INVURT

Oh hell yeah – after a hiatus last year after a huge event in 2009, it looks like the Northcote festival is back (albeit in a slightly smaller form. As At Large Gallery will be along that section of High Street that they will be closing off for the afternoon, it stands to reason that the crew at the gallery would put something on themselves for the festival!

"As part of High Streets Inaugural ‘High Noon’ Festival this Sunday, At Large hosts our biggest graff jam yet with 12 Old and New School writers doin it up in our whole backyard!

On the lineup are: Keisha (QLD), Snotty, Presto (NSW), Kaligs, Smeg, Mupz, Enix (WA), Ishi, Getn Jigy, Muchacho, Ghosto (NSW), Rukkus
+ DJ’s, Rolex Bifta (WA) Hip Hop, Peacey P Hip Hop Set, Warpaint Dubstep, Rayza (WA), Impervious Enemy + Sausage Sizzle

Production starts at 10.30am, Judges Mishap, Dopio & Guest Judge TBA will announce the best piece at 5pm

Winner of best piece of the day will receive a 12 Pack of Ironlak Paint in their choice of colors, a T-shirt and stickers. Second place will receive 6 lil laks, T-shirt and sticker pack.

High Noon Festival is run by the Northcote Business Association and Darebin Council, the streets will be closed from Clarke St to Separation St which the gallery lies within so public transport is probably the best option. Entry is via donation at the gates, but entry to the Gallery is FREE."

Oh yeah, we will definitely be there, what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
 
Who: Keisha (QLD), Snotty, Presto (NSW), Kaligs, Smeg, Mupz, Enix (WA), Ishi, Getn Jigy, Muchacho, Ghosto (NSW), Rukkus
+ DJ’s, Rolex Bifta (WA) Hip Hop, Peacey P Hip Hop Set, Warpaint Dubstep, Rayza (WA), Impervious Enemy + Sausage Sizzle
What: At Large Graff Jam – High St Festival showcase
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High Street, Northcote, Victoria
When: This Sunday, 18th September, 10:30am til 7pm

Check out the At Large Gallery website and the facebook event page for more info!

It’s artists like Enix, who have been quietly working away at their passion and putting on shows of high quality, exploratory art, who often capture the imagination and heart of the aficionado within us.

The colourful and often dream like nature of his work is something that caught my attention a long time ago. Hanging out with the At Large crew up in Northcote, I met Enix within the week I arrived, and he was just someone whose company I immediately enjoyed. That we shared many of the same interests and that we were also both originally  from Perth was just as cool – and it didn’t take me long to start seeing his work popping up around the place, and to be inspired by it, and by his general creative demeanour. The reason I mention all of this, is that its fairly common for a artists personality to be reflected in their work – and there is just something within Enix’s that reflects his perfectly.

Beyond the personal, Enix just does beautiful-cool art. He has a flair for wonderfully surreal moments and scenes of meditative fantasy. With his fourth solo show, Sayonara, a "farewell" exhibition before he embarks on an international adventure, we caught up with Enix for a chat about all things good and art. If you haven’t discovered the work of this great creative talent just yet, read on, and be enlightened …

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Even if you aren’t privy to an artistic imagination, Ryan McGennisken works will gladly share their dreamy realities with you. 
 
The product of an innate preoccupation with adventure and untainted childlike sensibilities, Ryan’s work has a surreal, wistful quality that packs a whole lot of WOW … and these days, there aint nothin’ elementary about this guy’s illustrative skills. 
 
With a touch of the pastoral, and a profound disconnect with the nine-to-five world, Ryan’s works navigate you to a darker yet strangely comforting place.   Earthly hues, watercolour and ink create a space for his characters, some human, others not so, that conjoin in an amazingly beautiful dreamscape.
 
When Invurt chatted to Ryan about his work, and his highly anticipated upcoming shows, he made it sound like all it takes to produce brilliant illustrations is a lifetime of adventure, countless hours drawing on every surface imaginable, as well as the knack of being an effortlessly cool kinda guy. Not hard, really…

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The artist formerly known as Sim2 returns to the At Large Gallery to launch his new direction in canvas works – and we cant wait to check it out – this artist is in his prime, and we’re really excited that he’s decided to do a show of experimental styles!

