INVURT

Cruising around playing catchup after a hugely restful weekend (and argh at all the catchup there is to be had!) we spotted this article over at Broadsheet, and, having seen Ben Ashton-Bells work several times (recently in Board and Little Deities) we thought it only proper that we put this one up as well.

We’re fair fans of Ben Ashton-Bells work, his painterly-illustrative works are pretty cool. It has a slight commercial feel to it, yet it is still quite fantastical and extremely well rendered in soft, pliable colours. There are some gorgeous classical techniques meshed in with modernity in these pieces. Don’t just take our word for it, though, check out the video …

Pretty nice huh? If you’re in Melbourne, head down to Lamington Drive in Collingwood this Thursday night and check it.

Who: Ben Ashton-Bell
What: If The World Made Sense solo show
Where: Lamington Drive, 15 – 25 Keele Street, Collingwood, Victoria
When: Show opens Thursday 12th April at 6pm and runs til 26th May.

Check out Ben Ashton-Bells website as well as the facebook event page for more info on the show.

The amazing talent that is Katie Houghton-Ward, Heavy Metal published comic book artist, painter and illustrator et all, will be holding a really intimate and intriguing event over the last fortnight of November.

Inviting members of the general public into her studio, Katie will be putting herself through the gruelling task of producing fourteen pieces of artwork over fourteen days – with all the work up for auction as she does so!

The flyer really says it all – but, if you haven’t come across Katies work just yet, you should read the interview we did with her, and then you’ll know why we’ll be heading up to Brunswick some time later this month to see her in action.

Who: Katie Houghton-Ward
What: 14 x 14 live art and auctio
Where: Hope Street Studios, 7a Hope Street, Brunswick, VIC
When: 7pm til 10pm, every night for fourteen days from the 16th of November

Check out Katies website, as well as the facebook event page for more details!

How grand! Be schooled by the schooled, or just take in the educational and inspirational space and lets give all your energy to Michael as he forges his way!

Check out Michael Staniaks website and Paradise Hills for more info.

Heres something a little special. Street SmART began as a cultural advancement initiative in 2008, put together by Katherine Dine and Justin Tumilaar. The Aim of this amazing arts program is to provide the youth of Melbourne’s inner and outer suburbs with an outlet to experience and learn, in the underground and urban arts community.

Now in its third year, Street SmART Youth Art Exhibition presents a series of collaborative works by the younger community of Wyndham and its surrounding suburbs, at Wyndham Youth Resource Centre.

This is a fantastic initiative that features the incredible works of a wide range of hugely talented young artists. Initiatives like the ‘Street SmART Youth Art’ Exhibition are an essential tool in providing the younger artistic community of Australia with an opportunity to precisely and effectively express ideas and issues that affect themselves and their community.

A compelling event and a must see for any Melbourne-ite. Make sure you find time to get along to this one, and support what may just be the next generation …

Who: Local Artistic Youth’s
What: Street SmART Youth Art
Where: Wyndham Cultural Centre, 177 Watton St, Werribee, Victoria
When: 6 Show opens 3rd August, at 6:30pm and runs until 12th August.

for more info visit the Facebook event page or Katherine Dine’s website.

All great things must have a closing party! So that’s what the guys from Everfresh will be doing this Friday night. As they say goodbye to their temporary work space at the National Gallery of Victoria, the crew will be displaying a whole bunch of new work that they, and some of their friends, have produced in their time there.

Though its been cool seeing the crew and the studio displayed so prominently in the city at such a worthy establishment, its really about time that the fkn crazy mad graff mobile got on the road – so maybe we’ll just think of this as its launch party, instead of the studio closing party – champagne, anyone?

Who: Phibs, Rone, Reka, Meggs, Sync, Makatron, Wonderlust, Prizm, Miso, Stabs, Mayonnaise
What: Everfresh @ NGV Closing party
Where: NGV Studio Space, the Atrium, Federation Square, Melbourne
When: Show is this Friday, the 8th of July, 7pm til 10pm.

Check out the Everfresh website for more details, as well as the facebook event page!

We went to the High Definition show when it was on at Paradise Hills last month, and it completely blew us away. Tonight it opens up again for a continuation, this time in Prahran at the new Ausin Tung Gallery, and if you missed it – well, now’s your chance to see it in all its glory, with a few new artists added to the lineup!

