kind Of Gallery in Sydney, Wedge Gallery in Kinokuniya (Auckland) and Dominic Khoos 28th Février Singapore. As a special added extra, there will also be a screening of the Dutch graffiti movie, Kroonjuwelen, at Melbournes Rooftop Cinema during their visit.
We recently had the chance to chat to Shoe himself for an upcoming interview, so we’ll let the media release do the talking on this one – if you’re unfamiliar with Shoe’s work, read on as to why these are a handful of shows that you don’t want to miss!!
"Niels Shoe Meulman (NSM) is a Dutch artist, born, raised and based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. As Shoe, NSM earned his stripes in the global graffiti scene in the 80’s through his pioneering style, adding a distinct European approach to the discipline. In the 90’s NSM trained with Dutch graphic design guru Anthon Beeke, ran the award-winning design studio Caulfield & Tensing, worked as an art director for the BBDO Group and as creative director for MTV Europe. In 2007 NSM made the decision to focus on his art again. Publisher FHTF, Berlin, published Calligraffiti, the Graphic Art of Niels Shoe Meulman, which presents his own unique style of writing that combines masterful calligraphy skills with the speed and attitude of graffiti. Ever since, NSM has been travelling to spread the magic of his Calligraffiti around the globe. His recent painting style can be described as Abstract Expressionism with a Calligraphic origin.
The Calligraffiti Upside Down Tour includes exhibitions, book signings, live mural painting and lectures in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore. Rather than ship artwork from abroad, NSM will make site-specific art in each city. At all exhibitions and other events, the artist will be available for interviews, and on hand to sign his book Calligraffiti with personalised dedications.
The Upside Down Tour kicks off in Sydney, where Likeminded Studio is hosting an exhibition from 25th to 30th January at the artist run Kind Of Gallery on Oxford Street. In addition, the legendary Kinokuniya Bookstore will host an exhibition in their Wedge Gallery from 25 January until February 7, 2012. Sydney will see some live calligraffiti going up in the May’s Lane Street Art Project on 27 January.
Second on the list is street-art haven Melbourne. Fresh and fast upcoming RTIST Gallery is hosting an exhibition of NSM at their space 29 St Edmonds Rd in Prahran. And NSM will work together with local creative crew Dangerfork to make exclusive prints for this tour.
The Calligraffiti Upside Down Tour is happy to present at the Rooftop Cinema in Melbourne the first ever screening in this part of the world of the Dutch documentary Kroonjuwelen (Crown Jewels), about the history of graffiti in Amsterdam, from the punk days in the 70’s and 80’s to the roaring train bombing times of the 90’s.
Next stop is Auckland, New Zealand. Saatchi & Saatchi presents from 9 February to 1 March an exhibition in their brand new gallery in Parnell. And on 8 February AUT Art & Design School and Design Institute New Zealand (DINZ) host a presentation by NSM.
Last but not least is Singapore. We will have an exhibition at Dominic Khoo’s 28th Février, which will open on 16 February. This will make a magnificent grand finale. We are working with local studio Doodle Room. Inspired by traditional work of Asian calligraphers with brushes and water in the street, NSM will work his magic in the Singapore streets before he returns to Amsterdam."
It’s a huge tour, and it covers a lot of ground – so if you’re in any of the cities he’ll be visiting, make sure you head down to check it all out – it’s sure to be amazing.
Who: Niels Shoe Meulman What:Calligraffiti Upside Down Tour
Kind Of Gallery, 72 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, NSW Show opens Wednesday, January 25th from 6pm til 9pm Also there will be live calligraffiti at Mays Lane Project space on January 27th from 12pm.
Melbourne
RTIST Gallery, 29 St Edmonds Road, Prahran Show opens Thursday 2nd February from 7pm til 9pm and runs until 12th February
Auckland
Wedge Gallery, Kinokuniya Bookstore Show opens 9th February 6pm til 9pm and runs until 1st of March
Well, we’re back! Continuing on from last year, we’ll be presenting a roundup of all the videos we’ve seen across Oz and NZ every Thursday – and this week, there’s some pretty cool ones, so watch on …
Of course, something we’re really looking forward to this weekend is the Marvel Street Art event at RTIST Gallery in Prahran, and here’s the promo video with Sirum and Shem!
Tiger Translate Sydney 2011 sounds like it was mad fun – with collaborations between Beastman, Numskull, Creepy, Phibs & Matt Stewart (Australia), Junkhouse (Korea), Lhagvaa Enkhbat (Mongolia) and Momorobo (Singapore). Can’t wait for the next Melbourne event!
We’re not exactly sure what this is or where it sprang from, we have little information about it – but this doco coming out looks pretty damn cool! Check out the preview for it.
Next up is the fifth part of the Urban Scrawl previews, and probably our favourite that combines a lot of the elements and such from the previous ones. Watch!!!
If you haven’t heard about this yet, then you’re living under a rock – a cool little piece on the Melbourne Underground Project. WTF – Nash and Ces were in town? Damn we hope they painted more spots whilst they were here!!
Last year we told you about the whole live art paint up that happened up in Cairns for the Taste-y graff jam, and now here’s there video from the event from Ironlak!
On a sunny day just after Xmas, the Blender crew and some of the guys that paint with the Revurt project met in Union Lane to have a bit of a paint-up and refresh the street art on the walls.