“They say a change is as good as a holiday, but Melbourne Graffiti Artist Dopio, has proven that a holiday, is equally as good for inspiring change. In this multi-faceted Installation show, Dopio shows how a recent holiday to Europe has inspired a rush of ideas and dramatic change to his artistic Identity and style. ‘I became influenced by the straight chrome letters on the transit system and the bold, detailed characters I saw,’ he states about the Netherlands, where his new journey of exploration began.

Originally a Perth Artist, Dopio has been exhibiting and painting walls in Melbourne, interstate and abroad prolifically since moving to Melbourne over 5 years ago. Previously known under several other aliases, it was in Diest Belgium while writing a coffee menu, that the new Moniker “Dopio,” arose to parallel the artistic transformation. The word ‘Doppio’ in Italian translates to Double Shot, but can also be likened to the Artist’s Double Identity as well as referring to two or more styles.

Dopio has primarily been known as a character and abstract writer in the past, but has realized that in order to keep his style progressing and pushing boundaries, he must experiment and perfect as many styles of the graffiti art form as possible. This exhibition is a display of his skill and versatility; including everything from old school throw-ups, backgrounds, detailed characters and self portraits to colorful canvases that melt into the painted walls. Also including a rusty ratrod lowrider built almost entirely from scratch, posters and more. As the Artist explains, ‘everything is still done in my style, but I’m just taking a more refined and diverse approach to it all now, rather than doing one or two styles- I want to eventually perfect them all.’ Best part is, although all the mediums meld into one playful fun and composed piece, anything not actually painted on the walls, comes off and is for sale! So come down, grab a bargain, and support change!!”

Not to be missed,”Good As a Holiday”  will be a fantastic expose of an established artist, heading in exciting new directions, under a new moniker – At Large constantly brings something new to the table, and this is no exception.

Who: Dopio (formerly Sim2)
What: Good As A Holiday solo show
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High Street, Northcote, VIC
When: Show opens Friday 15th July from 6pm til 9pm, and runs til 28th July

Check out the At Large website for more information on the show, as well as the facebook event page.

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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We love the group shows at the At Large Gallery in Northcote – some of our favourite nights have been had there in recent times! So we’re delighted to see that they are once again a big part in the Northern Exposure festival that will be happening around Northcote next week.

“With Over 20 Artists in one show, Small Works At Large is our Largest Group Show of the Year, as part of the Northcote Northern Exposure Art Festival.

The Festival (run by Darebin Council, Northcote Business Association) involves different variants that aim to highlight and promote High St. Northcote as a Creative Hub for Artists and Art lovers. This year, Northern Exposure includes ‘Small Works in Small Spaces’ which brings art to the facade of High St itself, as well as ‘High Views’ (Art in Shop Windows), coinciding with Opening Nights of Gallery Exhibitions.

We have been involved in Northern Exposure since At Large opened it’s doors three years ago, but this year we are even more so, as Northern Exposure is opening itself up to Street Art as this years theme. The owners of At Large will be painting walls around Northcote as well as curating this mammoth Group Exhibit of talent.

Each artist has been asked to submit 3 small pieces to the show, which will be opening on the same Friday as the rest of Northern Exposure’s launch. Our gallery is launching our participation in the Festival by having a clothes sale, record sale, Live DJ’s, sponsored wine, Open Courtyard, Late Close and of course a gallery JAM packed with affordable fresh new artwork.”

Be there – the whole of Northcote will be covered in great art, and At Large will be at the centre of it for all your low brow, illustrative, urban and just plain cool needs.

Who: Jacqueline Gwynne, Ishi, Rebecca Murphy (NSW), Eaven, Ruskidd, Rachee Renee, Enix, Ryan McGennisken, Hollie M Kelley, Muchacho, Mia Grant, Dilly, Aubrey Rhodes (USA), Mia Grant, Mishap, Emily Hasselhoof, Bon, Bengamin, Sim Two (WA),Alchemist (NZ), Kalin Thompson (USA), Fletcher Andersen (WA), Nicole Tattersall
What: Small Works At Large group show
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High Street, Northcote, VIC
When: Show opens Friday 17th June, 6pm til 10pm

Check out the At Large website for more details!

With what looks to be another grand exhibition at At Large Gallery in Northcote, Adele Wilkes, Mr Mupz and Jak Rapmund will be holding a trio show at the end of May. Each artists holds a unique style, each to their own, united by the use of black and gold colour palettes through their works.