“HIGH DEFINITION – a survey of critical young and mid-career Australian Contemporary painting, will open on Wednesday June 22 at 6pm at 164 High St Prahran.

The newly established gallery space will present a series of monthly exhibitions sourced from a spectrum of arts practices across the Asia Pacific region.

Presenting both highly collectable and emergent International art alongside that of Australian artists – the gallery will occupy a unique position in the Melbourne art landscape. It is a unique and exciting opportunity to view and engage with a variety of accomplished arts practices from across the Asia Pacific region.”

Who: Juan Ford, Sam Leach, Natasha Bieniek, Sophia Hewson, Michael Peck, Andre Piguet, Pei Pei He, Anthony Lister, Shannong Smiley, Yvette Coppersmith, Heesco Khosnaran, Carmel Seymour, Zoy Xoy, Michael Staniak, Camille Hannah, Kevin Chin
What: High Definition – group show
Where: Ausin Tung Gallery, 164 High Street, Prahran
When: Show opens Wednesday 22nd June from 6pm and runs until 16th July.

Check out the facebook event page for more details on the show.

On the heels of several events, including the Everfresh @ NGV and Rone and TwoOnes upcoming solo show, it looks like the crew at Metro have drafted in some of the talent for a showcase of live art and painting up in Armadale. Featuring Rone (who we interviewed last week), Reka and TwoOne, it should be a fun afternoon!

“REKA – Reka creates his own world of mysterious creatures that communicate though colour and movement, based around the style of abstracted fantasy and surrealism. Since 2002, Reka has established himself as a pioneer in Melbourne’s burgeoning street art scene that has become a successful exhibitor of his work, both in Melbourne, interstate and overseas.
www.rekaone.com

RONE – His notorious paste-ups have been spread far and wide across high traffic areas of inner city Melbourne, often dominating the environment with their crude graphic approach. The monotone, larger than life female faces bare down upon passers by. Rone chose the street as a canvas in an attempt to continually promote a marked difference of interest in an ever changing background. It is a stark rebuttal against the increase of public advertising propaganda, where little control is held by the general populous.
www.r-o-n-e.com

TWOONE – Drawing and crafting have been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. He gained an early interest in art though skate board graphic and graffiti culture. As soon as TWOONE moved to Melbourne, He quickly became a prominent part of the local street art scene that was rapidly growing at the time. Hiroyasu has been evolved into number of group exhibition, and constant commission mural painting. In 2008 TWOONE became well noticed from “One Thousand can show” that his first solo show with one thousand of individually hand painted Spray cans. Now he is expending his field to painting, Mural painting, sculpture, and live performances to sound installations.
www.twooneelephant.com”

Metro also has its 10th birthday group show this week, opening up tomorrow night – and it looks smashing!

 
Who: Reka, Rone, TwoOne
What: Live painting session @ Metro
Where: Metro Gallery, 1214 High Street, Armadale, VIC
When: Event is on Saturday the 18th of June, 1pm til 4pm

Check out the facebook event page and the Metro Gallery website for more details!

Ahh, can’t believe we almost missed this, even though we saw it last week and thought the preview images looked mad!

“Opening Friday June 10, 6-8pm, is our first solo exhibition of the year, Galactic Cannibalism, featuring new paintings and drawings by Sarah Mottram.

Her refined paintings can take years to complete and show a passion and dedication to her process that is unparalleled. Within her canvases are forms taken from architecture and CAD models that intertwine and push and pull with unseen magnetic forces. Her paintings create a new environment, uninhabitable, yet welcoming the eye through a kind of visual wonderland.”

The pieces border on the crazy chaotic, yet have definitive themes and micro-detail within them, and each one we’ve looked at leads the eye across the canvas, just begging you to zero in even further – this is painting at its weirdest, wildest, and coolest.

Who: Sarah Mottram
What: Galactic Cannibalism solo show
Where: Paradise Hills Gallery, 1-9 Doonside Street, Richmond, VIC
When: Show opens tonight, June 10th 6pm til 9m and runs until June 25th

Check out the Paradise Hills website for more info on this great show, and these cool studios, as well as the facebook event page!

