ALL YOUR WALLS – Vandalog – A Street Art Blog

January 27, 2014

All Your Walls – Hosier Lane – Melbourne (Stage 2)

I am extremely late with this post, it’s been a busy last month or so, but I wanted to share the 2nd session of All Your Walls Melbourne, a satellite event we ran in late November as a part of the MELBOURNE NOW exhibition held by the National Gallery of Victoria. You can read all about the event in my previous post here.

The final 3 days were definitely not as hectic, I’d say that is due to the fact we didn’t have 6 massive scissor lifts moving around the lanes all day, but it was a great way to finish off the event.

Artists starting arriving early on the 1st day and worked all the way up until the official opening. The last 3 days of the event attracted thousands of visitors coming to see the finished laneways. All stakeholders were delighted with the final result, a full repaint of the entire Hosier and Rutledge Lane precinct, something that has never been done before. The event also received some great reviews.

Check out this great video from EdInFocus that gives you a good idea of what the event was all about.

All Your Walls Recap Video from EdInFocus on Vimeo.

From my personal perspective the importance of this event extended beyond the event itself. Rutledge Lane (Hosier’s lesser known cousin) has become known as a “practice lane” due to the poor quality of the work being painted there. All Your Walls showed Melbourne that Rutledge Lane can be just as good as Hosier Lane and in my opinion should remain that way. It was a refreshing sight to see that for several weeks after the event the work was respected (usually it gets tagged and painted over by complete rubbish, that does not deserve to be in the lane, again in my opinion). It was also both surprising and pleasing to see that local artists have begun to maintain the lanes, without being asked.

My feelings about Rutledge Lane are in line with my recent submission/response to the Melbourne City Council Graffiti Management Policy. Melbourne City Council recently proposed officially classifying Rutledge lane as a practice lane, which I was strongly opposed to. Encouraging this behaviour encourages a “do as you wish” attitude in Rutledge lane, which before All Your Walls was at it’s worst state in a long time. (Adrian Doyle’s Empty Nursery Blue project also had an impact on this lane). [The policy also contains some great ideas and a fresh new attitude towards street art in Melbourne, for example now the council will leave street art alone, unless asked. Previously the council would contact building owners and ask if they would like it removed. I think this is a pretty progressive attitude for a council, even though the council knows that Melbourne would not be the same without street art].

One other important thing I would like to clear up, especially for my readers in Melbourne. While All Your Walls was indeed organised by a number of parties (NGV, Land of Sunshine, Invurt, Just Another Agency and Hosier INC), Hosier and Rutledge lanes remain free for ANYONE to paint, anytime. That being said, don’t cap what you can’t burn, seriously, what an embarrassment some of the tags and pieces are over the top of some REAL work.

Check out some of the amazing work from the final 3 days as well as the amazing 3D mapping piece created by DVATE and Grant Osborne.

Otis Chamberlain. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

Marian Machismo. Photo by David Russell.

Junky Projects and Presto. Photo by David Russell.

Creature Creature. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

CALM and Sticky Fingers. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

DVATE + Grant Osborne + Project-Shaun > graffiti mapping collaboration from Grant Osborne on Vimeo.

Photos courtesy of David Russell and Dean Sunshine.

Video courtesy of EdInFocus and Grant Osborne.

January 2, 2014January 2, 2014

Melbourne Monthly Madness – November 2013

Wow! What a year it has been in Melbourne street art and graffiti, this is my 2nd last post covering 2013. December post coming soon. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Years Eve whatever you got up to.

I’ll start off with this great talk Ghostpatrol gave at Renew Newcastle Creative Talks. GP talks about his current life as a full time artist, growing up and the influence and importance of street art on his current work. GP also mentioned the ABC documentary made about him (and his partner – Miso) which is also definitely worth a watch – available here.

Kaffeine used the All Your Walls event as a launching board for her latest project HEARTCORE. (I’ll be doing a separate article on All Your Walls Part 2 soon).