We interviewed Jak Rapmund not so long ago, on the tail of his design for the hugely flavoursome and tasty Doss Blockos, and alongside the talents of Mr Mupz and Adele Wilkes this show is just another reason to get out to Northcote on opening night – shows like this, with talented individuals working together to get themselves out there, is, in our books, what its all about.

Who: Jak Rapmund, Mr Mupz & Adele Wilkes
What: Black & Gold group show.
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High Street, Northcote, Vic
When: Show opens Friday 20th May, 6pm til 9pm, and runs til the 3rd of June.

Check out the At Large Gallery website, Mr Mupz and Jak Rapmunds sites for more info on the show and the artists.

Freshmen Mixer is a powerful collaboration exhibition group showing of photography, illustration and mixed media artists from emerging and established states.

“Freshman Mixer celebrates a mish-mash of locally based emerging and established talent. There are 12 distinctly different voices with a uniquely vibrant energy running through all of their works.”

L.A. born and Melbourne based, photographer MICHELLE FELIX organized this exhibition because “she was tired of not showing her work.”

Other artists include: Debbie Ann, musician And photographer Theorn Campbell, Shirleen Chin, print maker And drawer Beth Godfrey, published painter Callum Mcfarlane, local photographer Olivia Mcdonald, Thepeatreecollective (A.k.a. Tirelle Peter), Elizabeth Reed, Beena Rugnathji, Adam Siddaway and up And coming photographer Nadia Sposito (debuting work).

Who: Michelle Felix, Debbie Ann, Theorn Campbell, Shirleen Chin, Beth Godfrey, Callum Mcfarlane, Olivia Mcdonald, Thepeatreecollective , Tirelle Peter, Elizabeth Reed, Beena Rugnathji, Adam Siddaway , Nadia Sposito What: Fresh Man Mixer
Where: At Large Gallery – 208 High St Northcote, Melbourne, Victoria
When: Opening Reception – Friday 6th May 6-9pm. Exhibition runs til 19th May

Check out the At Large Gallery for more info and get on down to the show!

The talented Heesco kindly sent us through some photos from his opening of Mongo Hustle at At Large Gallery the other week – it was such a cool damn show, and if you missed itm you’ll love the images of his work and the opening. The night also featured an amazing performance of live beatbox and Mongolian throat singer Bukhu as well, which everyone was totally enamoured of – we really want to see more!

If you’re interested in any  of these or any of Heescos over work, get over to his facebook page and check out what he’s been up to lately.

If anyone has photos from openings or events that they would like to send us to put up, we are more than happy to publish them for you – zip them up, and contact us (just attach the zip file), and we’ll make it so!

As it should be – the past week has seen so many announcements of new shows, artists getting up, new galleries and a crapload of events happening around Australia … and its great to see. Australia Street Art is some of the best in the world, hands down, and all the derivations of the “genre” that we love to cover is going fkn gangbusters – the more the better, and the better for the artists getting out there,  in our books.

Friday wraps we usually reserve for our miscellaneous bits and pieces and news, so here’s some from us, a rundown on what we’re up to lately, as well as some info on upcoming shows and such ..

Invurt Workshop & Rival Revolution Studios

We posted up a new page this week, with details on our new workshop space within the Rival Revolution complex in Prahran. We had a preview last night in conjunction with a new market night we will be running on a monthly basis with the guys from RR, and had a bunch of people come down to check out what we’re up to. Though we’re still very much under construction, its great to finally have a base of operations, an office and general workspace, and we’re keen to have  creatives involved with us at the space – everyone is free to come and visit, just drop us a line.

We’ve also had some amazing artists come in and paint the space as well, including Heesco, Sim2, Mishap, Katie Houghton-Ward, Enix, Props, Ex-robot & Heidi Philips – all of them putting a riot of colour into an inspirational space. Theres more to come though – and if you’re interested, theres still a few smaller spots left if you want to get something up – its running out quick though, so contact us asap.

Prahran in general, seems to be on the up again and theres some great things happening – after many years of gentrification, archaic and irrational Stonnington near zero urban art tolerance, The Great Millennial Ed Hardy Invasion, and the burgeoning underground arts culture towards the Northside of Melbourne, its pretty exciting to see all the new stuff seeping back into the Prahran/Southside area. With RTIST,Signed & Numbered, T-Squat, Obese, Surface POP, Artboy, Rival Revolution,our new workshop, oh, and Blue Bar (ha!) and a heap of other stuff now in the area, all within ultra short walking distance of each other, well, damn – its starting to look like Prahran is fast becoming a great new “old” place to check out all this stuff … or so we think, anyways haha.

