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Once again Dean Sunshine brings the goods! This is an absolutely cracking selection for his favourite pieces around Melbourne over February – there was some great shit over the past month, and here’s just a taste of it all!

Thanks Dean!!

1. Adnate – Fitzroy
2. Herakut – Prahan
3. Sofles + Deb – Hosier Lane
4. Kaff-eine – Fitzroy
5. Be Free + Erin Greer Collingwood
6. Dabs Myla Richmond
7. Makatron, DEM189, Otis and Plea-  Richmond
8. DMV – Fitzroy
9. Unknown – Collingwood
10. Unknown – Brunswick

After having interviewed George Diamandis the other week, we were excited to see what he had been up to with this show and, damn, we love what we see in these pics! David Russell got down to House Of Bricks to check it all out for us as I was away, but I wish I could have seen them with our own eyes – those of you who did, you lucky buggers.

If you didn’t see it, you missed out just as badly as I did – so check out the photos below!!

Here it is, the first Top 10 from Dean Sunshine for 2013 -  and what a fkn great one it is! We’re only a few weeks into the year and already there is so much work going up on the walls around here … enjoy the latest!! Thanks Dean!

1. WSW + friends – Windsor
2. Kaff-eine – Brunswick
3. Does – Fitzroy
4. Putos – Fitzroy
5. Hancock, RAD, Heesco – Windsor
6. DEM189 + Sirum. Fitzroy
7. Unwell Bunny + Mysterious Al. Hosier Lane
8. Gent + Ders – Hosier Lane
9. Ghostpatrol – Fitzroy
10. Klara – Fitzroy

About a year ago, we started working on a project in Prahran/Windsor with local artist and film media guru Wayne Tindall, at a laneway that was given the title Union Lane (it runs between Green and Union streets in Windsor). We helped organise a whole group of artists to paint for the first session, and then we helped again for a second session during winter last year – both were a great success. You can see photos from the first paintup here and the second session here.

When we’d finished off the laneway, (for the most part), I looked over at a big carpark towards the end of the laneway and remarked to Wayne how great it would be if we could paint there – he said he’d make enquiries and see what he could do …

Some months later, after a  bunch of organising, a very supportive building owners permission, as well as with Wayne and his wife Annes generous above and beyond help (Anne and Wayne run the amazing Change The World organisation that you should check out), we had the paint and lifts organised and were ready to go. This was our big end of year painting session, and we wanted to see out 2012 with a bang.

It took us a day to buff the entirety of the carpark – we went for a simple primary colour scheme to hold it all together, and still give everyone free reign to paint as they liked.

We invited a bunch of people down to paint, not only was almost our entire WSW crew present (Conrad Bizjak, Heesco, P-Yeah, Jack Douglas, Hancock, Unwell Bunny and myself – minus Mysterious Al who was off in Thailand on a beach somewhere) but we invited down a whole bunch of people who we thought would enjoy a bit of an epic paint. Meggs, DVATE, Gent, S4beth, Porno, Askem, Presto, Eleven, Phoenix and Dcat all joined in on the action – a massive thanks to all of them for their time and amazing artwork, and to everyone else who helped out with the project.

There is currently a documentary being made of the entire project by Wayne Tindall and David Russell charting the progress of all three painting sessions over the past year or so (you can see part of the eventual doco from the first painting session here) – its going to be grand, and we’ll let you know when its coming out; the plan is to have a big festival in the laneway and carpark for its release.

There are also a bunch of great pics of the finished product over at Land Of Sunshine for you to check out. From us, though, heres a bunch of progress pics of the whole shebang from Dave Russell, of what we now affectionately call “Aerosol Alley” ..

As you know, we’re big fans of seeing artists take the plunge and put on their very first show. It can be an often nerve racking experience for someone to finally take that step, but usually it is just the first of many rewarding shows that they will have throughout their lifetime.

We were pretty privileged to see Blender artist Antonia Trash’s first show at Egg Gallery – and we loved it. A good crowd, some great art and a hell of a lot of promise of even better things to come. Congrats, mate!

