Grant Osborne – Vandalog – A Street Art Blog

SOFLES - Photo by David Russell — SOFLES – Photo by David Russell

I was going to wait for my Jan/Feb post which is coming very soon, but this can’t wait and deserves its own post.
A few months ago SOFLES came to Melbourne to paint this EPIC piece. Selina Miles and the guys from Juddy Roller were also hanging around, so there bound to something special going on… Special is not the word to describe what came next.

The piece itself was spectacular in black on a all white background – reminding me of a raw sketch straight outa Sofs’ black book. I also love how he left all the raw throws and tags around the piece. The piece was painted over 3/4 days using a massive crane and a fuck load of paint. Note the cheeky PORK roller that just popped up recently..

After the painting was completed – that’s when the projection mapping started. You can tell by the video that’s it’s an excruciatingly detailed process – which is also evident in the final production.

The production was a part of Melbourne’s annual ‘White Night’ Projection festival. This year was the first time graffiti and projection were combined. Clearly a great idea as the project attracted hundreds of spectators.

Shaun Hossack, creative director for the project (who also runs Juddy Roller studios and runs one hell of a party) did a fantastic job bringing all the parties together and providing overall direction.

From the Press Release: “Over 5 stories high, Sofles’ inner city mural is his biggest work to date. Add to that Grant Osborne’s incredibly detailed motion design and a musical score by New Zealand music producer Opiuo, and you have a truly innovative work of art. Visible for one night only, but destined to leave an impression on the city’s skyline Sofles – Graffiti Mapped was one of the most exciting events of the entire White Night Melbourne festival”.

Check out the full length video below to show the full projection sequence – it goes for about 7 minutes in total.

Also make sure you check out the incredible video below by Selina Miles (director of the famous/viral Sofles – Limitless video) of the end to end process. Selina’s videos not only show off Sofles’ amazing work – they also pay homage to the process and the context around the piece as well ad the scale. I love the movement of the lift with the music and the use of a drone camera (from UAV drones) also brought a great perspective to this piece.

I can see this graffiti mapping business has a big future – the possibilities are endless. Unlike other forms of moving art (e.g.: INSA’s gif-itti) this form has so much more flexibility (and while labour intensive for the projector – much less laborious than re-painting an entire wall).

Watch out for my January/February Melbourne post – coming soon..

Photos courtesy of David Russell.

Video courtesy of Selina Miles and Sofles.

Projection by Grant Osborne.
Music bu Opuio.

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.