We’ll be running a monthly market event in the space with RR,  called Nothing .. and if anyone is interested in selling wares, art, or whatever, just let us know. Next months market night, Thursday April 24th, will be the official “Invurt” launch, so to speak – its bout time we had one, and you’re all invited, we’ll be having a bit of live art, DJs, lots of cool stuff to buy …and we’ll put out more details on that soon. We’ll also be running a bunch of other events in the future, from live art to screenings, the markets of course and a bunch of other events planned – its a great space, so if you’re interested in working on something with us there, let us know.

We also put up a new submissions and participations page, and we’d love it if anyone wanted to send stuff through stuff for consideration for publishing, guest blogging, or whatever – we’d like to open our doors to include the community around Australia, so feel free to send us stuff! 

Lastly, we finally, after much testing and frustration with freakin wordpress 3.1, have an event calendar up and running! Now you’ve got an easier way of seeing whats on, where, and when, without having to always scroll through the posts to find the info – we hope you find it handy!

To get more regular updates on what we are up to (we try to keep it to the Friday wraps here on the blog) just go like our Facebook Page – we often do updates there during the week.

So, that’s whats been happening in our neck of the woods – it’s been a really busy last two months or getting it all set up, but we’re all pretty damn excited about it – but for now, yeah, yeah, I’ll shut the fsk up and get on with the wrap …

Melbourne Shows

• Surface POP has a group show opening tonight, and theres some great work in it, so head to St Kilda and checkit.
• Reka has his show opening tonight at Backwoods! Can’t wait to see it, the teaser bits and pieces really were pretty teasing and we love his shit.
• Heesco still has his amazing show, Mongo Hustle, portraying Mongolian street artists, on at At Large gallery in Northcote – it was a really great opening, and the work is exquisite. Cool shit.
• Rancho Notorius has Up The Bend running , there grand opening group show -  if you’re in the city, go see.
• Drewfunk, who we talked to earlier in the week  ma-n, we went and saw the preview of it Wednesday, and the opening was reportedly amazing, but all that all nothing compared to the work in the show – some gorgeous ink work, so head to No Vacancy and see it.
• Sean Whelan still has his show on until Sunday at the No Vacancy project space as well
• Enix has work up for showing at Lounge in the city as well – his work is fkn great!
• Finders Keepers Markets is on this weekend!! It looks great! Sunday is the day we’ll be heading down to check it out, but its on all weekend …

Sydney Shows

• Kelly Thompson opened up her show last week, Pyjama Party – such gorgeous illustrative work of some hot as girls to boot.
• Tom Ferson opened up his first solo show this week, so head to Oh Really and see what its all about.

Queensland Shows

• Theres a great group show on in Redcliffe at the moment, with Unleashed: The Rise of Australian Street Art, a cool collection of work.

Miscellaneous bits & pieces ..

• You may have already seen it, but check out all the broo-ha going on over in NZ about the wall that Askew did that was recently buffed, and all the idiocy surrounding it. Go sign the petition as well.
• If you haven’t taken a look at Land of Sunshine yet, do so – Dean has some great coverage of art around Melbourne. With his site, Melbourne Street Art, Dont Sleep, Kompound and others, we always get our correct dosage.
• We can’t forget as well, Miss Blimey Pirate has put out a new comic drawn up by the talented hands of Pierre Lloga – get yourself a copy, and a copy of Nothing To Nobody while you’re at it!

Thats it for the event wrap, go check out the calendar if you want more details on everything running at the moment. It’s been a big wrap this week, but thanks again for reading, and see you Monday!

Oh yeah, a Friday Wrap! We know we say this every now and again, but apologies for the lack of a weekly wraps lately – things have been a little crazy in the last two or three weeks. Between work trips, setting up our new workshop & studio space in Prahran, working on a new music project, putting together artwork pieces for shows, and still fitting in socialising so we don’t go insane – well, we (well, I) are(am) a bit behind on a couple of things – but we’re still running along and playing catch-up as best we can!

We have a few things lined up already for the next few months as well – we’ll be launching our new workshop space soon, we’re going to enter into some guest blog territory, we’ll also be hopefully doing some live art stuff, as well as starting a writers event once a month or so … so, shit. All systems go.

