By TWon two girls one cup
Here are some shots from a recent project I worked on for Kiss FM, up stairs at the Lounge on Swanston Street in the CBD, where we spent the day on the roof top in the sun with GENT 48, GETO, METHOD, RACE and BLUE from SDM and ADN crew, and a big thanks to Giant for supplying the paint.
Fezwitch had a pretty big night the other night, as he opened up his first solo show “No Frills Caviar”
The man certainly has his own style going on, and his first show is as ecclectic and intriguing as everything we’ve seen on the streets. It’s on at Egg Gallery in Collingwood for another week or so, and its very much worth checking out.
Check out all the photos from our man Dave Russell below …
Last week Mark Bode returned to Melbourne for a second solo show, Ned Kelly & Other Outback Stories.
The Backwoods pop-up space was filled to the brim with Marks amazing and iconic work, gorgeous illustrations over maps of the Australian countryside – a great show from a masterful hand.
Check out all the photos from Dave Russell below!
Last Wednesday night we made out way over to Metro Gallery to check out the latest exhibition from E.L.K., Not With It.
This has to have been possibly one of the best shows of stencil art that we have ever seen – the mans technical skill is amazing, and we absolutely loved the combination of his new direction in portraiture as well as his social commentary pieces. You can read our latest feature on E.L.K. here, but if you are in Melbourne, you should head down to Metro and see it all for yourself.
In the meantime, check out our photos from the opening below!
Last Friday night we had the pleasure of attending Mikaela Janes first solo show at Egg Gallery in Collingwood. Great turnout for the show, and the work was really impressive – there were some definite favourites of ours amongst it all – and quite a few red dots to be seen!
Biggest congrats to Mikaela on her night, here’s looking forward to seeing more from her in the future – it can only get better from here.
Check out all the photos from the show below, from our always on-point camera guy, Dave Russell.
Last Thursday night we headed down to Just Another Project Space to check out Kaff-eines first solo show, Boneyard. What can we say? It was everything we had hoped it would be – fanfuckingtastic shit!
Check out all the photos below from our man Dave Russell, bringing the goods again!
Man, was that a fkn battle or what!!
Eleven and Jack Douglas faced off last Wednesday night at Secret Walls Melbourne, and paint was definitely spilt. Vying for a place in the grand final, the two faced off and painted hard til the very finish. Jack came out as the winner of the battle, but it was pretty damn close – Elevens piece was mad as!
Jacks win now places him in the Grand finals next month – and its going to be the showdown of the year!
Hancock vs Douglas, friend vs friend, crew mate vs crew mate in an epic showdown as the boys from WSW get reeeeeaaaady to ruuuuuumble! Who knows what will happen! One things for certain though, this will be a finale unlike any seen before – this shit is what great art is all about – can’t wait!!!
Check out to see what you missed Wednesday night, and we’ll see you at the finals!!
I try hard not to use too many “buzz words” on here – its inevitable, really … but, having had a chance to get to two opening of AWOL Fabric exhibition, all I can really say about this is “next fucking level” – argh, there, I said it.
On the private opening night last Thursday, I was rendered speechless All the hard work and effort that the crew had put in to create something unique had paid off; enormously so. This was a collaborative show that outstrips most other collaborative shows I have seen, and easily ranks in probably the top 10 exhibitions I have seen in my life. I’m not just saying that because I count the AWOL guys as mates (I mean, they’re all just a damn great bunch of people), I’m saying that because it is very rare that I can walk into a show and find it hard to vocalise how I feel about it. I’m saying it because it was, for me, an epiphany and a vision of what can be done with a tight, solid and experienced collaborative team.
The second night, I arrived all ready for another go at it all again – hilariously, there was a booze bus set up right outside the show. It just added to the whole momentum of the night, having that presence right outside the door – you just can’t plan that kind of shit. The venue itself, an old pump house, was gorgeous – how the hell they managed this, who knows, but there was no more fitting venue for their work. High arches reaching up, a piece from each artist framed within. Then downstairs, almost an entirely different show from above, yet without losing the synergy that the main room had already set up the stage for. It was as if upstairs was the first act, downstairs was the second act, and, the final act … well, the final act was the opening itself, and the meanderings of conversation and talk about the images upon the walls – the artists themselves, each of them a frazzled frenzy as they tried to speak to everyone at once – you could see the past few weeks burnt into their eyes, an irascible glow mitigated between joy and exhaustion.
