INVURT

After we interviewed him a month or two ago, prior to his solo show "House Of Giants", we heard rumour that Fintan Magee would be heading down to the ‘burn for a little while – well, he arrived, and in the time since his extraordinary work has been showing up all over the place.

As part of his trip down here to Melbourne, he will be doing a showing over at the superb RTIST Gallery with his next body of work "Paper Plains" – and if his pieces on the streets and the canvases from his last show is any indication – wow, this one is going to be off the hook!

"The Paper Plains collection of paintings, drawings and installation works add an unexpected magic to the mundane and forgotten objects of everyday life. The world may be round, but a box can still provide hours of entertainment to those with a little imagination.

Born in Lismore NSW, and growing up in Brisbane, Fintan Magee began drawing as a young child. Exposed to Brisbane’s graffiti culture in his teens, Magee began to scrawl his name across the city in large vibrant letter forms. Moving away from traditional graffiti in recent years, Magee has started to explore new ideas and imagery within his painting. In the last year he has created some of the largest and most striking street pieces in Australia.

His bold guerilla mural works often combine still life painting of found objects with installation elements. Magee’s works explore themes of waste, consumption, loss and transition. They contain a sentimentality and softness influenced by children’s books. While many artists sustain their lifestyles with day jobs unrelated to their creative practice, Magee hones his skills regularly in gainful employment as one of Brisbane’s premier muralists. He has been responsible for many of Brisbane’s progressive new large scale public artworks, which frequently pop up around Brisbane’s inner-city suburbs.

Magee’s work can also be seen gilding the interior of many local restaurants, clubs and hip clothing stores. More recently in the lead up to his first Melbourne solo show, Magee has coloured the city with various murals and paste-ups, including a 3 story mural in West Melbourne. 

The diligence, technical skill and progressive approach Magee employs in his work has already received acclaim across the country. Magee has been a finalist of the Prometheus, Lethbridge and Churchie art awards and this year won the Cliftons Art Prize ‘People’s Choice’ Award. He has painted across Australia, Europe and the USA and his work adorns the walls of many discerning art collectors."

Who: Fintan Magee
What: Paper Plains solo show
Where: RTIST Gallery, 29 St Edmonds Road, Prahran, VIC
When: Show opens Friday 18th November 6pm til 9pm, and runs til Sunday 4th December

Check out RTIST Gallery as well as Fintans website for more info on this upcoming show. Also check out a special preview video (we’ll have this one up in this weeks Transmissions also).

For our readers who are uninformed of some of the background of Invurt’s editor, Facter, he actually grew up a stones throw away from the Perth suburb of Craigie, 6025 – (sharing the same postcode in neighbouring Padbury), and one of the landmarks near there, was  "the Craigie Wall." Described as a legal wall that all were invited to make contributions to, many Perth based artists took their first spray can to concrete on a legal wall up in the 6025 postcode, and it was an important part of the WA graffiti and hip hop culture for many, many artists and youths in the area. Way back when he was a youngu’un, even Facter attempted a piece there, which he promptly described as “a piece of shit” and was happy when it was covered over by a burner not long after [ed. so MANY fkn burners on that damn wall … ].

“For 15 years the northern suburb of Craigie provided a place for graffiti writers to paint without fear of prosecution or persecution. For the first time in the suburbs history an attempt to document the stories, pieces and individuals that made the Craigie Walls an important place in West Australian graffiti culture, has been made.

Craigie Tales is a publication about a suburb, a site and a mural arts program regulated by the painters that took ownership of three local High School tennis court walls.

Craigie is having a party and everyone’s invited! Finally your book is ready and tacos served. Cordial for the straight edger’s, art on the walls and a RTR after party. Every purchase of Craigie history receives a Lucky dip for stickers!"

The up coming book, released this coming weekend at The Bakery in Perth, should be a reminder to the general public, local councils and our local community about the importance of supporting local established and emerging artists abilities, and the walls on which they are able to paint, and the importance of these places in our history … and that sometime a legal outlet is all that is needed to start the dream.

