A note from RJ: This is Luke’s first guest post on Vandalog. He will be helping us cover street art and graffiti in Melbourne, Australia.
This is an amazing little alleyway in Melbourne. Check out some of the local and international talent. (There’s so much goodness down there so apologies to anyone that I’ve missed.. Next time..)
Whilst it’s not as famous as some other Melbourne streets, it’s by far my favourite. No surprise why this is, this alley is the entrance to the famous ‘Blender Studios‘ http://www.theblenderstudios.com/ (Have a read on their site, Blender is an instrumental part of the history of Melbourne’s vibrant street art scene).
Ok, Here we go:
VextaGhostpatrolReka (Everfresh)Sync, Phibs (Everfresh), HAHA & more
Note from RJ: This is the first guest post from Ben, a young street art fan from Newcastle. Also, thanks to HookedBlog for documenting Malarky’s work so well. Most of the photos in this post are by him.
Malarky’s colourful characters have begun to adorn the walls and shutters of East London and Barcelona in recent years. His instantly recognisable style soon got him known and he has recently exhibited alongside fellow street artist ‘Billy’ at High Roller Society. As the dust settled from an extremely successful opening night, I caught up with Malarky to ask a few questions.
Ben: Tell us a little bit about yourself – when did you first start painting and why?
Malarky: My name is Malarky; I live sometimes in London and sometimes in Barcelona. Things I like to do include:
• Painting outside
• Painting inside
• Drinking Beers in the Sunshine
• Eating Sandwiches in the Park
I got into alternative art through skateboarding just all the mad deck graphics and stickers and real low brow illustration stuff. I started doing hand drawn stickers and just putting up as many as I could, that sort of pushed me into the graff scene. I have always lived in the centre of whatever city I was in so I never really got trains anywhere, I always enjoyed metro and trackside missions, but it sucks not seeing your piece again, so that sort of pushed me to start painting shutters because people at street level see them every day.
Certain characters seem to reoccur in your work such as your fox – what the story behind them?
I used to see foxes on my way home in the small hours and just loved how they run the streets in the night-time, when no one else is around, just chilling on the corners. Then when I started drawing them, I just loved the colours – the orange and white together and how instantly recognisable an animal it is from just that. Then when I started painting shutters it all fell into place, they both stay hidden in the day then just chill on road though the night.
Malarky and Billy. Photo by HookedBlog
Tell us about your new show with Billy entitled summer breeze?
Just a crazy medley of mad colours and characters crammed into this cool space, it’s been super fun to do I don’t know what to say, go and see it!
Malarky at High Roller Society. Photo by HookedBlog
Are your methods and techniques of painting on the street the same as when creating pieces for your show?
Well my colours are definitely influenced by the paint I use on the street; I mix up the paints or inks to match my cans. On the street I like keeping some of the background texture like brick or metal shutters, I use a similar vibe with my paintings on wood so my paintings are like little miniature Japanese versions of my street stuff.
If you could use one medium for the rest of your life what would it be?
MTN 94 all day every day
Recently your street work has involved collaborations with other artists such as Sweet Toof, and What Collective, do you prefer to collaborate with others or work alone?
It’s strange, I love to do both and obviously it’s more fun to paint with someone so I just take it as it comes. Collabs can work well because of all the ideas flying about, but then sometimes you have a big piece planned for a truck or whatever and it has to be a solo piece to work. I guess it’s more satisfying to paint a big piece on your own, but more fun to do a collab and I love the fun times!
Sweet Toof and Malarky. Photo by HookedBlog
On your website it says you live in a ‘magic place between South-London and Barcelona’. You seem to do a lot of painting in Barcelona, what is it that attracts you there?
Barcelona is just a magic dream land of shutters, trucks, sunshine and beers. I just can’t stay away from it, the energy, the people – everything is chilling. Sun and beers all day, paint and beers all night. You could paint a shutter every day and it would take 20 years to finish them all, I can’t speak highly enough of it.
Malarky. Photo by Malarky
Are there any of your street pieces that you are particularly proud of?
I love the rooftop on roman road with Billy, it’s so prominent on that street and the colours and pieces worked well together. Sometimes everything just comes together nicely, that’s was one of those times!
What is the strangest/most unusual thing that’s happened to you when you’ve been out painting?
There’s been crazy Policia that have bounced me off shutters, and all the classic ‘nearly fell 50ft to my death’ times. My favourite time was when I was painting at this abandoned civil war bunker in middle of nowhere up a mountain overlooking Barca. A band appeared out of inside the bunker and started playing songs and handing out beer, then more and more people started appearing and it turned into a crazy block party up a mountain, it was sweet!
Billy and Malarky. Photo by HookedBlog
Do you collect art and if so, what art do you have on your walls?
I don’t really collect but I have some prints/paintings up on the wall – some Mr Penfold prints, a Nylon painting, a Sweet Toof print, some sick Hedof prints and a Cloud Commission print.
