Melbourne Monthly Madness – March

Damn. It’s almost May! Sorry this is so late but it’s worth the wait. March was another action packed month in Melbourne.

Baby Guerrilla - Photo by David Russell
Baby Guerrilla. Photo by David Russell.

Starting off with Baby Guerrilla‘s show in Footscray. Baby Guerrilla’s paste ups have been adorning Melbourne’s walls for a few years now, and they are some of my favourites, her gallery work was new for me and I loved seeing a different side of the artist.

Baby Guerrilla - Photo by David Russell
Baby Guerrilla. Photo by David Russell.

Adnate was 1 of 3 Melbourne graffiti/street artists that entered the renowned Archibald prize. From the Archibald website “The Archibald Prize is awarded annually to the best portrait, ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’.” It’s great to see some more modern painting techniques making it into this more conventional competition. Adnate painted a portrait of Samantha Harris; an Australian indigenous model. Also make sure you check out the video by Michael Danischewski below.

Adnate – Samantha Harris, Archibald 2013 from Michael Danischewski on Vimeo.

Will Coles - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Will Coles. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
Will Coles - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Will Coles. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

Will Coles had his show “I f*#%ing <3 Melbourne” at Dark Horse Experiment. (Check out the shots, even my dog Ruby is in there :)). Will’s sculpture work is some of my favourite. If you haven’t seen his work before I highly recommend you check it out here on his website.

While he was in town Will also left us some new presents. 🙂

Will Coles - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Will Coles. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
Will Coles - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Will Coles – Photo by Dean Sunshine

Fletch also did a rad interview with Will on invurt.

GENT had a show at the Vic. He’s visiting Melbourne and has been painting up an absolute storm with the SDM crew.

Another art prize entry, this time from E.L.K (aka Luke Cornish), who also entered the Archibald this year (and last year was the first ever stencil artist to become a finalist). For the Sulman prize Luke entered his piece “Trickle down effect”. From the Sulman Prize website: “The Sulman Prize is awarded for the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist.”

ELK - Sulman prize entry
ELK’s Sulman prize entry

Slicer had his show “Organized Chaos” at Backwoods Gallery. Slicer is one of my all time favourites with his unique and sharp style. His show was as expected – amazing.

SLICER - Photo by David Russell
SLICER. Photo by David Russell.
SLICER - Photo by David Russell
SLICER. Photo by David Russell.

Futura came to town for the launch of Hennessey’s latest artist collab to launch the new bottle he designed. Dean Sunshine took him on a great street art and graffiti tour of the city, check out more photos here.

Futura - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Futura. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
Futura (DVATE piece) - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Futura (DVATE piece). Photo by Dean Sunshine.

I also got to meet the man and interview him for invurt. This was a truly amazing experience, I highly recommend you have a listen to the audio interview we did below.

Futura - Photo by David Russell
Futura. Photo by David Russell.
Me interviewing Futura - Photo by David Russell
Me interviewing Futura. Photo by David Russell.

I also interviewed Vhils for Invurt while he was up in Sydney for his show “Dissolve

Be Free - Photo by Shane from AllThoseShapes
Be Free. Photo by Shane from AllThoseShapes.
Be Free - Photo by Shane from AllThoseShapes
Be Free. Photo by Shane from AllThoseShapes.
Be Free - Photo by Shane from AllThoseShapes
Be Free. Photo by Shane from AllThoseShapes.

Then late in March out of nowhere, Be Free (who I’ve interviewed here on Vandalog) sends out an invite to an her unauthorised exhibition in a burnt down house called “My humble home.” Awesome. I love it when artists do different things like this. Be Free’s work fit so well against the raw backdrop of a house left as it was the day it burnt down, with relics of the past scattered throughout.

Jaw and Blo of DMV (DaMentalVaporz) painted an awesome wall in Fitzroy.

Jaw and Blo (DMV) - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Jaw and Blo (DMV). Photo by Dean Sunshine.
Jaw and Blo (DMV) - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Jaw and Blo (DMV). Photo by Dean Sunshine.

CDH is at it again with another interesting little project. Using hydrochromatic paint CDH created his “Weeping portraits” only visible when wet with water. Check out the video below.

And always a good way to finish off the month, Dean Sunshine’s Monthly top ten on Invurt. This month was exceptionally good, so almost the whole top ten is featured.

DVATE - Photo by Dean Sunshine
DVATE. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
32 Kaffeine - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Kaffeine. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
Hancock and RAD - Photo by Dean Sunshine
Hancock and RAD. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
SHIDA - Photo by Dean Sunshine
SHIDA. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
THINK - Photo by Dean Sunshine
THINK. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
E.L.K - Photo by Dean Sunshine
E.L.K. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

Photos courtesy of David Russell, Dean Sunshine, Adnate, CDH and Shane from AllThoseShapes. Videos courtesy of Backwoods GalleryMichael Danischewski and CDH.