All that said, there is some awesome stuff happening at the moment, and some really cool shit coming up – so read on for our weekly roundup …

Sydney Shows

• E.L.K. opened up his solo show last Thursday at Oh Really Gallery, to an amazing response, love and much kudos. Personally, we’re amazed by his work, having seen a lot of it when we visited him in Canberra the other week.  He has a piece in next weeks Rancho Notorious opening, as well as another solo show down in Melbourne in May – so keep an eye out, as he’s definitely doing great things, as always.
• DOES has also opened up his solo show at Lo-Fi Collective this week – this Dutch artist really has something special, and his letterforms work is fkn beautiful. Speaking of which, he’ll be doing some live painting tonight and tomorrow night – check out the Ironlak facebook page and Lo-Fi for more details.
• The stunningly talented Jodee Knowles has her show opening up next week as well, we just interviewed her here, so check it out!

Melbourne Shows

• Artboy gallery has their group show Artboy vs Fanboy: Videogames on tonight, and it’ll run over the weekend. Yours truely has a couple of pieces in this show, alongside some really fantastic artists – so if you want to check out some great video game inspired art, come down to Prahran and swig some beer with us.
• We love Heesco, and if you’re not on this Mongolian artists bandwagon already, you will be shortly – we interviewed him a month or two ago, if you missed it. Check out his show Mongo Hustle next week at At Large Gallery, because its going to be massively cool.
• The highly anticipated opening show of the new Rancho Notorious gallery is on next Saturday the 19th – Up The Bend will have a crapload of great artists showing work, and is a great addition to the 1000 Pound Bend venue – so looking forward to all the shows at this new gallery!
• Phoenix opened up his show In Here Out There last night at Surface POP – great crowd, and so much amazing art to be seen – hats off to Phoenix for a remarkable job at putting it all together, and for all the work he’s been doing around the streets in the past few years. Well done also to the Surface POP crew – Theres already cool pics at Dean Sunshines blog (a favourite of ours) so go check those out, then go see it in St Kilda!
• Sean Whelan opens his show, Visitor, at Backwoods gallery next week as well – if you haven’t made it to Backwoods yet, now’s a perfect opportunity to get there.
• The Penthouse Mouse events are on over the next few days – check it out for lots of up and coming designers, fashion and art.
• Just saw this event at the Michael Koro Gallery, a bit late, but it looks like a great first show for them – Phil Edwards and Tess McKenzie will have a bunch of work on display. Find details here, it opens tonight!
• Likewise, another show we missed posting (argh) opened at Paradise Hills last week – Seductive & Subversive, and it really does look fantastic, based as it is on “themes around fashion, beauty and the body.” Go to the Paradise Hills site for more details.

Adelaide Shows

• Ghostpatrol has his solo show, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants opening next Thursday – we’re big supporters of his work, we loved chatting to him last year, and he has a whole slew of shows coming up across Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. Stay up to date with him and his shows on his website
• Sam Evans opened up his show last night at Gallery on Waymouth, and it looked funky as – if you’re in Adelaide theres no excuse not to check it out!

Other random bits & Pieces …

• Check out all this weeks videos on our Thursday Transmissions – lots of cool stuff there.
• We usually only ever encounter the Herald Sun when we run out of toilet paper and steal it from the neighbours yard to stave off  bathroom tragedies, but couldn’t help spotting this article that’s been doing the rounds in regards to Lush – there is nothing but wrong in this article. Once again, the HS shows itself a bastion of truth, honestly and virtue – yeah. Right. Tards.
• Lost of pics and info posted from the massively successful Project 5 event, it pulled in a bucket-load of money for charity, and lots of great exposure for the artists, charity, and the art itself – the guys at aMBUSH and associates did an amazing job with the whole thing. Check out the Flickr page for all the images from the auction.
• Looks like last nights Secret Wars was an amazing success, again, and the hard fought last semi-final was taken narrowly by Ken Taylor over Drewfunk. Ken Taylor goes in to battle Scale in the finale – and its going to be a big one, keep up to date with Secret Wars at their website.
• Issue 6 of T-Squat is out, featuring a bunch of artists including local OZ artists Adnate & Nathan Trapnell
• Theres a cool reading list on Melbourne Street Art over at Melbourne Art & Culture Critic
• This is from last week, but our friends at Just Another Agency had their cool abode featured on The Design Files as well.

