INVURT

There are a lot of great books on the market these days that deal with Street Art, and the past handful of years has seen upsurge in their popularity, mirroring the ever growing fascination that people have with the artists that participate.

From small print runs of artist designed books, such as Dabs Mylas  recent Super Smooth, to the release last year of the impressive history of Melbourne graffiti, Kings Way, Australian publications are on the rise, from magazines to blogs, media features and books, it is these communicative devices that are simultaneously pushing the art form further into public perception, as well as documenting its history. It comes as no surprise either, that there are yet even more publications on the way later this year, which will continue adding historical-as-present images, words and practices to the wealth of information available.

Having successfully kept the Street|Studio project under wraps for a surprising amount of time, Alison Young, Timba Smits, Ghostpatrol and Miso are ready to unleash their creation onto the shelves – with what is sure to become as important a work of documentation as any other. Focusing primarily on ten prominent Melbourne Street Art creatives, including Niels (Nails) Oeltjen, Tom Civil, Tai Snaith, Ghostpatrol, Ash Keating, Al Stark, Miso, Twoone, Mic Porter as well as the Everfresh Crew, Street|Studio takes a metaphorical magnifying glass to the artists, and delves a little deeper into the processes behind their work, as well as their gallery practices.

Thankfully, even given their busy schedule before launch, both Miso and Alison were happy to sit down and answer a few questions about the book, and give us a better glimpse into the nature of its coming pages …

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It seems the year for it. With several book launches already been and gone this year, its no surprise that there are plenty more on the way. Alongside the up coming Everfresh Black Book being released later this year, and the recent publication of Peace of Wall, another important publication is set to hit the shelves within the coming month, in the form of the Thames and Hudson publication Street | Studio. Written in collaboration between Ghostpatrol, Miso, Alison Young and Timba Smits, Street | Studio focuses on the Melbourne street art scene, and will offer an “exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how street art has entered the mainstream and become one of the most collectable new art forms.”

Focusing several of Melbournes more prominent artists and crews, including Al Stark, Ash Keating, Everfresh, Ghostpatrol, Mic Porter, Miso, Nails, Tai Snaith, Tom Civil, and Twoone, the book also will provide an essay by prominent Melbourne street art commentator and researcher Alison Young, which will give “an insight into how the featured artists are integral to the history of Australian street art.”

“With more than 200 full and double page colour spreads, Street/Studio explores the diverse range of styles beyond street work. It includes painting, drawing, sculpture, installation and performance art and reveals how these artists have been inspired by Melbourne’s laneways and its supportive vibrant culture. Read about the adventures and the challenges of the street as well as the demands of the studio and gallery – outlined by the artists themselves.”

This is a launch not to miss, and a book that will be essential reading for anyone interested in the global street art movement.

Who: Al Stark, Ash Keating, Everfresh, Ghostpatrol, Mic Porter, Miso, Nails, Tai Snaith, Tom Civil, Twoone, Alison Young
What: Street | Studio Book Launch with Ghostpatrol, MISO, Alison Young, Timba & Friends.
Where: No Vacancy Project space, The Atrium, Federation Square, Melbourne.
When: Friday, 4th June 2010, 7pm – exhibition runs to Sunday 6th June.

Visit the (pretty damn cool) official Street | Studio website here.

Well known for her stencil and street art, Vexta is in a constant state of creative exploration. Whether it is painting her way across various far flung countries, or throughout the streets of Melbourne, her work embodies all the excitement that such exploration entails – and yet her work never seems to step across the line into banality, instead working its way into the subconscious with its vivid clash of colours and ideas.

Her recent exhibition at Melbournes Platform, Extinction in Technicolour, has allowed Vexta to cross over into the installation realm in such a natural extension of her mural work that is is hard to see the boundary between the two forms, which is a measured coup unto itself.

Intersecting both the natural, and futurist world through the use of found urban and, if somewhat slightly necrotic, remains, Extinction in Technicolour is a playful display of juxtapositions that carries a thoughtful undercurrent – and we were more than happy to ask her all about it …

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In amongst its pages, Chris Parkinson’s newly published Peace Of Wall presents a view of the nation of East Timor that has seldom been contemplated outside of its boundaries – that of one of its strongest social engineering methods; street art.

In honesty, I just binned the editorial introduction for this interview, in which I spieled on about the importance of reflecting on liberty, the ways in which art can enable change, and how humbling it is to see it playing such a healthy role in the foundations of a new nation. After reading back, I realised that the interview already does justice to all those things, and more -  and sometimes you just have to let these things speak for themselves.

