INVURT

Sydney based artist and creative extraordinaire Numskull has a show coming up at the Lo-Fi Collective space in the first week of November with “The Weird Machine”

“This highly anticipated solo show will feature paintings in mixed media on canvas, wood, custom made signs and installation pieces. This show will also be the release of a set of limited edition prints by the artist.

‘The Weird Machine’ invites the public into the nonsensical world of Numskull. A sometimes confusing collage of bold, detailed and distracting imagery and an exploration of the blurred lines between real life experience, and dream states. Numskull’s new collection of work explores of the effects of modernity in a world where we are constantly pestered and bombarded with uninvited visual material. Advertising, signs, false heroes all dominate our environment, this is his response.”

Who: Numskull
What: The Weird Machine solo show
Where: Lo-Fi Collective – 383 Bourke Street, Darlinghurst, NSW
When: Show opens @ 6pm 4th November, and runs til 6th of November

Check out the Lo-Fi website for more info, and join up at the Facebook event page.

The other day in my hypertextual wanderings I stumbled across an announcement that New York based illustrator and artist Sara Blake aka Zso, was having a solo show in Sydney – and was suitably excited to hear of it. Sara has done a huge range of illustrative and design work work with Curvy, Zen magazine, Village Voice,  amongst many others and its great to see a show by her on our shores!

“Named one of the Top 100 female graphic designers and illustrators in the world by Curvy magazine, art director, designer and illustrator Sara Blake brings her latest works to Sydney, for her very first Australia show. Blake’s work has graced magazines, fashion pages and products around the world including The New Yorker, Grey Goose, Condé Nast, Hennessey and Bacardi.

Her latest show, CONSTELLATIONS, reflects the vibrancy and excitement of the New York landscape with its colour, movement and texture. Using geometric lines and curves, soft and hard Blake captures the stories and world of women in her city. Stories about love, heartache, joy, independence, sorrow, loneliness and second chances.

“While the subject of much of my art is women, the art itself is really more about the world at large seen through these women. Just as there are dualities in our experience of life, and there are dualities in my personality, my work inadvertently has adopted some of these qualities visually.”

So if you’re in Sydney town and want to see some of her work in the flesh, go and check out her opening this Thursday at Surry Hills Friends Of Leon Gallery.

Who: Sara Blake
What: Constellations solo show
Where: Friends of Leon Gallery, 82 Marlborough Street, Surry Hills
When: Opening is Thursday 23rd September, 6pm til 8pm. Show runs until October 16th.

Via LeeLoo

Ask a group of people to give a top ten list of Australian artists who produce the styles of art we love, and Ghostpatrol is almost guaranteed to be in each list. From his foundations as a street artist, to his remarkable gallery work and installations, Ghostpatrol is a humble, dynamic artist whose incessant creativity over rides the hubris of scene politics or posturing by just doing what it is that he does best – creating beautiful works and characters that viewers are able to instantly identify with.

We were really lucky to snag some of Ghostpatrols time in the lead-up to his upcoming exhibition at No Vacancy, Warp Points & Seed Vault Save Points, and to get some of his thoughts down in pixels …

(more…)

Gifted Queensland bred artist Jae Copp has had a busy artistic career so far, from designing skatewear and starting his own brand, to exhibiting his artistic output in a wide range of shows.

Having worked utilising wood for many years, producing a cool array of works in the process, Jae has branched out into new directions with his upcoming exhibition at Melbournes Gorker Gallery. We caught up with Jae to get the lowdown on what he’s been up to, and what we can expect from what is surely to be a great show …

(more…)

Fantastic illustration, experimental stitching and paper treatments, cool post-apocalyptic themes and surrealistic excursion? Such is the work of Jae Copp, a man who has been featured in various publications, sites and has already had work in a huge range of shows.

His upcoming solo exhibition at Gorker Gallery, My Illusions Architect, looks to be a wonderfully varied and innovative showcase of this mans work – and its right up our alley.

"My Illusions Architect" is a new series of works that sees the introduction of a dramatic and exciting turn in direction for Jae Copp. For the past 12 months Jae has undergone an experimentation process of both, medium and technical skills, involving various paper treatments, hand stitching and intricate brush based illustrations. Jae has long used allegories and abstract twists to take personal and social views both, good and bad out of context, into a surreal, and at times almost semi- nonsensical way. Through this series the artist evokes stories of a non-definitive space in time that reflect a post- apocalyptic era, as central figures take form to mimic learning’s of a bygone civilization, in pursuit of redeeming social harmony, respect and understanding for one another and responsibility for the planet they now inhabit. Armed to the teeth with the much needed strength and environmental compassion, his characters begin repairs on the broken in prospects of a new beginning.”