Check out all the photos below.

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.

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 …

So last weekend we headed up to Sydney for Art & About – met a bunch of great people, and had a fkn fantastic time. Have to say, Sydney just never disappoints – every time we get up there we keep seeing more and more of the shit that we love from a whole bunch of talented people.

One of the coolest things we saw amongst it all, was Open Street Art – a display of four square installation blocks right at the entrance to the Quarter. Curated by the never-stopping creative genius that is the crew from aMBUSH Gallery, the first pieces to go up in the open air exhibition (we’ve heard that this will be an ongoing project!) included TwoOne, Shannon Crees, Anthony Lister and Beastman.

Having been a pretty big day before we go down there at night (I think the best time to see it, the lighting really makes the pieces stand out), our photos are a little on the raw side – but if you’re in Sydney then these just don’t do seeing them in the flesh justice, so get down there and check it.

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!

It was a wintery night, but that didn’t stop us from getting down to Backwoods Gallery the other week for Fred Fowlers show, Decorating The Apocalypse!

Lots of colourful works, and stuff that make us go “oh hey now!”, but our favourites were definitely the sculptural works – eeiry and cool, and really intriguing pieces. The canvases as well were completely different to anything we’d seen at Backwoods before, we loved it all the more for it!

Great show, great art – check out the photos below!

Last Friday night we helped to put on a show with a whole bunch of amazing artists, Paperápe, and we had a hell of a lot of fun! All the works were done on paper, and we wanted to imbue the walls with a little bit of each of us, and impart some of the fun that we have when we’re out painting together.

The art here in Melbourne is grand, but it is nothing without the amazing community of people that support it. We’d like to thank everyone that has come to check it out so far. Great to see so many familiar faces and friends, and a lot of new ones too!

Big thanks also to Doss Blockos and Redbull who kept all of our guests lubricated throughout the evening, their support was hugely appreciated.

The show is still running until Sunday, so if you’re in Melbourne head down to Egg Gallery in Collingwood and check it out for yourself. In the meantime, we have a shitload of photos from the setup, the opening and all the work to share with you …

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Well, with all of our big move finally out of the way, we’re still playing catch up on a whole bunch of stuff – they’re a little late but first up are all of our shots from Rekas farewell “Open Studio” show at Backwoods Gallery.

So many people got down to pay their respects to the man on the night, and the show itself was a mad mix of both old and new, a really amazing snapshot of where he’s been, and where his work is going to.

Can’t wait to see what he gets up to overseas!

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Man, does Paradise Hills ever stop? They are so chock full of shows, events and other creative goodness lately – and this week is no exception.

The Rambler Collective comprises four members, Hollie M Kelley, Ryan McGennisken, Jamie Hall and James Ruff. Two of these artists, Ryan McGennisken and Hollie M Kelley are no strangers to these pages, we’ve interviewed both of them over the past year or so.

For this show, all four will be "showcasing a large body of work loosely based around the concept of escapism, reflecting their love of art, travel and music. Drawings, paintings and photographs will be nestled amongst ambitious installations, constructed from found objects, salvaged timber and paper sculptures."

We’re really intrigued by the installation portion of this show as well – check out this great little short preview video that they’ve put together.

You can be sure to see a bunch of great work at this next outing at Paradise Hills, so get down and check it out!

Who: Hollie M Kelley, Ryan McGennisken, Jamie Hall and James Ruff
What: Real Gone – Rambler Collective group show
Where: Paradise Hills Gallery, 1-9 Doonside St, Richmond
When: Show opens Friday 16th March from 6pm til 10pm and runs until April the 7th.

Check out the Rambler Collective website as well as the facebook event page for more info.

Our man Mick Rafferty, who will be taking over a bunch of our photographic duties, got down to Seasons of Change at Revolver Upstairs last night to check out the work from Sabeth and Frame.

Mad show and some grand work from this talented pair! Always good to see such cool art up in Revolver, and great to see graff styles up on the walls!