On the heels of the recent all female Melbourne street art show, Fibre Femmes, comes another grand trove of up and coming female artists from the ‘burn.

The Winter show is “a massive group exhibition from 16 smashing lady artists, celebrating all that is grand about this chilly sea – when Winter rocks around, people in Melbourne get even blacker than usual, and whinge about the cold.”

Between this the Fanboy vs Artboy: Comics show on tomorrow night, we’re set for a grand night of artistry!

Who: Lauz, Alice Jean McKellar, Melissa Newby, Betty Turier, Tarryn Valhalla, Monica Shaw, Amanda Palmer, Amy Sadovsky, Natt Diamond, Heather McDonald, Erin Greer, Kerry, Buttons, Kelly Read, Rach Delphin, Venessa Inberger
What: The Winter Show group exhibition
Where: Yah Yahs Upstairs Gallery, 99 Smith street, Collingwood, VIC
When: Friday 10th June, 6:30pm til 9:30pm

Check out the facebook event page for more info!

 
Ten years in the making, and Metro Gallery is still going strong – and they have a great show coming up next week to celebrate it, in which they will feature their whole stable of artists. Love this gallery, its definitely up there, and this show has such an amazing line up …

“Please join us for METRO’s 10th Birthday PARTY and the OPENING NIGHT OF WINTER SOLSTICE: Wed June 15th 6.30- 8.30pm.

Metro Gallery celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year and to mark this occasion the exhibition on show will be titled ‘Winter Solstice’ which will preview over 30 artists from the Metro Gallery stable. The artists have been asked to paint their own interpretation of the ‘Winter Solstice’ which occurs on 21 June.  This is the day when the earth is furthest away from the sun, resulting in the shortest day and the longest night of the year, traditionally celebrated by cultures around the world as a time of rebirth and renewal.

The exhibition has been curated to reveal the eclectic range of styles that belong to our acclaimed established artists including John Olsen, Jasper Knight, Michael Peck, Zhong Chen and Criss Canning as well as emerging artists such as Josef Marzi, Justin Lee Williams, Michael Staniak and many more.”

(Chris Booth, High relief, acrylic on board, Mixed media)

Who: John Olsen, Jasper Knight, Michael Peck, Zhong Chen and Criss Canning, Josef Marzi, Justin Lee Williams, Michael Staniak
What: Metro Gallery 10th Birthday – Night Of Winter Solstice
Where: Metro Gallery, 1214 High Street, Armadale, VIC
When: Show opens Wednesday 15th June, 6:30pm til 8:30pm and runs til 3rd July

Check out the Metro Gallery website for more details on the event and gallery as well as the facebook event page.

Following on from their successful showing at At Large Gallery, Jak Rapmund, Mr Muppetz and Adele Wilkes will once again be showing their wares, this time taking the show to the SJS Gallery in Fitzroy.

This is a apparently the first in a series of new “Open Gallery Nights” where they will feature artwork at SJS Gallery alongside live music, sounds fun, and there’ll be some great art to boot!

Who: Jak Rapmund, Mr Muppetz, Adele Wilkes
What: Black and Gold Group Show
Where: SJS Gallery, 120 Alexandra Parade, Fitzroy, VIC
When: Show opens 11th June, 6:30pm til 8:3pm

Check out the SJS website for more details on the show, as well as the facebook event page.

After little bits of teasing rumour over the past month or so, the guys from the Melbourne street art crew Everfresh have released the news of their impending visit to the NGV.

This is going to be amazing – it will give everyone a crazily cool insight into the working practices of the Everfresh crew, as they temporarily relocate from their Collingwood studio to the NGV studio in the heart of Melbourne. Everfresh are at the top of their game, and if you’ve ever been curious as to how they do what they do (and you shamefully haven’t read their book yet!), well, now’s your chance to find out more.

“EVERFRESH STUDIO are moving into the NGV STUDIO next week.
Artist from Everfresh will be there for about a month, so feel free to drop in and say hi.  At the end of our residency we are going to have a bit of an event to show case works made during our time there.”