What: Craigie Tales Book Launch
Where: The Bakery, Artrage Complex, 233 James Street, Northbridge,
When: Saturday August 20th, 6pm – 8pm

Check out the Craigie Tales website, and the facebook event page for more info on the book and the launch party … and stay tuned for some great words from the guys who put together the book ;)

With an amazing back catalouge of work, as well as a style that literally jumps out at you, Fintan Magee has the goods – and he’s been pretty damn prolific lately, with work springing up all across the country. You need only check out one of his recent wall sized still lifes to get an inkling of the brilliance behind this mans work, and, luckily for those who are up in Brisbane, he has a new solo show coming up at the end of the month at Jugglers Art Space.

"Perhaps you’ve noticed an increase in amazing murals around Brisbane? If you didn’t know, you are about to know about Fintan Magee! The prize winning street artist and large scale muralist will officially kick his his sophomore solo exhibition ‘House of Giants’ off at Jugglers Art Space on Friday 26 August.

The ‘House of Giants’ exhibition will showcase a vast collection of intricately detailed still life paintings, prints and installations featuring a variety of mediums, from traditional media to found and forgotten objects, breathing new life into previously loved items and playing on the thoughtlessness consumer culture.

Following recent successful group shows in Melbourne and Sydney, Fintan is back with highly progressed and eagerly awaited new works in what promises to be his most comprehensive and literally larger-than-life body of work.

In the lead up to ‘House of Giants’ Fintan has completed several enormous art installations across Brisbane, some reaching up to 3-stories high. He is currently putting the finishing touches on a huge mural which will feature as part of the exhibition and which will circumnavigate the entire Jugglers courtyard."

Damn. Brisbane street art has it going on. Must contact teleportation company, a-sap.

Who: Fintan Magee
What: House Of Giants solo show
Where: Jugglers Artspace, 105 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, QLD
When: Show opens Friday 26th August at 6pm

Check out Fintan Magee’s website here, as well as the facebook event page.

Lots of things happening in the land of the long white cloud, not least of which are a bunch of community murals going up across the place. Its always good to see the support of local councils and transportation companies in beautifying the walls, and, having completed their work at Porirua train station, the artists involved are now holding an exhibition of their own individual works to showcase their talents.

"At the beginning of this year, Porirua Train Station was transformed into a visual art experience. Stunning murals painted by established local artists cover the giant walls of the station, bringing life and energy to the city, engaging with the people from the community and beyond.

The artists are Ranga Tuhi, Jo Cringle, Ian Taylor, Hideaki Katsumata, Rudy Whitehead-Lopez, Christopher Ulutupu, Ruth Taylor, Sue Smales, Tupe Rodgers, Tracey Waters and Xoe Hall and they are coming together once more to present "OFF THE WALL" an art exhibition showing a selection of art works created individually by each artist."

If you’re around Wellington this week, check it out.

Who: Ranga Tuhi, Jo Cringle, Ian Taylor, Hideaki Katsumata, Rudy Whitehead-Lopez, Christopher Ulutupu, Ruth Taylor, Sue Smales, Tupe Rodgers, Tracey Waters and Xoe Hall
What: Off The Wall – group show
Where: Pataka Museum , Bottle Creek Gallery, Wellington, NZ
When: Show commences from Thursday 28th July and runs til August 15th. The opening will be on Sunday 31st July at 2pm.

Check out for more info on the facebook event page and the Pataka Museum website.

It always intrigues me just how many people have a not-so-secret obsession with robots. I’m not quite sure where the fascination comes from, but, being one of those people myself, it is no surprise that whenever I encounter Cracked Ink’s work I’m often left with a sly smile. His recognisable black and white monster robots can frequently be seen stomping around the streets of New Zealand, as well as poking their heads around the corners of Melbourne’s most loved alleyways.

His monotone colour palette, droopy arms and gormless stare give Cracked Ink’s characters a distinct personality and presence on a wall – or a rubbish bin! Often seen as part of collaborative murals with fellow Kiwi gems Seekayem, Drypnz, Yels, and City,  the scale of his black and white style often adds a statement of awesome contrast to the more sketchy, colourful approach of the rest of the crew.

Recently in Melbourne to support Seekayem and Yels at the Red Bull Wreckers Yard event, I was stoked to meet up with the man behind Cracked Ink, watch him paint, have a beer, and see first hand how these characters and group walls all come together …

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First appearing over ten years ago on walls and facades around the city, Cam Scale isn’t a stranger to the Melbourne street art scene. In more recent years, however, Scale has also had his unique work commissioned for some pretty hefty commercial enterprises, including Pepsi Max, Lion Nathan and Microsofts Xbox.