Any plans for the future we should hear about?
A couple of top secret projects but aside from that, paint more streets colourful, hit some other countries and I think maybe make a small comic.
‘Summer Breeze’ is a must see and runs from the 11th June until the 3rd July at High Roller Society.
Please note: It is reasonable to assume that most links in this post are NSFW. You have been warned.
Lush‘s graffiti has been popping up in LA recently (sometimes verymuchannounced, sometimes a bit more subtly). Well, Lush is no idiot. In fact, he is pretty damn clever. So it’s no surprise that all these pieces have been leading up to a pop-up show in LA for next month called Lush Sells Out In LA. I’ve no idea what to expect, except that someone will get offended. His show in Melbourne last year was a huge hit, but wasn’t for the faint of heart or politically correct. I’m really excited to see what he does this time around. Get ready LA, Lush is selling out all over again on July 15th, and it’s gonna be crazy.
Escif and San are traveling around the West coast in before for their upcoming show at Fifty24SF. The show, See You In Croatan, opens on June 30th. The Citrus Report has all the info. Until the opening, the two Spanish artists are driving around the West coast checking out the USA and doing some painting. Here is some of what they’ve been up to…
The queen of sexy stenciled girls, Aiko, has a solo show opening in a few weeks at Amsterdam’s Andenken Gallery. Andenken used to be based in Denver, but has relocated to Amsterdam. Her show, Unstoppable Waves, opens on July 9th (6-10pm) and runs through July 24th. The spray cans that Aiko contributed to Up Close and Personal, the show I put on with MANY last month, were some of the most popular pieces in that show, so this should be a real treat for anyone in Amsterdam. Unstoppable Waves will be Aiko’s first solo show in Europe.
Australia’s Anthony Lister is in London right now to launch his latest series of prints at Picture On Walls. Like Dran’s recent release at POW, these prints are actually 100 fairly customized prints. On each print of this Fan Boy series, Lister has painted a different design on the main character’s t-shirt. Here are a few examples:
The POW website describes these prints as “basically halfway between an original painting and a silk screen print,” which is cool. Lister has always been super-prolific, so this format probably works well for him. Of course, POW also describe the prints as “Very desirable,” but I think that’s just a little joke to provoke another certain street art blog.
The Fan Boy prints will be launched this Thursday evening at Pictures on Walls in London from 6-9pm. The show will also include new paintings and stickers.
While in town, Lister has been getting up around London, including the above collaboration with Haculla and something with Very Nearly Almost. I’ve also spotted some new stickers that just say “Lister”.
Although I haven’t yet made it to New Zealand or Australia, they’ve come to me — thanks to 5Pointz, Long Island City’s graffiti Mecca. Last year, it introduced me to the masterful photorealistic murals created by New Zealand’s Owen Dippie and, more recently, to Australia’s Beastman’s wondrous geometric designs.
Owen Dippie aka OD does Nas; completed in fall, 2010 and still up @ 5Pointz, photo by Lois StavskyOwen Dippie, Martha Cooper & Futura in Chelsea shoolyard, 2010, photo by Lois Stavsky Beastman @ 5Pointz, spring 2011, photo by Naomi ShoreBeastman, close-up, photo by Dani Reyes Mozeson
Last week, Billy and Malarky opened their first show together, Summer Breeze, at East London’s High Roller Society. Their colorful and cartoonish styles are anything but standard for Londoners doing street art. Maybe they fit in with some of the present and former Burning Candy crew members (they have collaborated with Sweet Toof outdoors), but there’s definitely a lot less of a graffiti vibe from these two. Summer Breeze is the first time I’ve seen either Malarky or Billy’s indoor work, and I really enjoyed it, particuarly Malarky’s paintings. The whole show looks like something I’d expect to see in California, rather than London.
Following on the coattails of Rj just three posts down, to bring us all up to speed, Clownsoldier is this months artist showing at Pawn Works in Chicago. I have some vested interest in that space, but what they are doing for the chicago street scene is pretty spectacular as every artist that has come so far has left a little piece of themselves in the city. Now let’s see some more pieces on the street son, you ve got six days!
Redcoat Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland has a show opening on July 1st called Rudimentary Perfection. This show will be the first show specifically focused on “graffuturism,” a style of modern graffiti promoted by the Graffuturism blog. If you’ve ever felt that graffiti is at a bit of a standstill (rack spray paint, write name, repeat), graffuturism may be the sort of post-graffiti that you’ve been waiting for. Rudimentary Perfection includes She One, Duncan Jago, Jaybo Monk, Matt W. Moore, Augustine Kofie, Nawer, Morten Andersen, Poesia, Derm, and Mark Lyken. These artists have a modern take on graffiti, often most closely associated with Futura’s abstract work, if you need to tie it to traditional graffiti.