So, read on, and hopefully, like me, you’ll be thinking about it long after you’ve clicked away … and bought the book, of course …

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I still remember, and have never returned, the very first Hype magazine I read. I’d been bumming around Cinema City in Perth with a few crew one Saturday afternoon, when someone surreptitiously pushed a copy into my hands. Strangely enough, it was seeing Australian graffiti from outside of our own little corner for the first time that was the start of a life long passion for printed art media. I’d “acquired” a copy of Subway Art somewhere along the line, but this was the first real glimpse I’d seen of what was going on in the rest of Australia – in full blown colour – outside of a few locally made, (but cool) photocopied ‘zines. The glossy pages, the whole cars, my first glimpses of the lines here in Melbourne and across Oz, but, more importantly, the then unfamiliar names of writers that I still find myself following some twenty years later.

Before the advent of the Internet, magazines were a connecting point between far flung “subcultures” in Australia, and the rest of the world. These days, with blogs, facebook, websites, deviantart, online galleries and the sheer multitude of artists and work online, its hard to imagine the veritable isolation that the Australian graffiti and street art scene dwelled within back in the time before HTTP was a commonly sighted acronym. Magazines like Hype helped to build communication between the Australian street art community, – communication that we all too often take for granted these days – yet  more importantly, however, magazines like Hype were inspirational.

With all the mutterings of Ipads, E-readers, Blogs and the web itself abounding with “print is dead” innudendo, it still feels a tactile pleasure to pick up a magazine full of inspiring work – something you can hold in your hands, turn a page, and gaze at the abundance of colour and style within.

There have been many magazines since Hype, which for Australian graffiti was game changing in many ways, and there will be many more to come, each morphing in different directions in order to encompass a modern take on urban content. It’s because of this love of the printed medium, and that inspiration found within these magazines, that we’d like to start putting the spotlight on the various Australian mags and books in print right now, and, one of the newest kids on the block, Dont Sleep Magazine, with its fresh take and style, is a perfect start.

Dont Sleep is a lush, 60 page tome with a healthy dose of the explorative – its subject matter draws primarily on the richness of citified environments, with a plethora of grime, and its influences of street art, tattooing and urban decay are prominent. Dont Sleeps editor, Chico, has a decent eye for photographic and contextual flow, and doesn’t seem to get caught up in monotonous strips of trains and walls.

So, all diatribe aside, read on and get a feel for the creative behind Dont Sleep and its sister ‘zine, The Ruins, then go and buy a copy of them when you’re fuckin done – because, though we all love blogs as much as we do, there just aint nothing like that waft of fresh ink on the turning of a new page …

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It’s with a little sadness to have read tonights announcement that Collingwoods Per Square Metre gallery will be shutting up shop as of May 31st. Per Square held the first exhibition opening I went to when I first moved to Melbourne, and it was an opening that would introduce me to the awesomeness that is Melbournes urban gallery vista.

Having hosted artists such as Bernard Romerona, Dabs & Myla, Sear,
Dvate, Porno, Ling, Mayo, Sigs, Jack Douglas and a whole bunch of others, they’ve always been a personal favourite.

We’ll let their own words do the talking, but, from us – thanks for the shows dudes, looking forward to your next venture and I hope I speak for everyone in hoping it’s fkn soon :)

Via Per Square Metre Gallery.

Darren Hendersons recent work is an explosive menagerie revolving around the most enigmatic of all  birds of prey, yet, unlike the darkened nights in which owls usually dwell, Henderson has managed to illuminate his subjects, not only by their sheer numbers, but by colourful skill of hand and witty presentation.

In his recent solo exhibition “Get Lost Find Something”, at Gorker Gallery, Henderson presents over 300 individual paintings, arranged as a hung mosaic of the globe.  This ambitious display of colour and muse seems to have payed off for Henderson, with the success of the show placing him firmly on any urban aficionados watch list.

Invurt had the chance to pick Hendersons brain recently, and find out where this plethora of winged messengers sprung from …

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He’s been featured in such publications as Wooden Toy, Juxtapoz and the Herald-Sun’s Sunday Life, and now Darren Henderson has an upcoming solo exhibition at Gorker Gallery that looks to be chock full of his explorations.

“Loved, feared, celebrated and even hated, owls have a long history in many cultures throughout the world. They have been seen as markers of gods, symbols of knowledge, wisdom, fertility, as well as death, famine and destruction. There are few creatures associated with such contradictory meanings.

Inspired by the mythology surrounding owls and human culture, Darren Henderson’s infamous owls of the world have struck a chord in many hearts.