Kaffeine painted her 1st piece for her new project HEARTCORE. For this amazing project Kaff is working with Berry Street, a child and family services organisation, and using real stories created by young people at the at Berry Street.

Kaffeine's HEARTCORE sketch. Photo by Kaffeine — Kaffeine’s HEARTCORE sketch. Photo by Kaffeine.

From the Just Another Blog “Creative writing and poetry from young people in Berry Street School will be interpreted by renowned Victorian street and contemporary artist Kaffeine and painted as a series of large and small street art murals on walls across Melbourne; including one that will take up a whole inner-‐city laneway. A coffee-‐table book titled HEARTCORE will then be launched at the conclusion of the project, made up of professional and artistic photographs of the murals together with the writing”.

Plus here’s a great interview (via an article in The Age newspaper) with Kaff talking about the project/piece.

I’m really excited to see what else Kaff produces as a part of this project.

Continue reading “Melbourne Monthly Madness – November 2013”

December 4, 2013

Melbourne Monthly Madness – October 2013

This post is super late but definitely worth sharing with you all. I have been flat out working on the 2nd and final installment of ALL YOUR WALLS (last Wednesday through Friday – which was a HUGE success, I’ll be doing a full post on that soon). October’s post is short and sweet with some amazing content. Take some time to watch the videos and check out some of the awesome pics below.

This interview from Upstart Magazine with Australian stencil artist Damien Mitchell is a great way to start (Damien now lives in Brooklyn NYC). Damien gives a good insight into Melbourne’s scene and some great shots of some of the city’s best spots for street art and graff. Being a dog lover I’m a huge fan of the story behind the dog stencil.

This great short doco reappeared on vimeo after a long time in hiding. Melbourne Ink was filmed back in 2008 by Julien Sena and Romain Levrault while visiting from France. The video features the work of and interviews with some of Melbourne’s best artists; right in the midst of the massive explosion of street art in our city. Big ups to Fletch for the link!

Melbourne Ink from romain levrault on Vimeo.

Seeing this music video was a great surprise. Australian band Spiderbait recently released the music video for the track ‘It’s Beautiful’ (from their self titled album). A great video showing off some of Melbourne’s best lane ways and featuring the work of many Melbourne street artists and some music by a rad band.

Miso’s latest show ‘Bright Night Sky’ at Backwoods Gallery was amazing to say the least! Each piece created with a series of intricate pin pricks that come together to form beautiful pieces. Sold out before it opened, nice! These great shots show off some of her work and the awesome installation (in particular the fish eye shot).

Miso - Photo by Dreaded Cat Studios — Miso. Photo by Dreaded Cat Studios.

Miso - Photo by David Russell — Miso. Photo by David Russell.

My friend Lou Chamberlin launched her new book “Street Art Melbourne” in Hosier lane. Lou has been collecting shots of Melbourne’s amazing street art in our streets and lanes for the last 6 years or so, and the result is this great new book, showcasing some of Melbourne’s best artists alongside interstate and international visitors. Lou also invited a bunch of artists down and provided some paint to help colour the lane. I was asked to write the forward for the book which I was happy to do. Check out some of the work painted on the day here. You can preview the book and grab a copy here.

Lou Chamberlin - Street Art Melbourne Launch — Street Art Melbourne Launch. Photo by David Russell.

Kirpy painted his iconic Metcard stencil at Revolver. A common sight around Melbourne a few years ago, before it was replaced by the latest ticketing system. If you don’t get why it’s ripped then you probably won’t appreciate the stencil as much 😉 I love the crispness of the stencil against the texture of the wall, it sort of looks like it’s floating.

Kirpy - Metcard - Revolver — Kirpy’s Metcard at Revolver

Reka painted this awesome mural in San Francisco – a mad piece. He also did a great interview on the local news.

Reka - San Francisco — Reka – San Francisco. Photo by Reka.