Even now, trying to encapsulate this show in words really just doesnt do it justice. Was it the 10m mural, created by all of the crew in one brilliant montage of style? Was it the installation downstairs, jagged and edged, and yet feeling as it was merely a natural extension of the room? Was it the collaborative works, that made me feel as if I had been introduced to a whole swath of new, unique artists, “ghost” artists whose only existence in upon a canvas of work created by two or more of the artists? Was it one of my favourite pieces, a small image of a guy laying down with text by Li-Hill, which didn’t grab me immediately … until I looked closer, and saw the beautiful solar panels of a fucking soviet era inspired space station emerging from a etched mist of lines? Fuck yeah.
Was it the fact that every AWOL artist contributed to the show, and the only time I had been able to see how they worked together had been back at the NGV – which, frankly, was a great piece, but nothing next to this?
Slicers impressionistic-abstract letterforms, Adnates soulful eyes and laconic, colourful women, Lucy Lucys patterned and evocative girls, Itchs sublime surrealistic assaults, Li-Hills lines – those fkn lines! and Deams amazing geometric directions I hadn’t seen before. It was all of the above – it was fucking AWOL.
Anyways, I could probably ramble on about this show for a long time – others probably will. So, in lieu of my espousing even more shit in an attempt to annunciate how I felt about it all, and failing dismally, check out the video they’ve just put out, and then check out all the photos we got on the night … massive thanks to Dave Russell for grabbing all of these for us!
Last week saw the opening of Stormie Mills latest solo show, People & Places, at Melbournes Metro Gallery.
As to be expected, Stormie brought his “A game”, with a delectable array of his stylised, emotive characters spread across the walls of the gallery.
Something else we loved, was the “cityscape” piece that heralded the show – this piece was different – we saw something like this of his in a previous show, after he had visited Antarctica, and, we have to say, it was gorgeous and we hope to see even more of this abstractia in the future!
Check out all the photos from the opening below, thanks to Dave Russell …
What a spectacle it was last week down at the Order Of Melbourne - the first Semi Final of Secret Walls Melbourne, between Steve Cross and Chris Hancock was a smash, the room was full to bursting and there was a massive crowd.
It was a well waged battle, but in the end, Hancock came out victorious, with Steve Cross winning the crowd vote, and Hancock taking both the judges votes.
Check out the photos below …
It’s been a huge past week or so, with shows, travel and so much going on its not funny!
All that said, we’re still at it – and we got some cool shots today for you. Dave Russell, our intrepid photographer down here in Melbourne, headed down to Itchs show at RTIST Gallery post-opening to get a whole slew of shots from the show. Given the mass of people at the opening, it was no surprise that we couldn’t get too many photos of the opening night itself.
So, here’s all the work we loved best – you need to get down and check it out whilst its still on!
Some days, you see news that just runs completely counter to everything you try to work towards. We do try to steer clear of "opinion" here as much as is possible, but every so often we feel the need to do so. At the end of the day, we’re huge advocates of art and culture, especially when it comes to street art and graffiti, and we have no compunctions in expressing that – its no big secret.
This morning, when we saw Cinzah Seekayem post up the gorgeous image of a wall he painted recently we were stoked – it looks amazing. Then, we read the caption …
"I recently completed this mural on the side of a small local business in Beach Haven, was a great little wall, had permission from the business owners who had permission from the landlord also. Locals loved it, kids hung out while I painted it, stoked to see something vibrant and a little different popping up in their community! All round good responses!
Just received a phone call from the Hairdresser’s which this mural is on the side of, they had just had a visit from 2 police officers, saying one individual had complained about the mural, gone to the council and it is to be painted over, as apparently now to create a mural you have to go through the AK city council to get consent, even if the business and locals love it? WTF.
Zen hairdressers are setting up a petition which will soon be circulating, who know’s wether it will be too late or not!"
So, this is a legally painted wall, that has both the owners consent, as well as the businesses consent, the community loves it – so why, exactly, is that not enough? Why is it that a council feels the need to be Big Brother not only over the artists, but the businesses, the property owners and the local community? Is that really what council is for? What happens to freedom of expression? The mural doesn’t harm anyone, indeed, it has brought colour and vibrancy to the area, and even inspired some younger people along the way. Now, from one single persons complaint, the council feels the need to destroy it?
