Best Of The Blogs – Invurts Guide to Cool Art Blogs #2
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 …
- Arrested Motion
- VNA Magazine
- UnUrth
- Juxtapoz
- Fecal Face
- Urban Artcore
- Hooked Blog
- Vandalog
- High Fructose
- Wooster Collective
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.