He also painted in Portland this Autumn themed wall, titled “The Fall”. I’m really loving the direction James is taking with his work, to me it seems like he is incorporating more traditional shapes and objects meshed with his awesome style that we know and love!

Reka - The Fall - Portland — Reka – The Fall – Portland. Photo by Reka.

This recap of Project 5 in Sydney, featuring Rone and Adnate from Melbourne. A great little project with Rone, Adnate, Numskull and Jodee Knowles. All proceeds from the works went towards supporting a great charity (ICE). A good close up of the live work and interviews with the artists.

David Russell’s “Through the Lens” for October brings the goods from around town, as usual. Here’s some of my faves.

RESUME - Photo By David Russell — RESUME. Photo By David Russell.

Facter - Photo By David Russell — Facter. Photo By David Russell.

Slicer - Photo By David Russell — Slicer. Photo By David Russell.

And to finish up a couple of rippers from Dean Sunshine’s Top Ten.

Taylor White - Photo by Dean Sunshine — Taylor White. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

Two One and Senekt - Photo by Dean Sunshine — Two One and Senekt. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

Photos courtesy of Dean Sunshine, David Russell, Dreaded Cat Studios and Reka.

Video Courtesy of Ambush Gallery, Upstart Magazine, Romain Levrault and Spiderbait.

November 17, 2013November 17, 2013

ALL YOUR WALLS :: Hosier Lane :: Melbourne

ALL YOUR WALLS - Photo by David Russell — F1 & ID – ALL YOUR WALLS. Photo by David Russell.

Ok, so I am pretty damn excited to share this event with you.

For the last 6 months or so Dean Sunshine from Land of Sunshine, Fletcher Anderson (aka Facter) from Invurt (who I also write for), Toby from Just Another and I ( Chairperson of Hosier Inc) have been working together on this exciting project. ALL YOUR WALLS is a satellite event for the National Gallery of Victoria‘s Melbourne Now event, a 3 month programme of work celebrating Melbourne art. It is the gallery’s largest ever exhibition, so the association with the event is very special indeed. The NGV have always been big supporters of street art and graffiti as I’ve mentioned in the past.

The project commenced many months ago when Dean was approached by the NGV and told about the upcoming Melbourne Now exhibition and asked how best to represent this fundamental part of art in Melbourne. Dean then approached us and we all came up with ALL YOUR WALLS. Thanks to Dean for the opportunity to be involved in this amazing project.

So what’s the project all about?

Over 6 days in November more than 100 of Melbourne’s best artists and writers (incl. 11 crews) will repaint (sculpt/paste/stencil/etc) the entire Hosier and Rutledge lane precinct. Artists are painting high and low, so we’ll be covering parts of walls that have never before seen paint. The project’s intention is to celebrate the significant role that street art and graffiti continues to play in the cultural life of Melbourne. ALL YOUR WALLS is a great representation of the diverse range of artists and styles on the streets of our city.

The event is being held over 2 sessions. The 1st session (last weekend) was for the high walls, and the 2nd (27-29 November) for the ground level walls. We will then launch the event with an opening party on the 29th from 6-9pm.

The project has been made possible by the generous support of sponsor Ironlak. Also with support from NGV, Melbourne City Council and Hosier Inc.

Hosier Inc is a not for profit, community based association made up of residents, business owners, artists and anyone that loves Hosier and Rutledge lanes. Street art and graffiti are obviously topics of interest but the Inc also focuses on issues such as public safety and upkeep of the lanes amongst other things. Hosier Inc has been undoubtedly been instrumental in the concept behind the project; access to untouched walls is a result of the relationship we have forged with residents and users of the space.

I recently described the lanes in detail after Rutledge lane was painted blue; for anyone that didn’t read that – in summary Hosier lane (and the lesser known Rutledge lane) is Melbourne’s most iconic street art and graffiti location, without a doubt. (Whether or not it was the best spot is debatable, it is certainly the most well known). Continue reading “ALL YOUR WALLS :: Hosier Lane :: Melbourne”