At a time when art on the streets is exploding into mainstream consciousness, when those who use a spray can are finally being taken seriously and exhibited in major galleries across the globe, we are absolutely gobsmacked. That such a large city council in ones of the most freedom loving, open, creative and friendly countries we know is playing the recalcitrant card, stifling the arts and washing the cities walls with deplorable grey, well, what can you say? First it was Poynton Terrace, now its this – and who knows how many more in the future.
(Image via Rimoni Photography via Cut Collective)
So, Auckland Council – why so recalcitrant? Why not support the artists amongst you, instead of destroying their work and acting provocatively? Why not come to terms with the fact that the artists are there to stay, and work with them to bring colour and beauty to your city, instead of proliferating archaic, late 20th century policies that never worked in the first place? You realise that if it gets buffed, it will get bombed, and then you’ll have to keep spending your rate payers money to have it constantly cleaned – don’t you want to break the cycle rather that propagate it? Do you want a repeat of the negative reactions that the buffing of Poynton Terrace engendered?
Perhaps its time for those of you in the council to seriously contemplate your cultural legacy. World Cup is over, isn’t it time to start thinking about your community again instead of trying to impress tourists with sterilised streets?
Remember – once it’s buffed, its gone forever.
InUrban is our community section, where we cover items of interest happening in your area – if you have any news or items of interest from your ck of the woods, new art going up, community projects or the like, then just send it through to us – we’re more than happy to support!
Around this time last year, we did our first snapshot of some of the cool sites that we read on a frequent basis that deal with Australian and New Zealand art and other creative endeavours. Every day our editor, Facter, reads through a mountain of blogs and websites, looking for cool events, exhibitions and artists to speak to – it takes a lot of time and effort, mostly because there are so many great sites out there that follow Oz & NZ art – but its completely worth it!
Last year our roundup included such sites as Dont Sleep Magazine, Nothing To Nobody, Melbourne Art & Culture Critic, Everfresh, Nice Produce, Kompound, Just Another Agency, ArtistsWA, This Life, Design Federation, the sadly missed We Make Stuff Good and the ever inspirational weAREtheIMAGEmakers.
Again, this is not a top of the top, nor an indication that if its not in this list then its not the best! There are just way too many sites out there for that we read through, and each one of them offers something different. Instead, this is just a small collection of some of the sites we’ve come across in the last year or so that have piqued our interest, and we thought we’d share them with you..
So, a huge thankyou to all the blogs from our list last year, and to all of our recent favourites listed here. Without all of your amazing efforts in documenting all of this cool shit, our day to day reading here at Invurt would be all the poorer …
Six Years Later Magazine – launching this year, Six Years Later is a fantastic print magazine, but their blog is also pretty damn cool. You should take a look at both, they’re equally worth the read.
Land Of Sunshine – well, you know him either from here with his monthly Top 10s, or from his awesome blog, Land Of Sunshine – in terms of coverage of Melbourne street art, Dean Sunshine is the man. With a wide range of collections, events and snaps from visiting artists, this is one of our definite go to blogs to check out whats been going up on the street.
T-Squat – These guys go from strength to strength. Editor and resident photographer James Watkins has a great eye for the eclectic, and though they cover everything from music to sports and everything in between, they also do great coverage on both established and emerging artists from around the globe. It’s a one stop feast.
Curvy – We love girls, and we love girls doing art, and we love girls writing about girls doing art … okay, you get the drift! Curvy celebrates all that is feminine and creative, and their blog is absolutely fantastic. With a great crew of bloggers behind the keyboard, and with plenty of inspiriting work pumping through the site, we head to Curvy on a regular basis.
Artygraffarti – new kid on the block, Arygraffarti, is really starting to get up there. With regular, frequent posts from his wandering around both Melbourne and other cities (when he gets there) this is a mint little low brow look at new stuff thats appearing. He also has a bit of event info on there of stuff happening around Melbourne, and its well worth adding to your reader feed.
Chasing Ghosts – these guys have been off on a sojourn around the globe for a while, but they’ve now settled back in Melbourne and have begun documenting and putting up great photosets on their bog as well as on flickr. With great attention to detail and a wonderful eye for not only the artwork, but its positioning and surrounding environment, these guys have it down.