Absolutely mad day, everyone had a ball and the public seemed to really enjoy seeing one of the iconic street art laneways here in Melbourne being worked on. Artists included Doyle, Repeat, Pierre Lloga, Heesco, Jack Douglas, ADi, Mysterious Al, Conrad Bizjak, Facter, Tom Vincent and many others who had already painted in there a few weeks before. Kudos to Doyle for organising the day! Enjoy the pics …
Some of the more stunning aerosol portraits we’ve seen over the years have been those done by kiwi artist Owen Dippie – there is no doubt in our mind that he is totally up there with the best of the best.
Having travelled the world painting up figures such as KRS 1, Nas, Tupac, Jean-Michel Basquiat and, of course, his famous Notorious B.I.G. portraits, he’s now putting on a show in his home town, and inviting a few of his friends along to join him in it.
This is a great chance for anyone up near Mt Maunganui in NZ to see a world class graff portrait artists work – if you can get there, it’s a must see.
Who: Owen Dippie & guests What: OD & Friends Art Show Where: 2 Ashworth Lane, Totara St, Mount Maunganui, NZ When: Show opens Friday 13th January from 6pm til 10pm – and on the Saturday, there is a live graff display!
One of our favourite discoveries last year was the fantastic Chasing Ghosts blog. After having met the wonderful duo behind it at all, we asked if they’d like to put together a Top 10 of all their favourite images that they captured on their journies between Europe and Melbourne this year – enjoy!
Our top 10 shots for 2011 incorporate the city where Chasing Ghosts began, some of the cities visited on the move back to Aus, and the city in the country where we now reside. 2011 has been a lot of travel for us and we are glad to be back …
(1) This Ben Eine commissioned piece was an iconic one on Old Street East London, and even more so for us because the last place we called home was right around the corner from it and we would have to pass it every day.
(2) This building in East London was a legendary venue for art and live music. Bought out by rich business men to build a garish hotel for other rich business men to stay at, this historic place was in limbo. On a bitterly cold day in London, Milo (a Brazilian artist) was spotted injecting some light and colour onto the back of the building, reminding us that a lot of beauty will soon be destroyed.
(3) This event was massive, the grand final Secret Wars between Amsterdam and Birmingham. This shot shows both teams racing against the clock, with one member from Amsterdam taking time out to admire the skills of the opposing team. Great night.
(4) View from the top. High up in the hills in Barcelona looking down at the city.
(5) Teufelsberg, Devils Mountain, Berlin. This structure is an abandoned listening post used by the US NSA during the cold war. High up on a hill made from the rubble of about 400,000 buildings that were destroyed in WWII, the views are amazing. Eerie, dirty and covered from head to toe in graff, this location is one of Chasing Ghosts favourite in the world.
(6) On our return to Aus we were invited to Perth to view the solo show of one of our favourite artists, Roa. This shot was the day after the show when he was painting a piece in the Midlands. Also an accidental Montana 94 advertisement.
(7) Almost finished product of the piece, we love this location and the sky that day was particularly beautiful.
(8) Sniders Lane Project was organised by the awesome girls of Just Another Agency and hosted by Sister Bella. This shot is of some of the artists of the Just Another Collective. We were more than happy to be a part of this day and documenting these artists in action.
(9) Our first ever War of the Walls event, this shot is the winning piece by the artist El Toasto. We love home grown talent and this event was a lot of fun.
(10) This pic was taken in an empty structure in Yarraville that we came across accidently. It’s been an exciting year for us and we are sure there will be way more to come in 2012. "
Don’t forget to check out the website for lots of great photos and flickr sets of Oz street art!
As we go through our backlog, we have a few more Top 10s to come – not least of which is this great collection of images from Arty Graffarti (whose photo blog we recommend you check out!) of all the pieces he loved over November/December.
There’s some absolute gold here covering a hell of a lot of great Melbourne and Sydney street art!
Can we get a fuck yeah!? Really, the language is justified, even given this is an all ages event, it’s pretty much what we said when we first heard about it, and then said again when we saw the flyer for it. Marvel vs street art, all at RTIST Gallery?
As massive comic fans and people who have been looking forward to the Avengers movie since the first time we saw one of those bloody cryptic end-scenes on the Marvel movies, we here can’t wait for this event.
"Ahead of the theatrical release of the Super Hero team up of a lifetime – Marvel’s The Avengers – the Marvel Street Art Battle is a live Marvel themed street art event where two of Australia’s leading street artists will compete to bring the colours and characters of the Marvel universe to life.
Hosted by an emcee and supported by a local DJ, this free all-ages event is open to the public who will choose the ultimate winner of the street art battle.
Marvel enthusiasts will have the opportunity to meet Marvel comic artist, David Yardin as well as the chance to win on-the-spot Marvel prizes throughout the afternoon.
A week-long exhibition of original Marvel comic artwork by David Yardin will also be unveiled at the event."
Comics and street art have been a match made in urban heaven right from the very start, and its grand to see artists from both worlds joining forces for an event of this nature. From what we’ve heard, it’s Sirum and Shem who will be involved on the live graff battle front, and we couldn’t think of anyone better!! According to the Just Another Agency blog, Sirum has also just been signed to Marvel? Not completely sure what that e ntails,. but if it means more Sirum superhero characters on walls … Fuck. Yeah!
Who: David Yardin, Sirum, Shem What: Marvel Street Art Event & Exhibition Where: RTIST Gallery, 29 St Edmonds Road, Prahran, VIC When: Event opens Saturday 14th January, with the main battle between 2pm and 5pm, and the exhibition itself continues until the 21st of January.
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.
invurtmagazine
invurtmagazine
invurtmagazine
invurtmagazine