Who: Phibs, Rone, Reka, Meggs, Sync, Makatron, Wonderlust, Prizm, The Tooth & Special Guests!ironlak, ngv,
What: Everfresh at the NGV studio
Where: NGV STudio – Federation Square, Melbourne, VIC
When: Starting Monday 6th June and running until the 8th of July, when they will have a show of the work they’ve produced whilst in the studio.

Check out the Everfresh website for more details on this awesome event!

Okay, so we don’t catch all of them – and we don’t know how we didn’t hear about thisin time, but in the general chaos of everything that was going on last Friday night it slipped by us, alas. From all the photos up on the No Vacancy facebook page, it looks like it would have been a really, really great night!

We’re huge fans of the Mexican street art scene here, so we’ll just have to get in there during the week to check it out – and if you want to, it closes on the 5th of June, so you have time to get down there!

“The exhibition ‘Mi Casa Su Casa’ will showcase contemporary Mexican culture like it’s never been seen before in Australia, and what better place to do it than right here in Melbourne, the culture, design and street art capital of OZ.

One country, two very different worlds

On this occasion, two of the most important aspects of Mexican culture will be on show and you’ll see how they have an undeniable influence on the work of the two artists: Óscar Reyes and Watchavato. They are the Central and Northern Regions of Mexico respectively. Both were born, raised and became completely immersed in the world around them which is now embedded in every single aspect of their work. It is through this interesting duality by means of photography, personal objects, music, street art, experimental design and of course their
original artwork, the visitor will be able to grasp the very essence of these two completely different, yet fascinating worlds that have emerged from within a single country.

Oscar Reyes and Watchavato, two Mexican low-brow artists from two very different regions (central and northern Mexico respectively) are coming to town—bringing with them an insight into the extremes of Mexican culture in an eclectic exhibition of original artwork, photography and objects from their personal collection.”

Who: Reyes and Watchvato (Mexico)
What: Mi Casa Su Casa duo show
Where: No Vacancy Gallery, 34-40 Jane Bell Lane, Melbourne, VIC
When: Show opened last Friday, and will run until this Thursday, 5th June.

Check out the Mi Casa Su Casa website for more details. Also go see the No Vacancy website for more information.

One Five Faction is in full swing this year, with the successful rounds of Ladie Killerz and Board Writers just past, the next show up will feature “two of Australia’s finest, most respected graffiti artists are showing new works at the one five faction for just two weeks.”

"Wrong Side Of The Tracks" features an eclectic range of canvases, illustrations, photographic prints, and installations all available for purchase.”

Loving the run of graff exhibitions lately, cant get enough!

Who: Stopem + Marine
What: Wrong Side Of The Tracks duo show
Where: One Five Faction, 1-5 Wightman Street, Footscray
When: Show opens Friday May 27th from 6pm til late, and runs til 12th June

Check out the One Five Faction website, the facebook event page, and Stopems flicker album!

Brunswick Street Gallery brings the Melbourne street art goods once again, this time with Urban Art Throwup, a showcase of both established and up and coming urban artists. Curated by Tessa Yee, who did last years Urban Art 10a and Sweet Streets @ BSG exhibitions, this should be a really great night, with walls set up for people to sticker or paste on to, live art performances by Heesco and MissRiz and a bunch of slam poetry from Luka Lesson.

It’s great to see another collection of artists getting up in this great Fitzroy establishment, and its sure to have a lot of cool work on display.

Who: Apeseven, Benjamin, Ben Hutchings, Chris Murray, Danny Guinsberg, Damien Mitchell, Enjoy, Eugene Plotnikov, Fletcher Andersen, Heesco, James Panic, Jess/Nektar, Josh Cleary, Juliet Foxtrot, junkyprojects, Jussi Twoseven, Kaitlin Beckett, Katja Mouvlin, Kirpy, Logan Moody, Malicious, Megan Dell, MissRiz, Paul Meates, Phoenix, Rachael Miller, Rachee Renee, Ross McMaster, Guz, Sinuet, Scott McAllester, Sparcs, Sylvia Jeffriess, thepeatreecollective, Yarnwrap, live performacnes by Heesco, MissRiz and Luka Lesson
What: Urban Art Throwup
Where: Brunswick Street Gallery, 322 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, VIC
When: Show opens 27th May, 6pm til 9pm, and runs til 9th June

Check out the BSG website for more info!