Okay, we’re totally outta gas, again, if we’ve missed anything, just hit the Contact Us up the top right there. So much going on, only so many hours in the day – but we give major thanks to every artist and creative on this wrap, for giving it their all and for sharing their talents with the world – totally fkn mintox – keep on keepin on.

This is one show that we’ve been waiting for ever since we saw our first Heesco pieces in the Sweet Streets @ BSG Exhibition. Having only moved to Melbourne last year, Heesco has done some amazing work around the joint since then, and is starting to really get out there with a bunch of public murals, assorted commissions, and pieces in several exhibitions. We interviewed him back in November, and got the whole run down on his art and such – so go have a read.

This will be Heescos third solo show, and it will be the first show back at At Large Gallery for 2011 after some renovations, and it’ll be his first solo show here in Melbourne. He’s a passionate, talented and down to earth guy, and he has also been a great supporter, and all round inspiration to us here – he recently came in and did a fantastic piece in the new workshop & studio we have been building in Prahran, and we’re just totally floored by his innate talent.

We wish him the best of luck for this upcoming show – not that he’ll need it!

“Mongolia might not have a McDonalds or a Starbucks yet, but it does have street art. Perhaps one of the last bastions of a globalised world where hip hop has hit town before hamburgers, the nation’s capital Ulaanbaatar is getting a fresh lick of paint thanks to a new breed of artists. Melbourne-based Mongolian Heesco is set to bring a little bit of his homeland’s streets to At Large gallery with his third solo exhibition Mongo Hustle.

Running from March 18 to March 30, Mongo Hustle will feature portraits of Mongolian street artists ANZ, DEEZ, ASO, RUSTY, RAFFISHCOCK, and ETOSTARR, to highlight the small but developing scene in Mongolia and its pioneers. The exhibition also includes excerpts from forthcoming documentary Mongolian Bling by Melbournian Benj Binks, who spent last 4 years documenting the burgeoning hip hop scene in Mongolia.
It wasn’t until the late 90s, after a democratic revolution in 1990 freed Mongolia from the shackles of the Soviet Union, that hip-hop and graffiti culture started to find its way onto the streets of Ulaanbaatar.
The exhibition is a celebration of graffiti culture, and the extent and reach of its development, and a small showcase of how it’s done in Mongolia.

“Some of these guys go out painting in winter, using paints and brushes, not all spray cans, because all they can get is cheap spray paint that can’t even fill a metre by metre surface. It’s really hard to use but they’re still determined to go out and paint.”

Now, Ulaanbaatar is starting to see elaborate paintings pop up on walls and buildings across the city as artists familiarise themselves with the work of their international counterparts.

Heesco is a graduate of Sydney College of the Arts, a painter, printmaker, illustrator, and street artist.

Exhibition is kindly sponsored by Fat Yak, and Koast Kollektive.”

Who: Heesco
What: Mongo Hustle Solo Exhibition
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High St, Northcote, VIC
When: Show opens March 18th @6pm, and runs til 30th March

Check out Heescos website here, and also check out the At Large Gallery website and the facebook event page for more details.

Jak Rapmund is a creative epicentre of sorts, fueled by comics, horror, zombies and well … the murky insides of his own brilliant mind. Often sighted around the streets of Melbourne, his work is a foray into a dark unknown – and it’s currently hitting the Australian art scene with seismic force. Rapmund’s art is often distinguishable for its unnerving in-your-face effect – so much so, that it’s recently been selected as the face of the local beer label, Doss Blokos.

We speak to Jak, or, rather, ‘Irk’, about what it’s like to be pushing pieces one minute and a seriously sought after artist the next …

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They just keep rolling on, and this time its At Large Galleries final show of the year, in the shape of an art auction. Manix and Able will be doing the honours for the auction – plus, cool DJs and a bit of beer garden action while you’re at it – if the weather permits! At Large has had some really fun shows this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year!

“STREET ART WILL BE AUCTIONED OFF BY ABLE AND MANIX FREESTYLING WHILE YOU BID ON YOUR FAVORITE PIECE AND GO HOME WITH BARGAIN!

The auction starts 8.30, beats before/after by GHOSTSOUL and guest acts. Cheap beer, garden open if weather permits, come buy some cheap art, support good hip hop and have a little play at the gallery before we close for a couple of weeks!”

