INVURT

Something special for you today that I really wanted to share! After two and a half months travel in Central America (expect a whole bundle of Sojourn articles coming up from all across Mexico and Guatemala!) I arrived this week in NYC. As luck would have it, dynamos José Parlá and JR were having an opening tonight at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea! Read on for the media release, to give you an idea of what it was all about …

"The Wrinkles of the City was started by JR in Cartagena, Spain and has been reprised in Shanghai, Los Angeles, and most recently, Havana. In 2012, JR and Parlá photographed and interviewed dozens of senior citizens who lived through the Cuban revolution, flyposting colossal black-and-white portraits of their subjects on the walls of city buildings. Parlá, who is of Cuban descent, interlaces the images with palimpsestic, calligraphic writings and color. In a city devoid of commercial imagery, JR and Parlá’s enormous yet intimate portraits offer a stunningly humane contrast to the endless repetition of political icons.

This exhibition will consist of twelve large portraits from the Havana iteration of The Wrinkles of the City project along with a site-specific installation."

Although it was mighty packed inside, there was some really great work on display – most of it imagery from the many walls they’d worked on – but there was one piece, was that "site specific installation", that I fucking loved …

Check out the pics from the opening below (excuse the not so grand shots, I’m not the worlds greatest photographer!) to give you an idea of how it all was – and check out all the pics of the work in the show here.

Almost missed this one, apologies as it looks absolutely mad! Some of Melbournes finest will be getting together tonight to put on Animal Styles – a great charity show in support  of the WSPA Wildlife Society.

All you have to do is take a brief look through the list of artists to know that this will be absolute quality – and with hand painted bird boxes, planters and animal inspired artworks, you know you’ll get something unique whilst supporting a great cause!

Head down to 143 Johnson St in Collingwood tonight to check it all out!

Who: Toots Mcgee, Tiws, Tisk, Sofles, Stopem, Silk Roy, Sear, S4beth, Ruby Gaile, Putos, Pornograffixxx, Makatron, Jorz, Jack Douglas, Gent 4, Flint, Dvate, Duke, Dubiz, Doodle, Danny Young, Cam Scale, Armed KSA
What: Animal Style group show
Where: 143 Johnston St, Collingowood
When: Show opens Friday 15th February 2013, from 6pm til 9pm – show runs for only Saturday and Sunday from 11am til 5pm!

I first discovered that Be Free was collaborating with Erin Green when I interviewed Be Free last year for Vandalog. I’m excited to hear that they are having their first show together, ‘Monster and the Girl’ at Egg Gallery in Collingwood.

The video below shows the girls painting the piece featured on the flyer below.

Be Free and Erin Greer

Be Free and Erin Greer (Photo courtesy of allthoseshapes)

Be Free & Erin Greer – Monster and the Girl (Photo courtesy of allthoseshapes)

‘The Hours’ launched their first specially curated solo show at The Tate last week, on show was the vibrant work of UK artist Mr Penfold. The artists’ first solo exhibition on Aussie shore, titled  ’Bric ‘a’ Brac’, was also the last show at The Tate for the year. His paintings shone in the space; vividly bright, bold and incredibly crisp. The artists’ skill with a paintbrush and impeccably smooth line work were a pleasure to behold. Some of the pieces moved away from his traditional character portraiture and moved more towards abstraction, breaking apart and reassembling parts of his characters to build abstract forms.

Well, we know this one is a little late, but things have been way too hectic lately as we go into the Xmas period – apologies.

The other week we were invited to The Peoples Market grand opening – since then its been in full swing, with a huge variety of art, music and events happening down at this amazing temporary space. If you haven’t been down there just yet, then you should go and check it all out – theres something new and unique every weekend.

Dave Russell got down there whilst they were preparing for it – getting the containers in place and watching Meggs and Rone doing the amazing feature wall, and we also got a few shots from the opening, and all the artwork about the place – theres plenty of it!

If you haven’t been down there yet, you’re really missing out!

When artists come together to donate work and raise money for charity it always warms our hearts. Relatively new Sydney gallery, He Made She Made, put on an excellent group show of work from nationally and internationally renowned artists of differing genres. The cause, the Dandelion Support Newtork – an organisation that provides baby equipment for less fortunate families in NSW and ACT. 26 artists took one letter of the alphabet and reconstructed it with their creative flair, they included Will Lynes, Numskull, Luke Lucas, Paul McNeil, Greedy Hen and Jeff Rogers.