As a successful artist who has made a name for himself between both aspects of the art and design world with his versatility, Scale has also managed to find a near perfect balance between the two. With his upcoming show, Night Shift,  at the newly launched Rancho Notorious gallery (upstairs from Melbournes 1000 Pound Bend), he is set to display amazing new body of work that delves into the interpretation of those darkened hours between the twilight and dawn.

We were really happy to be able to get a few words from Scale before his show this week, and to get a bit of a behind the scene perspective on the work he’s been doing lately …

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The wonderful work of Perth artist Jodee Knowles will be on display again at Friends Of Leon Gallery in Sydney in a fortnight, and if you are familiar with her work you’ll love this new collection of twelve pieces. Since her show at FOL last year, Jodee has done a whole bunch of work around traps, with murals and pieces springing up all over the place.

Independent of Time looks amazing, and follows on from her highly successful show at Friends of Leon last year and, well, we’ll let the flyer do the rest of the talking …

 
Who: Jodee Knowles
What: Independent Of Time solo show
Where: 82 Marlborough Street, Surry Hills, NSW
When: Show opens Thursday 17th March @ 6pm til 8pm and runs til April 3rd

Check out the Friends Of Leon Gallery as well as Jodee Knowles website for more details.

Tomorrow, the 18th February, will see the kickoff of this years Adelaide Street Art Festival, Street Dreams, as a part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. This festival has a lot going on, from workshops and exhibitions, to T-shirt parties, to the amazing Dumpster Biennale, and everything in between – and it looks set to be a showcase of all of that is awesome about the Adelaide, and indeed Australian, urban and street art scene.

“Building on the success of the 2010 festival, Street Dreams is back to celebrate everything Street Art during the 2011 Adelaide Fringe. Running over four days the festival features exhibitions, murals, street art tours, workshops, an open air cinema and the infamous T-shirt party.

Street Dreams is run on a volunteer basis with the aim of building a platform to showcase and celebrate street art in Adelaide. We hope to build a greater appreciation for street art culture within the wider Adelaide community and strengthen connections between Adelaide based and interstate street artists.”

The very busy team organising the event also had a bit of time for us to answer a few questions about the festival, just to give you an idea of whats going on, and how it has all been put together … so we’ve put it all together into a really really rough guide with links throughout (we’ve also listed all of them down the bottom), so you can click through and check out all that the festival has to offer.

So read on, and if you’re in Adelaide, get along to the events – and, if you’re not, head here and fix up …

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Well, I’ve had a nice and I think well deserved four day break from both work as well as the blog, but its now Wednesday and I’m looking at the backlog of stuff thats even gone up around the place in even that short amount of time so I best get back to to … cant keep myself away from it all for too long!

Highly exciting amongst all that past few days news, and, personally, something I am really, really looking forward to, is the upcoming exhibition by Kami & Sasu at Backwoods gallery in the coming weeks. These two are some of Tokyos most up there and talented artists at the moment, and their murals leave you with a serious case of mouth wide open with their symmetry and beautifully rendered designs.

“Japan’s foremost street artists KAMI and SASU will present their first Australian solo exhibition, titled “OMNI”, this November at Backwoods Gallery.

As husband and wife, KAMI and SASU create a constantly evolving visual dialogue that expresses their world and hopes for the future. Renowned for their giant collaborative zen pop murals, KAMI and SASU’s works combine elegant geometry with ebullient, uplifting colors.

KAMI and SASU have been an inspiration to a generation of Japanese underground artists. Like an eclipse, “OMNI” by KAMI and SASU AKA ‘HITOTZUKI’ (lit: Sun and Moon) will be a vibrant celebration of the couples idealistic spirit.”

The pair will also be doing a large scale mural at Melbourne Central

Who: Kami & Sasu
What: Omni exhibition opening & mural work
Where: Backwoods Gallery, 25 Easey St, Collingwood, VIC.
When: Friday 19th November 6pm – 10pm, show runs until 4th of December

Via Everfresh & Backwoods Gallery

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 …

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