 
Who: Manix, Able, Ghostsoul, guest acts and artists
What: Hip Hop art auction
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High Street, Northcote, VIC
When: Friday 17th December, 7pm til 10p[m – Auction starts at 8:30pm

Check out the facebook event page for more info.

I’m totally art-ed out from the past week, with way too much happening! I did manage to get to a few openings and events though, namely the A3 Small Art show, Toy To The World and the Cardbordia show that I was part of with a bunch of other cool crew …  but I’m also looking forward to seeing the other shows whose openings I missed on Friday over the next few days – namely Kami & Sasu, about:blank and Scottie “Bonsai” Neoh’s one at Fed Square …

Anyways, I got a few shots along the way (I’m a crappy photographer so don’t hold it against me if they aren’t that shit-hot =P, so I figured I’d do a couple mini-reviews and post up a few of them up …

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Afternoon all – hope and trust that you’ve all had a great week, and that you’re all prepared for a great weekend to come! Just a bit of housekeeping news first up – we’re really happy this week to have taken on a great addition to the crew in the form of Leah Burgess – she’s here learning the ropes and has already completed a fantastic interview with Jumbo (of Jumbo and Zap fame, of course), and its  great! Personally, I couldn’t be happier, I was starting to get just a little overwhelmed with all the stuff that’s going on these days – and her positive take and enthusiasm for all this shit is sure to be great thing for Invurt.

Anyways – now we get to the busy weekend that’s ahead .. oh man …

Melbourne

• Our show Cardbordia, opens tonight at At Large Gallery in Northcote – its turned into quite a cool little installation, and the end product is looking pretty crazy cool – come join us for some beers in amongst all the other things going on tonight
• Kami & Sasu have their opening tonight! I saw pics from their Melbourne Central mural, and an awesome preview of their work at Nice Produce, and it looks fantastic – I’ll get in there tomorrow, cant wait, then I’ll head over to Paradise Hills …
• Which also has a show opening tonight! about:blank looks like something a bit different, and  oh so cool. Art meet technology – my favourite thing.
• Scottie Neoh, aka Bonsai, has a show at the No Vacancy Fed Square space also tonight! Four great shows in one night .. crazy. I just noticed I had the event info incorrect for this one, its at the Fed Square space, not at the Jane Bell gallery … sorry!
• Jack Douglas’s new show also opened this week – its on for a bit, so go see it at Blue Tile Lounge
• The A3 Small Art show opened on Wednesday at For Walls upstairs from Miss Libs, and it was a huge success, over 200 people through the door and a third of the pieces sold – a great fundraiser for Room To Read – its on for a little while, so go check it out.
• Also! Tomorrow is Toy To The World – and it should be a lot of fun, so come down to Section 8 during the day and check it out and see a bunch of artists painting up plethora of toys.

Sydney

• Next Thursday, Anthony Lister has his latest solo show at Chalk Horse – we just did a small feature on him and the show, and damn it looks like it’ll be great.
• Alexandra Lekias opened her show last night at Friends Of Leon gallery – it looked really great from all the preview images.

Brisbane

• Paper Tales, curated by Bec Winnel and Courtney Brims opens at Nine Lives Gallery next week, Thursday the 25th

Perth

• I only just really saw it today, alas, but These Days gallery has a show with the Windows on Williams crew featuring artist Jessica Singh – more details are here, but damn such a great illustrator. Go take a look at the show, as well as the other cool things happening on Williams St.

Also, keep an eye out for all the Curvy & Muscle Up launch parties happening around the place!

Bits and pieces from around the traps …

• Loved this small feature on ABCs art nation about Paradise Hills and their recent Connect Four show – have a look!
• i’m a self confessed fan of TwoOnes work, and I love the stuff he’s been doing for Wabi Sabi in Collingwood the past week or sose, check out the pics on his blog
• This ones a recap from last week, because I want to make sure that everyone is aware of it “The Salvation Army, of all people, an organisation that in the past has actually run support programs for graffiti artists, is now taking Sydneys Westsyde Connection gallery and studios to the High Court in order to have them remove a mural that was done by street artists from the backyard of their gallery. They have a petition up, so you should go and sign it and show your support.”

Alas, that’s all I can get to today – sorry if I’ve missed anything – have to bail out and go do finishing touches to our show tonight. Have a great weekend and enjoy all the cool art on show this week, wherever its at!

Ez.