International street artist and painting maestro extraordinaire, ROA, visited Melbourne over the past few weeks, endowing us with a whole bunch of amazing works both out on the streets, and in the gallery.

His solo exhibition at Backwoods, Carrion, was a confronting experience – which was a big part of its brilliance. Having seen work from him on his previous visita to Australia in Perth last year, and at Outpost Project, we were wondering what it was that he would be doing at Backwoods to top both that and his recent shows OS – man oh man, did he produce the goods!

The opening night was pretty warm, and, upon entering, you knew it really was something very  different. This wasn’t just a show that relied on his creative visual works, it had a swath of sensory assaults throughout the entire installation of works. From the video as we walked in, to the smell and presence of decomposing native fauna, everything added up to an experience that was quite unlike any we had had at Backwoods.

He just released this video as well of his work at the Healesville Sanctuary in prep for his show …

Unfortunately, Carrion was the kind of show that photos alone just dont do justice – but Dave Russell did a great job capturing the images of Carrion, as well as the painting sessions that he did whilst he was down here.

Enjoy the pics.

It’s a day of photos here, and what better way to end up the week than with a catchup on everything that has been happening over the past two weeks?

Mike Makatron, what can we say? The man is fkn talented, and his show proved to be everything we had thought it would be. Infused with beautiful eco-centric and mutable imagery, Cycles was another show that proves how versatile he is as an artist. From the resin painted bees to the bright, new world visages and creatures, House of Bricks was filled was so much shit we loved that.

Check out all the images from the show below – thanks once again to Dave Russell for all the shots.

Sydney powerhouse Numskull brought the heat for his latest solo show ‘Survival Tactics’ at the Tate last week. The show follows on from a previous exhibition the artist had in Brooklyn NYC earlier this year, as part of a collaboration he did with Brooklyn based streetwear label MNWKA.
With one of the best looking shows that has graced the Tate, Numskull again confirmed he is a master of many mediums. A huge installation took up one end of the room housing his rad tshirt collab, a GIF projection took up another wall, then prints, sculptures, a massive work on canvas and 6 signature wood panel pieces took up the rest of the space.

Following on from the successful first exhibition, ‘Don’t Grow Old It’s a Trap’, the people behind the Fuck You / I Am project showcase a photographic journey entitled ‘The Future Just Happened.’ A display of works from Sydney-based photographer Sam Stephenson, explore the subculture of DIY tattoos, via raw black and white imagery. The confronting images peep the audience inside the bedrooms, people and paraphernalia that exist in the underground world of inking yourself or others via crude, often hand made, implements. There is a youthful energy and humour in the works whose subjects are as intriguing as the tattoos themselves.

Last Wednesday night we made out way over to Metro Gallery to check out the latest exhibition from E.L.K., Not With It.

This has to have been possibly one of the best shows of stencil art that we have ever seen – the mans technical skill is amazing, and we absolutely loved the combination of his new direction in portraiture as well as his social commentary pieces. You can read our latest feature on E.L.K. here, but if you are in Melbourne, you should head down to Metro and see it all for yourself.

In the meantime, check out our photos from the opening below!

Last night we headed down to the newly minted “Litre Space” off Franklin st for the solo show from Dangerfork/ID/Safehouse stalwart, Chris Drummond.

Firstly – we fucking love Litre Space. It’s perfect. Where some galleries go for wide encompassing spaces, Litre has played to its strength – its a mad space, in miniature. Seriously. I figure maybe three, maybe four people could fit in there – and it works. The focus is entirely on the art, not the event itself, which the “foyer” (ie, the laneway outside) plays host to. This gave everyone an uninterrrupted look at the art on show – it felt intimate, and appealing.

It’s our new favourite space.

Not only that, but Chris Drummonds works showed him for exactly what he is – a master of letters and screens. His cut letters, screen printed ink transparencies and overlays and beautifully rendered works were grand, and seeing how he was able to transform humble “screenprints” into fully fledged works of art was humbling. Not surprising, considering the quality of the works hes done with Dangerfork.

Check out the images below, and get a feel for it – but, Litre space, and Drummonds work, really needs to be seen with the eye to fully appreciate it.

Last week saw the opening of Living In A Glass House, a collection of 50 Australian street artists displayed in the Glasshouse at Pitt St Mall.

The opening saw a murals from Deb and Bei Badgirl on the entrance of the Glasshouse, as well as a whole slew of people checking it out both at the opening, and throughout the days that have ensued. The show runs for another three weeks, so if you’re in Sydney you should really get down and check it all out – you can also check out the website with all the work online at http://livinginaglasshouse.com/

All of the work in this show is for sale, and the money goes directly towards the artists as aMBUSH dont put a commission on works! So, if something fancies you, go buy! Check out all the amazing photos that our friend Jess Howell took for us of the show and the opening, and check out all of her great photos over here.