Acclaim Mag – after a major site redesign sometime last year or so, Acclaims online presence and quality of content matches its print version. With everything street, urban, music and fashion related, if you’re into your all round street lifestyle, this is where you should be checking regularly – a great aussie based mag that we love!
Strutten – we adore this collective! Having only launched earlier this year, Strutten already have a loyal following, and we go to them for art and design related news up in Queensland. They have a great bunch of people posting, who are all collective artists themselves, and they also delve into the cafe and music culture. They love the city of Brisbane, and they’re great champions of what’s going on there. <3
The Opening Hours – The Opening Hours has their finger on the pulse up in Sydney, and more besides – both the photos and coverage of events is superb – this is our kinda blog!!
Disassociated – John Lampard does an amazing job at tracking events across the country, across all genres of art, with the Australian Art Show List. There’s also some great blogs posts on there outside of the event stuff, following film and other creative industry stuff – its very much worth a read.
Street Arse – of course, lots of love for the crews over in NZ, and Street Arse is our favourite. Shows, news and bits and pieces galore from the New Zealand street art scene.
Wellington Wall Street – and, still on the NZ tip, representing Wellington street art, heaps of great pics of work springing up in the city.
Stupidkrap – though a little quiet lately on the news front, Stupidkrap is a great site full of awesome content. Not only that, but their online store has a huge range of artwork and prints from all across Australia.
Dangerfork – speaking of prints and all things inked, another newcomer, Dankgerfork, has been carving a niche for itself down here in Melbourne. We can see these guys going a long way, and their recent popup store in Collingwood is a great testament to the quality of their work. Check back here often for all kinds of limited edition works from a bunch of wicked artists.
Project4000 – Have spent some time growing up in the Far North, we love anything coming out of Queensland, and Project 4000, along with Strutten, is our lifeline to what’s going on up there in Brisvegas. They follow a lot of streetwear orientated news, but their art and event coverage is also pretty cool and they have a bit on Brisbane street art here and there.
Philthosophy – this site maintains a running list of all the art happens in Melbourne, listed out per date. Theres a lot there, and she covers as much of it as possible in the lists – its a handy reference if you want to check out the creative life in the ‘burn!
Knock Knock Magazine – a relative newcomer, this magazine is already busting out with its first issue and looks set for a really bright future. We love it already!
Ironlak – well, this one is a no-brainer, really – just follow their blog, alright?
Special Mentions – International Blogs We Love
We do read a hell of a lot of international blogs as well, and though we don’t cover international stuff, well, we don’t need to – there are so many great places that do that already. These are just some of our favourites …
We hope you enjoy all of these blogs and websites as much as we do, and, if they have a facebook page, show them your support by liking them and following their efforts!!
We’ll be doing this roundup on a quarterly basis now, so if you have any sites you’d like us to check out that you think we’d love, just let us know.
Vetti returns with her latest InUrban guest blog, giving us a glimpse into the work that she has been admiring around her neighbourhood, Melbournes vibrant suburb of Northcote …
The Word On The Street …
As you probably know, the northside of Melbourne is blessed with a plethora of street art. What you may not realise, is that it’s not all just vibrant images. There are some poignant and talented wordsmiths out on the streets, with an ongoing desire to share thought-provoking and beautiful work…
P.F Danado is a particular favourite of mine. Look out for distinctive
purple stencilled figures (sometimes in frames) and dymo labels with the subject’s name beneath.
In our newest feature column, InUrban, we’ve been asking bloggers, writers and general art aficionados to do small spotlights on the areas in which they live, bringing highlights to suburbs and towns across Australia. If you love your hometown, suburb or city, and wish to do a spotlight piece on what’s going on around there, no matter where you are, just contact us.
First up is Vetti, from the amazing Vetti Live In Northcote blog – Vetti will be doing a monthly post as a part of Inurban, highlighting the Northcote area in the greater Melbourne metro area. Starting off with some recent work by Snotrag, as well as covering some of the work thats been done around Northcote for the Northern Exposure festival, Vetti knows her home, and she knows her art …
Vetti – Northcote
Why do I love Northcote so much? For a start, the north is full of creative people, and there’s just so much art to enjoy – both on, and off the streets …
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