Apologies for the delay posting this. I have had to hold off posting it due to Illegal August.
Metro Gallery started off the month with the opening of their group show “Writing on the Wall” with works from local and international artists such as Swoon, Rone, Matt Adnate, HAHA, Word to Mother, E.L.K, Dabs Myla and D*Face and more. Some shots from the opening below and more here.
The day after the opening Metro hosted more live painting, this month featuring work by Unwell Bunny, Two One and again E.L.K. More shots here.
Chaotic Gallery’s 1st show BRUISER by Creature Creature was a cracker. A massive turnout for the Southside’s newest gallery. The works were amazing; a combination of the two artists styles which mesh so well together, featuring influences from the samurai era throughout. Check out some of my favourite pieces below and more here. Also check out some of their recent paste ups, which I also love, here.
A couple of Melbourne graffiti legends had a show in Heidelberg Germany. New 2 and Adnate represent 2 different eras in Melbourne’s graffiti history, so they decided to call the show “That was Now, This is Then”. It looked like a great show. Wish I was there to see the work. Some shots the show below. More here.
Two One had his show “Define Nothing” at Backwoods Gallery. As usual I was really impressed by the works. Two’s style and work are definitely amongst my all time favourites in Melbourne and his latest show was no exception. More shots here and here.
Two also released a new book “Psychological Portrait”, available here.
Check out this interview with Burg by Fletch on Invurt after his show last month. A good read. I posted some work by Burg in my June post.
Love this piece by MSYK (Germany) who visited Rutledge lane one morning and painted this awesome 3D burner. Dean and I were lucky enough to stumble across him in progress. He told us he hasn’t touched a can for over 7 years – it certainly doesn’t look like it 🙂 Pity it got capped almost immediately, being in Rutledge Lane this is almost always the case, sadly.
Shaun Hossack, curator at New Hunting Ground and of Juddy Roller cafe fame, recently got funding from local councils to decorate some of the many traffic utility boxes that are scattered around Melbourne’s inner suburbs. A cool little project with some great results. Here’s a selection of my faves, Lucy Lucy‘s being my absolute favourite though. More shots here and here.
The Opening Hours did an awesome studio visit with Seven Seas. Check it out here. Seven Seas’ characters are very cool. Check out some of his work below.
Rone, Tooth and Wonderlust painted this epic wall. I love this series of pieces the lads are doing, with Rone’s iconic girl faces combined with the awesome lettering by Wonder (and Tooth on this occasion).
Out of nowhere, Everfresh announced that they’d lost their lease to the infamous Collingwood Everfresh Studios. A pretty amazing place I must say. The crew inhabited the space for exactly 7 years, 7 months and 7 days. Completely covered from floor to roof in tags, slaps, pastes, sketches, motorbikes, inventions and the results of many a drunken night of shenanigans, not to mention all the canvases of past and current work from all of the artists.
Some pics of the amazing studio here… RIP to the old studios, but as they say the end of an era the start of another. I can’t wait to see the new studio!
I love this wall in France by Ghostpatrol.
Ian Strange‘s much anticipated opening of “Suburban” at the National Gallery of Victoria‘s “NGV Studios”, was the highlight of the month for me. Here’s my review from Invurt:
Walking to the venue I could already see hundreds of people inside and also crowded outside the gallery. An incredible turn out, the biggest I’ve seen possibly.
After watching the preview videos I wondered what to expect and what else Ian could do with what he teased us with a few weeks ago..
Viewing the works was actually rather difficult with the sheer number of people in the place on the night. So a return visit was definitely in order.
I’m not going to reveal too much of the exhibition in this review, because I encourage you to go and see it yourself and experience it in person, the show runs until early September, so you have plenty of time. Spend a good half hour plus in there. Make sure you check out the video room; and don’t forget to scan the QR tags next to each photo and see the making of the works and other interesting stuff.
Each giant photo of the houses was incredibly well composed and added so much feeling to the subject matter. Amazing in quality the photos captured the suburban concept very well.
The video room was my favourite part. Surrounded by 3 giant screens and an amazing sound system; I sat down to enjoy the show.
The cinematography was captivating. I sat there, mesmerised, from the second the short film began.
Sweeping, panning views in full HD filled the screens; like the camera was hovering in mid air around each of the proprieties. Rain, fire and sun, all adding to the atmosphere..
As the film moved from house to house, the camera focused on textures and minute details, like the road or a letter box. It was hard to know where to look as each screen showed a different angle or perspective on the house, often the 2 screens surrounding the middle screen were in sync, but other times showed 3 different perspectives.
The sound was brilliant and complimented the cinematography perfectly; I particularly thought the sound of roaring fire against the burning house was very effective and added a great backdrop for the visuals.
I also got down to “Talking Strange” a Q&A session with Ian, hosted by Acclaim Magazine‘s Andrew Montell.
Ian talked about his roots in Perth, and move to Melbourne, Sydney and beyond, his attraction to graffiti and vandalism and most importantly about the show itself.
Great questions from Andrew covering, how the project was funded, how he found the houses, which promoted some funny little stories from Ian; I loved that each house had its own story, weather it be the neighbours, or the events surrounding the project, like demolition crews turning up minutes after they finished filming. Oh yes, and is Ian going to tour the exhibition? Of course he is, so watch out world, it’ll hopefully be coming your way soon!!
Ian also created the cover for Acclaim Magazine Issue 30 (The After Dark Issue).
ACCLAIM Magazine x Ian Strange – Issue 30 ‘AFTER DARK’ from ACCLAIM Magazine on Vimeo.
CDH wrote this article in late July after a recent spate of of street art pieces being systematically capped by writers; something we’ve seen many times before and in sure we will again in the future.
CDH raises some interesting points in the article, exploring and questioning some of the differences in motivation between street artists and writers, and the whole legal vs illegal argument. CDH explains that right now graffiti and street art are becoming more and more disparate than ever before, sharing some common roots, but the differences outweighing the similarities.
CDH, a street artist – and a victim of these “cappings” himself, takes and interesting stance on the situation, sympathising with the writers. I found this stance a little contradictory though, given CDH expressed almost the complete opposite view 6 months earlier. (Making a sign that said “GO BETTER – BITCHES CAP) which aimed to discourage this sort of behaviour. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the article in the comments section below.
AllThoseShapes with some awesome street action as usual.
And finally my favourite shot from Dean Sunshine’s monthly top ten. More goodness from Lucy Lucy.
August post coming soon.
Photos and video courtesy of David Russell, Dean Sunshine, The Opening Hours, Everfresh, Emily Vanderlism, Montana, AllThoseShapes and Acclaim Magazine.