makatron – Vandalog – A Street Art Blog

April 17, 2014

Melbourne Monthly Madness – February (belated) 2014

Still playing catch up on my posts, so here’s my favourites from February. Lots of great stuff yet again in February featuring works by Melbourne’s local talent and a few from our many interstate and international visitors.

To start off the month AllThoseShapes brought us some great bits and pieces, including this great paste from Lucy Lucy, another neon piece from Straker (loving this new style of his), some more rad stencils from Akemi Ito, this apt piece by Spie with an angry gorilla commenting on taggers in Hosier and Rutledge lanes (2 of Melbourne’s most tagged/capped lanes) and a couple of slaps from MIO, who is killing it at the moment with stickers and lots of throwies around town.

Dean Sunshine captured these great abando pieces by Slicer, Rashe and Jaw. A shot of the finished wall at the annual Park St Party paint up by Mayo, Steve Cross, DVATE, Ethics, Askem, Sat, Porno, Awes and Simple Sime. And finally 3 from Dean’s top ten, amazing pieces by Choq and Sueb, Makatron and SAGE.

Jaws. Photo by Dean Sunshine — Jaw. Photo by Dean Sunshine.

Mayo, Steve Cross, DVATE, Ethics, Askem, Sat, Porno, Awes and Simple Sime (Park Street Party). Photo by Dean Sunshine.

David Russell was a busy man as usual. Rad pieces from the Pull UP party at Juddy Roller (which saw a full repaint of the space) by Choq, Slicer, Shawn Lu, Adnate, Jaw, Rashe, DEAMS, Taylor White and Brian Itch. A nice new piece from Kaffeine. And finally Ink and Clog, who visited us from Singapore, painted these 2 great walls. I’ve also included another great shot by Roberth Pinarete Villanueva showing a different perspective again of the Hosier Lane with his awesome 180 degree technique.

Slicer, Shawn Lu, Adnate, Jaws, Rashe. Photo by David Russell — Slicer, Shawn Lu, Adnate, Jaw, Rashe. Photo by David Russell.

Slicer, Jaws, Shawn Lu Rashe, Adnatea and DEAMS. Photo by David Russell — Slicer, Jaw, Shawn Lu, Rashe, Adnatea and DEAMS. Photo by David Russell.

Ink & Clog. Photo by Roberth Pinarete Villanueva.

Ink and Clog also put this short video together after their trip to Melbourne.

Phoenix the Street Artist - Photo via Invurt — Phoenix the Street Artist. Photo via Invurt.

Finally I had to include this interview by Fletch from Invurt with Phoenix the Street Artist, one of my favourite interviews I have read in a long time, about one of my favourite Melbourne street artists. (Check out his work here).

That’s all for February. March post coming soon.

Photos courtesy of AllThoseShapes, Roberth Pinarete Villanueva, Dean Sunshine, David Russell and Invurt

Video courtesy of Ink and Clog

September 26, 2013October 1, 2013

Best of Woodstock, as photographed by Jared Aufrichtig

A note from the editor: Today we have a guest post from Jared Aufrichtig, an artist who has been taking some really interesting photos of street art Woodstock, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. His book about South African youth culture launches this week at Kalashnikovv Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa. I love Jared’s willingness to make these photographs his own, rather than just documenting the art straight-up. There’s a place for that traditional documentation, but these photos are great examples of how people can use the gifts that street artists give to the public and make their own art out of them. Jared’s photos here feature work by DALeast, Cern, Faith47, Gaia, Jace, Jaz, Know Hope, Louis Masai Michel, Freddy Sam, Paul Senyol, Mak1one, Pastel Heart, Jared Aufrichtig, Kasi, ?All and Makatron. – RJ Rushmore

These images were taken over the past 6 months while I got to know the Woodstock Community and explored the explosion of new work by local and international artists. During my many visits I was welcomed by the kind majority-Muslim community, they commissioned me to do work for them and I shared many fond experiences (except for when my original custom made RETNA Art iPhone grew legs while painting a mural). I was able to freely document their lives and unique area; I even shot portraits of a small child that ended up being used for a piece I had done by my friend from Durban Pastel.

Over the past few years the level of work and roster of international artist has risen dramatically. Woodstock will soon become Cape Towns ONLY area filled with creative public expression. I believe in and support the beautification of urban areas like this and others around the world.

Continue reading “Best of Woodstock, as photographed by Jared Aufrichtig”

July 30, 2013July 30, 2013

Melbourne Monthly Madness – June 2013

June was another busy month in Melbourne. My round up for the month includes trains, walls, shows, a rad new publication and some other bits and pieces of goodness.. I’ll start with my favourite train for June. This one ran on June 6th – thanks to The best of Melbourne Graffiti for the pic. This guy has been killing it lately!

01 RUNZ - Photo via The Best of Melbourne Graffiti — RUNZ. Photo courtesy of The Best of Melbourne Graffiti.

Some shots from Burg’s show at the Vic below, more here. Burg’s street characters are some of my faves with twisted and expressive faces appearing all around Melbourne.