Gorker Gallery is proud the present ‘Get Lost, Find Something’ the debut solo exhibition by Melbourne artist Darren Henderson. His anthropomorphic birds are distinctly individual, each expressing the infinite shades and subtleties of emotion. With an extensive collection of 270 new works, ‘Get Lost, Find Something’ is a celebration of the unplanned and unexpected. Drawing inspiration from both the simplicities and complexities of life, Darren Henderson has created an enormously evocative and poetic world that people can’t help but wish to be a part of.”

Who: Darren Henderson
What: Get Lost, Find Something – solo exhibition
Where: Gorker Gallery, corner of Gorr & Kerr Streets – Fitzroy|
When: Thursday 29 April, 6:30pm – 8:30pm … Exhibition runs until Sunday 16 May

Via Gorker Gallery – also take a look at the Facebook event page, check out Darrens website for more information, or view a preview of the show.

No one fails to notice his stylistic and beautifully rendered work whenever they see it around the city, and it now looks as though Everfreshs Phibs is having his own solo exhibition at Collingwoods Hogan Gallery come 1st of May. The first solo show from this prolific artist should be something else.

"Prolific Sydney based artist Phibs has been painting graffiti for well over a decade. He is well known for his incredibly detailed aerosol cut-back techniques and bold, decorative line work. His unique and instantly recognisable tribal influenced style and characters are prominent on the streets all over Australia. Phibs is also a member of the highly regarded Everfresh Studios in Melbourne and continues to push himself by bringing his style to new areas of design, working not just on walls, but also on canvas, wood, skateboards and clothing. He has exhibited his work extensively around Australia as well as New Zealand and Germany, and was recently been commissioned to paint a large scale mural in Mumbai, India for Techfest. Phibs has also created artwork for Absolute Vodka, Rip Curl and Scribe."

Who: Phibs
Where: Hogan Gallery, 310 Smith St, Collingwood
When: 1st May, 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Via Everfresh Studio

There’s already a beer in my hand by the time I catch sight of him – it’s Friday afternoon and the bar I’m in, e55, is near-full, and the crowd is drinking their shit away in preparation of the night to come. He’s sitting down in the back corner, and I notice that he already has a jug in front of him, notebook out, writing away – plotting and listing whatever number of things an artist needs to get done in the week before their second solo exhibition.

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Nior has an exhibition coming up at the No Vacancy gallery, further on from a bunch of group exhibitions he has had work in so far this year, such as Drawing Blood and Constellations. Niors style is often “immediately recognised for his wood work decorated with wildlife, literally creating [an] encyclopedia of animals. Each creation captures these majestic animals expressions and wonderful sense of movement, they develop an instant connection with the viewer.”

Who: Nior
What: Switcheroo solo exhibition
Where: No Vacany Gallery, 34 – 40 Jane Bell Lane, Melbourne
When: Opens 6pm – 9pm Thursday 22nd April runs til 2nd May

Check out Niors website for more information

Highlander are presenting a group show  towards the end of April in the form of Crown Heights – not too much in the way of detail as yet, besides those who are exhibiting, but we’ll see what we can hunt down …

What: Crown Heights – Group Exhibition
Who: Jorz, Banos, Break, Greco, Aeon, Take2, Puzle, Renks, Tusk2, Sage, Duet, Sat, Tres, Shem, Sirum, Lush, Zode
Where: Highlander Gallery, 11a Highlander Lane, Melbourne CBD
When: Thursday 29th April, 6pm – Exhibition runs til 20th May.

Via Kompound

With the year already off to a remarkable start with several major solo and group exhibitions having come, and, successfully, gone, Per Square Metre is preparing for its next feature, the first solo exhibition from talented up and coming artist Jack Douglas.

Invurt caught up with Jack last weekend to discuss his coming show, as well as to get the low-down on his personal thoughts and philosophies behind his current body of work …

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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 …

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Prodigal son and Oz stencil art pioneer Anthony Lister returns to the southern shores shores with an upcoming exhibition at the Metro gallery. Love him or hate him, this is going to be a great exhibition.

“‘Antony Lister was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1979, and later completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Queensland College of the Arts. He helped pioneer the stencil and street art movement in Brisbane before moving to New York in 2003 to work with his mentor, Max Gimblett. He met the New Zealand-born artist at the opening of Gimblett’s major solo exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Lister borrows from his immediate surroundings, painting parodies of modern life. His influences are varied: graffiti, stencilling, installations, Pop art, comic book imagery, cartoons and his recollections of childhood when everything seemed fascinating and animated super-heroes ruled his television screen.

With bold and brash spontaneity and remarkable confidence he paints the complex contradictions of everyday life, and does so with an element of humour. He admits:

“What I read, what I see, what I do, who I know and what I eat for lunch, it’s all relevant to me. I guess I am in a perpetual state of accepting the obvious as a valid source of inspiration. And it’s also very important that my work continues to be fun and exciting to me.””

