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.
Kaffeine. Photo by Kaffeine
Kaffeine. Photo by Kaffeine.
Kaffeine. Photo by Kaffeine
Kaffeine. 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”

Portraiture in Berlin: New from Cake and Various and Gould

Various and Gould

During a visit to Berlin, New York-based street artist Cake has teamed up with locals Various and Gould to plaster the city with an impressive array of images. Two of the prints that Various and Gould posted are part of their Modern Saints series, which brings to light current social concerns through the use of religious iconography. These religious influences are echoed throughout the pair’s work, from the symbology of the objects the figures are holding to the scroll-like patterns repeating in the background.

Cake

In a complimenting color palette, the Cake continued creating portraits of those close to her, accompanied by the signature sunset hues and facial expressions for which she is known. The surfaces on which Cake chose to wheatpaste her work add to the aesthetic intrigue. Part of a new series titled The Girls of Fortuna, the melancholic expressions on each figure looks off into the distance is further heightened by the layers of peeling art and tags that dot the walls. Each one seems to be trapped in the visual chaos that surrounds them, looking for a way out.

Continue reading “Portraiture in Berlin: New from Cake and Various and Gould”

Billy meets Berlin, Berlin meets Billy

Just over a month ago Billy departed London and headed east to Berlin on a bit of a jolly. It seems that since being there she has spend half her time painting, often collaborating with others, to rather good effect. Here are a few of her fantastic pieces…

Late Paint. By Billy, Bue and Nerd.
Andale! By By Billy, Bue and Nerd.
Diamond Juice! By Billy, Low Bros, Iggy and Mr Penfold.
5 Silver Rings. By Billy, Bue and Mariana.
Berlin No.1 By Billy, Low Bros, Iggy and Mr Penfold.
Berlin Bandits Part 2. By Billy, Bue and Nerd.
Foxy. By Billy and Nerd.
1 bike, 1 beer, keep moving. By Billy.
Gaybear. By Billy, Bue and Nerd.

All photos by Billy

Berlin-based 44flavours showcases its talents

I met Julio Rölle of the Berlin-based 44flavours artist collective a number of years ago in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  I immediately fell in love with its zine, 44flavours, for its intelligent mix of graffiti/street art culture, graphic design, interviews, prose and poetry. I later met up with Julio in Berlin and once again was intrigued by what he and his partner, Sebastian Bagge, were doing. Working these days as graphic designers, 44flavours still paints outdoors and exhibits in various venues. Opening this evening, Wednesday, May 18, 6pm at the Café Görlitzer Bahnhof,  Manteuffelstrasse 87, 10997 Berlin is a new exhibit featuring new and old work, including recent collages. 

Images courtesy, Julio Rölle

Art Monument 2010

In case you hadn’t already heard, one of this years most spectacular urban art events is already under way this month in Berlin. The event entitled Art Monument will see four famous street artists repaint a 46 meters high tower called Bierpinsel which stands tall in the center of Berlin. It promises to be one of the most spectacular open-air galleries in all of Europe. The aim is to create the ultimate piece of contemporary art and judging from what has already gone down over there these guys are not far off . The artists involved are Honet, Flying Förtress, Craig KR Costello and Sozyone – who can all be heard in the video below talking about their concepts and plans to combine their different styles. Other street art names such as Nils Kasiske, Form 76, Keramik, Mr. Nonski, Dave Decat, Dave the Chimp, Poch and Stak will also be presenting their artworks inside the prominent buildings.

For more info and photos please visit Urban Artcore

Photos from Urban Art Core

Art Monument 2010 with KR and more

What to do with an abandoned old tower built in the middle of Berlin… I know! Paint it! Flying Fortress, Craig “KR” Costello, Honet and Sozyone are doing just that in a few months. From April 1st to May 15th, those four artists will be painting The Bierpinsel tower in Berlin, which stands 46 meters (151 feet) high. I don’t know much about the project, but I’ve got a feeling that it could be something really special. This could become an iconic part of Berlin, or at least, something really cool for the locals. And Just will be there to take photos, so you know that the entire process will be well documented. Check out more on the event’s website.

Here’s a video about the event:

Turmkunst 2010 from webaffairs on Vimeo.

Via Urban Artcore

Ma’Claim in Berlin

The always impressive German crew Ma’Claim recently took a trip to Berlin Mitte to paint a huge wall (25 m high!) This was a particularly special occasion for the foursome (case, Akut, Tasso and Rusk) as it’s been a while since they’ve done a project this big together. Here’s the finished piece above and some progress pics that case shared with me:

Images: Ma’Claim/Ron Gerlach

– Elisa