BURG - Photo by AllThoseShapes — BURG. Photo by AllThoseShapes.

Knock Knock Magazine released their latest issue, Issue 4 -The Travel Issue. Knock Knock is an online magazine focusing on talented creative people, this issue features articles on Ben Quilty, Mark Drew, Geoffrey Lillemon, Dave Cragg, Sobekcis, Sheryo & The Yok, Onur Gulfidan, Rosek, Haribow, Maaden, Beatrix Curran, Kate Florence Knowlden, Val Kelmer, Jess Howell, Robyn Aubrey, Arman Nobari, Embassy, Spoonty and DoubleTrouble. A great read and a well put together production. Check out these screen shots from Issue 4:

Continue reading “Melbourne Monthly Madness – June 2013”

May 28, 2013May 29, 2013

Melbourne Monthly Madness – April 2013

Another massive month in Melbourne in April with some great events, shows and work on the streets. This month I’ve also decided to include a bit more on graff and also some work off the streets in some of Melbourne’s awesome abandos.

Melbourne Train Graff - Photo by lukey006 on instagram — Melbourne Train Graff. Photo by Luke McManus.

There’s been an explosion of panels running in Melbourne recently, including a couple of whole cars. Whilst some of the pieces are not the best in quality it’s still rad to see so much graff on trains again lately. Are the authorities asleep? Or is it our lack of trains to meet demand to blame so they HAVE to run them? The best of Melbourne graffiti Facebook page is a good place to keep up with what’s running, they cover anything running each day on the Melbourne rail network (good and bad). Here’s my favourite flick from the page for April. Continue reading “Melbourne Monthly Madness – April 2013”

September 20, 2012

Makatron’s travels

Makatron has recently returned to Melbourne after a bit of traveling and painting. Here are some of the highlights in Mike’s own words:

Brazil – Essencia Event – Over a week we painted murals in all 4 zones of Sao Paulo Favelas, (north, south, east and west and then an exhibition in the centre).

Brazil – Graffiti Vale -An event in a tiny village situated in a valley in Sao Paulo State. This village had no graffiti at all when we arrived. About 40 graffiti artists from all over South America took over for 4 days, the locals loved it, feeding us, finding more walls, beers, ladders etc.. Everyone was really talented at whatever they did, either writers doing pieces or weirdo artists like me.

Uruguay – I was there for a week and painted a few walls in Montevideo and up the coast with a litre of black and white.

South Africa – I was invited to do an art residency for about a month with a group in Cape Town called A Word of Art. This meant living in a shared house with other artists from Nigeria, France, and Canada. The residency helped out by finding walls and providing paint and also gave me an insight into the art and culture of South Africa.

Also keep an eye out for Mike’s upcoming solo show in late November at House of Bricks Gallery in Collingwood, Melbourne.

punto del diablo, uruguay — Punto del Diablo, Uruguay

Montevideo Uruguay — Montevideo, Uruguay

cape town, south africa4 — Cape Town, South Africa

All photos courtesy of Mike Makatron

May 12, 2012

Interview :: Makatron

Mike Makatron (another member of the Everfresh crew) is a master of mixed media. His recent show “Mother of Millions” was amazing and showed off his skills across a variety of media and styles. I also love stumbling upon his giant pieces around inner Melbourne like the giant fish on Smith st Collingwood and the Vet Clinic on Johnston st Fitzroy. Mike’s art, both street and studio, clearly shows his interest in flora and fauna.

As well as making the walls of Melbourne beautiful, Makatron has traveled and painted abroad in places including New York, Berlin, and India and Brazil.

I caught up with Mike and this is what we talked about… The interview has been in the vault for a while though, so a few of the references to dates are a bit, well, outdated. Continue reading “Interview :: Makatron”

July 1, 2010June 28, 2010

The Everfresh book

Everfresh (the Melbourne graffiti/street art crew with Sync, Phibs, Reka, Rone, Wonderlust, Prizm, Meggs, Makatron and The Tooth) have put together a book. EVERFRESH: BLACKBOOK is meant to give readers a look inside the Everfresh studio.

To be honest, I don’t know much about that artists in Everfresh. I’ve seen work from Meggs from time to time, but that’s about it (except of course, the work I’ve now seen while researching this post). But that’s not because they aren’t a talented group of artists. It’s because, even with the internet, Australian street art still feels, at least to me, cut off from the rest of the world. Anthony Lister found success when he moved to New York. Charlie Isoe had to move to Berlin. It’s weird. You would think that Flickr and ekosystem and everything else would change things, but the internet hasn’t done as much as you would expect for street art in Australia. That said, the people I know who know Australian street art say that the artists in Everfresh are a big part of what makes Melbourne one of the world capitals of street art. The chance to discover of a whole new group of talented artists is a big part of why I’m excited about this book.

EVERFRESH: BLACKBOOK isn’t going to be in stores until September, but you can pre-order the special edition hardcover book starting today. The hardcover edition is limited to 500 copies and available for $80.00 on Everfresh’s website. That edition also comes with a hand-finished cover, a print and a photographic print.