Last week saw the opening of Stormie Mills latest solo show, People & Places, at Melbournes Metro Gallery.

As to be expected, Stormie brought his “A game”, with a delectable array of his stylised, emotive characters spread across the walls of the gallery.

Something else we loved, was the “cityscape” piece that heralded the show – this piece was different – we saw something like this of his in a previous show, after he had visited Antarctica, and, we have to say, it was gorgeous and we hope to see even more of this abstractia in the future!

Check out all the photos from the opening below, thanks to Dave Russell …

Such a damn shame we couldn’t get to this show, we have heard so many great things about it – and deservedly so, the talent on board for the launch of The Hours was stupendously impressive.

Our friend Yzus, however, was lucky enough to attend, and we were lucky enough for her to get a bunch of photos for us of the event – just making us all the more jealous.

Check them all out below, and enjoy!

We have been following TwoOne for quite a while now, and, for good reason, he is one of our favourite artists practicing here in Australia. Since interviewing him two years ago, his work has just gone from strength to strength, and his next show finds him harkening back to his own personal influences in the shape of Seven Samurai.

“What’s right? What’s wrong? Is the sacrifice of an individual worthwhile if it benefits the many?

Using Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai as a common cultural reference point, Japan-born Melbourne street artist TWOONEexplores these questions at the exhibition of the same name at Collingwood’s BACKWOODS GALLERY Opening on Friday 14th September.

Seven Samurai is one of the most influential films of all time, with a major impact on American films in particular – from obvious tributes like the 1960s western The Magnificent Seven, which was a remake in everything but name and setting, to George Lucas paying homage to its dialogue and shot composition across his Star Wars saga.
The film continues to inspire nearly 60 years after its release, with TwoOne again drawing on Kurosawa’s 1954 masterpiece for his first solo exhibition of 2012. Each of the seven large works in this new collection is an exploration of the psyche of the film’s seven protagonists, approaching the heroes not as warriors, but rather culturally-significant character archetypes. These archetypes represent enduring perceptions of authoritarian figures in traditional Japanese society, and TwoOne’s analysis looks at them with contemporary insight.

TwoOne aims to bring both western and eastern philosophy together in his character portrayals, which are based on his own psychoanalysis of each of the samurai while at the same time drawing visual reference from the physical energy of Bushido and judo. “Within us all there is a battle,” TwoOne says. “The form of fighting and the ferocity is what defines us.”

With Seven Samurai, he creates a visual representation of that duality; of the forces, whether perceived or real, that pull Kurosawa’s characters (and, indeed, all of humanity) in different directions psychologically and the difficult decisions that must be made.”

Beyond being a film that we’ve seen (in two sittings once – hey, its a loooongg movie!), we can, partially, identify with the theme of the show – but not on such a deep a level as TwoOne.

When I had a chance to catch up with him at his studio, across a couple of beers we spoke about those talked over a few beers about the common elements that we all share – the things that allow us to identify with each other, and the art that artists produce that draw on those elements.

He explained to me his thoughts on how the many popular icons around us help to convey stories between different groups of people. As TwoOne didn’t really grow up with superheros and the like, his influences were films such as Seven Samurai, and he liked to think that the link in popular culture via the movie was his own way of manifesting that philosophy. The fact that Seven Samurai has been massively influential in both Western and Asian popular culture lead me to thinking of his show in a way made the whole idea behind it seem just that little more personally entwined with his art for this show, and it all kinda coalesced in my mind from there.

Amongst the show are a array of eight large paintings, and numerous sculptures – one part of what TwoOne does that we particularly love – and a I had a chance to see them as they were being built – fantastic, really, to see the process as he whittled them down into the equine shapes by hand.

We’re really looking forward to this one – there is, really, and honestly, nothing that this man has done over the past few years that we haven’t loved – Seven Samurai is just going to continue that trend. Heres a few more pics via Backwoods Gallerys press release.

For another really, really amazing preview of the show, and more, check out the awesome piece that our friends over at Profile did on him - awesome.

Who: TwoOne
What: Seven Samurai solo show
Where: Backwoods Gallery, 25 Easey St, Collingwood
When: Friday 12th September from 6pm til 9pm, and

Check out TwoOne as well as Backwoods Gallery for a lot more, and don’t forget to check that Profile preview!!