-Ken McGregor
Extract from ‘Anthony Lister’, Macmillan mini-art series No. 13, 2010

Who: Anthony Lister
What: You Call That a Backrub – Solo Exhibition
Where: The Metro Gallery, 1214 High Street, Armadale, Victoria 3143
When: Wednesday the 7th of April, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Via the Metro Gallery website

Along with their upcoming exhibition at Per Square Metre, Dabs Myla also have a one night showcase happening at Revolver upstairs on April the seventh in order to launch their new book, Super Smooth. In conjunction with Final Outline and Burn Clothing, they’ll be doing installation work and a bunch of signings & book customisations, plus, the added bonus of some awesome tunes to accompany it all.

From the event page:

“Celebrating the launch of their first book Super Smooth, featuring work from their first year in Los Angeles, plus some gems from the past, Dabs Myla are taking over Revolver Upstairs, transforming the backroom with art installations you won’t want to miss seeing.

The first edition of their book Super Smooth is limited to 100 copies worldwide, those purchased on the night will be signed and numbered by the artists and the first 50 sold come with a free limited edition BURN/Dabs Myla t-shirt!

Dabs Myla will also be there on the night customising books. Tunes from Ms Butt, Dust and Danielsan.”

Who: Dabs Myla
What: Super Smooth book launch presented by Burn Clothing, Revolver & Final Outline
Where: Revolver Upstairs, 229 Chapel St, Prahran, Victoria
When: Wed 7th April, 6pm – One night only!

See the facebook event page and the Dabs Myla website for more details.

Sydney artist Ben Frost is putting on an exhibition at Gorker Gallery in April under the title “Confessions of a Modern Citizen”, The man has exhibited all around the world, and his colourful pop inspired urbanish pieces have garnered him fans far and wide. With this exhibition he delves a bit deeper, asking the nominally topical, if perfunctorily blasé, question “What does it mean to be a responsible and productive member of contemporary society?” – we’re really looking forward to this one.

From the Gorker Website:

“In Confessions of A Model Citizen, Frost critiques the desires, obsessions and ethics of our media-saturated contemporary society in a series of vibrant new artworks.

Through his own anecdotal and often brash experiences of life in Sydney and abroad, he explores our attempts at cultural
belonging and resulting disconnection from a world where lifestyle and expectations are bought and sold on the shelves of Ikea and
‘advertainment’ television.

The confronting and often controversial artist Ben Frost uses a ‘collage’ style of unlikely juxtapositions throughout his paintings, creating complex mash-ups of popular culture. Co-Founder of the online portal stupidkrap.com, guest speaker at the Semi-Permanent & AG IDEAS conferences in ’08 and a featured artist in The Apprentice Australia ’09, Frost currently lives in Sydney operating ‘Worlds End Studio’ in Surry Hills. Ben Frost has exhibited extensively both in Australia and Internationally, including solo shows in London, New York and San Francisco, as well as group shows in Beijing, Amsterdam, Berlin and Singapore and has been featured in countess magazines and newspapers including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Australian Art Collector, Empty, Monster Children, Sydney Morning Herald and was a contributing illustrator to Black + White Magazine for over three years.”

Who: Ben Frost
What: Confessions of A Model Citizen
Where: Gorker Gallery, 395 Gore Street, Fitzroy (corner Gore and Kerr Street)
When: Launch Night Thursday 25 March, 6:30pm – 8:30pm, Exhibition runs until Sunday 11 April

Via Gorker Gallery. Find the Facebook event page here.

Seems like Dabs and Myla are back from an overseas jaunt, and are teaming up to put on an exhibition at Per Square Metre for the Easter break – and its really looking to be something special. With their own collaborations as well as collaborative pieces with luminaries such as Greg “Craola” Simkins, The Witness, Jersey Joe Rime, and KMNDZ. Presented by the Dont Ban the Can crew, from all descriptions this is one not to miss.

“We have all new paintings based on our time spent in LA.And will be painting the gallery walls out with a full installation. To keep with the Los Angeles theme we will also be showing a series of Collaborations we have done with some of LA’s finest! Jersey Joe Rime, Greg Craola Simkins, The witness and KMNDZ.

The opening reception is on Thursday 1st April from 7-10pm.
And the great people at TIGER BEER and VODKA O have supplied a very generous amount of drinks for the party! So should be an eventfull night!”

What: Hollywood & Western
Who: Dabs & Myla
Where: Per Square Metre, 191-193 Johnston St, Collingwood
When: Thursday 1st April from 7-10pm

Via Dabs & Myla and Per Square Metre