Who: Jae Copp
What: My Illusions Architect – Solo Exhibition
Where: Gorker Gallery, 395 Gore Street, Corner of Gore and Kerr, Fitzroy, Victoria
When: Opens Thursday September 2nd, show runs til the 19th September

You can check out Jae’s blog here, and also go and get onboard at the events facebook page.

At Large Gallery continue their run of great shows, and next up is the duo-show from Melbourne artists ADi and Craig Poore.

“In their upcoming show “Beautiful Strange’, artists Craig Poore and ADiexamine the beautiful as strange and the strange as beautiful. Our thoughts of the visual world are blurred by our perceptions. ‘Beautiful Strange’ invites us to challenge these ideas.

Through his emotive and engaging oil paintings, Craig Poore captures the startling ‘beauty’ found within the female form.The narrative is alluring, dreamy and at times melancholic. Clown fish appear from the tangled trestles of an underwater goddess, the heart’s despair from a girl’s deep and longing stare.

In contrast, ADi invents opposing ideas of beauty with his imaginative and hypnotic illustrative style. He embraces the uniquely ‘strange’ by creating a world enchanted by mystery. The imagery is unexpected, intriguing and symbolic and the technique executed with exacting precision.”

Both artists produce strikingly beautiful work in defined, recognisable styles – and its great to see them teaming up to present a juxtaposed show that manages to adhere to a cohesive, beautifully strange theme.

Check the At Large website for more information, as well as Adi’s website and blog.

Who: Craig Poore & ADi
What: Beautiful Strange – Duo show
Where: At Large Gallery, 208 High Street, Northcote
When: Opens Friday 6th August, 6pm – 9pm. Show runs until August 19th.

Following on from the Dabs Myla exhibition, Per Square have another showcase of a young up and coming artist, Jack Douglas, whose work has been seen gracing a plethora of walls and exhibitions around the city in the past couple of years. This guys work is fantastically energetic in its weird and stylised way, so its, yes, another, show not to be missed. Burn city keeps pulling out the goods – we’re pretty spoilt.

“This show is about coming-of-age in a society that’s not quite right. Graduating from art school and being forced to face the real world, dealing with drug use, alcoholism and petty violence. “I seek to escape my own personal dilemmas through the image-making process.” Feeling the urge to draw attention to the degradations in standards of living, the everyday Australian’s general contempt for each other and fearing things that are different. These “low life’s” each bear their own interesting stories, it is through his art that Jack attempts to portray them as a means for public discourse. Drawing on several influences (including pop surrealism, tattoo art, skateboard graphics, psychedelic music posters etc.), Jack has created a body of work that will act as a single piece of art through the process of installation that will hopefully make people stop and think about what is wrong with the world we live in.”

Who: Jack Douglas
What: Twenty One (Solo Exhibition)
Where: Per Square Metre Gallery, 191 Johnston Street, Collingwood VIC, Australia 3066 (corner Francis and Johnston Streets ), Telephone 61+03 94177991
When: Friday, 16 April 2010 at 18:00 to Sunday, 25 April 2010 at 21:00

Via Per Square Metre Gallery

You can find more info and a bunch of photos by Jack on his blog as well as the facebook event page.

Moving to another city in order to pursue an artistic dream, let alone another country, is one of the biggest challenges any artist can face – and yet, collaborative duo Dabs Myla have not only overcome challenges in doing so, but have flourished within their adopted scene. In the past year since their move, they have further enamoured fans worldwide with their unique  artwork, and now, with their second solo show being presented at the Per Square Meter Gallery here in Melbourne, they are set to unleash the fruits of their artistic sojourn onto their home town.

Thankfully, they had some time to speak to us to give us a run down on what they’ve been up to of late, and let us know their how their invasion of Los Angeles has been progressing …

(more…)

There would be no stretch of the imagination involved if one was to suggest that Melbourne artist Makatron has been making waves in the past year with his exhibitions, murals and street art. As part of the Everfresh crew, who have a large array of colossal murals and more subtle pieces spread across both Burn City and the world, it can also be said that he, along with the rest of the crew, are at the top of their game.

As an individual artist, however, his work conveys a thoughtful, and at times chaotic, interpretation of personal interaction with both the environment and the people contained within it. His extensive travels, coupled with his unique personal experiences and his love of the grittier underside of urban art have all combined to present a unique, emboldened style that has garnered him a solid body of fans.

Invurt recently had opportunity to conduct an in-depth, thought provoking, and generally kick-ass interview with Makatron, wherein he explains his work and ethos, and where racing a courier bike through the streets of Sao Paulo fits in to it all …

(more…)

Coming up next week  in Collingwood, Gorker Gallery has the third solo show by Melbourne artist TWO ONE on display.

You can also find more information, pics and graphics by TWO ONE him at his website.

Via Gorker Gallery