A blend of violence, motion and power, WK Interact recently completed this ~400 ft (144 meter) long mural at Paris’ Geode. The wall is a fitting tribute for the 70th anniversary of D-Day; a day that marked a critical turning point in WWII, which initiated the liberation of France. A war which WK’s grandfather fought in.
Barcodes wouldn’t have been around at the time of D-Day, but I find their inclusion among the amalgamation of numbers, blueprints and acronyms as symbolic of the depersonalization of soldiers in the process of programming them to be killing machines.
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.
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.
Senekt. Photo by Dean Sunshine.Putos. Photo by David Russell.Peril. Photo by David Russell.Paris. Photo by David Russell.Otis Chamberlain. Photo by Dean Sunshine.Marian Machismo. Photo by David Russell.Junky Projects and Presto. Photo by David Russell.Facter. Photo by Dean Sunshine.Ero. Photo by David Russell.Creature Creature. Photo by Dean Sunshine.CALM and Sticky Fingers. Photo by Dean Sunshine.Adnate. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
Juuuust in time for the end of the month, as usual. I’ve been working on some very special projects here in Melbourne all of which I will be sharing over the next month!
September was another great month in Melbourne. As usual a bunch of shows and some of the best street art and graffiti from the streets. Enjoy!
Meggs painted one of his biggest ever murals on the the Fare Share building. Fare Share is a “good rescue” organisation, taking unwanted food and making into meals for charity. Nice work.
Some mad work in Collingwood by some of Melbourne’s most prolific writers, Bolts, Sauce and Kawps. More shots here.
Bolts. Photo by Dean Sunshine.Kawps. Photo by Dean Sunshine.Sauce. Photo by Dean Sunshine.
I’ve posted a bit of DVATE’s work in the past. Here’s some more of his work on a recent trip across Europe (not sure who all the collabs are with). More here.
DVATE. Photo by Just Another Agency.DVATE. Photo by Just Another Agency.DVATE. Photo by Just Another Agency.
Ludo sent over this new piece from the streets of Paris, which he calls “Psorophora Encaustum”. Psorophora is a genus of mosquito and encaustum is latin for ink or writing fluid.
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 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”
Noted artist C215 recently graced a tall building in Paris’s largely working class 13th arrondissement with a huge mural that he describes as a “lovely, simple cat.” A collaborative venture between Le Parcours Street Art du 13e and Itinerrance Gallery, it represents the local government’s attempt to beautify this semi-industrial neighborhood.
Photos by Théo David. Special thanks to Demian Smith of Underground Paris for keeping me informed!
Here’s a little video of Space Invader putting up some of his tile pieces around Paris, directed by Raphael Haddad of Extermitent Production and music by Toby Screamer. My initial impression of this was “…cooler than Kidult.”
Stinkfish is letting everyone on the streets of Paris know that he’s in town. He’ll be making his way to England soon for his first London solo-show opening at High Roller Society. The show, entitled Espina, opens to the public on the 27th and runs until November 11.
Above and Stinkfish on a truck in ParisDespite being atypical of his signature colorful and detailed portraiture, this simple black, white and red piece is the most powerful piece in the collection to me. Definitely my favorite. Juxtaposed to this, the colorful portraits even look like they’ve been overworked.
In the aftermath of another fantastic gallery show, this time at White Walls in San Francisco, Sickboy took some time out from painting massive walls with Eine to answer a few questions.
Shower: How did the concept of the Wonder Club arise? Can you give some examples of the daydreams that have inspired this body of work?
Sickboy: I used to have an illustrated picture of the Mad Hatters Tea Party in my bedroom as a kid, and it’s still in my family home. To this day I pondered on the thought of its inspiration on my life and that opened up a chasm of ideas. I have also been known to have some crazy dreams, I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s possible to transcribe some of them from the Wonder Club body of work.
You delved into the world of ‘mixed media ephemera’ as part of the show. Can you explain how and why?
Yeah sure, I spent the month prior to the show working and living above a studio in San Francisco, courtesy of the gallery. In that time I collected many story books from local shops and found some great surfaces to paint on including some metal drawers. All of these were included in the show. Many of the books were used in the temple assemblage. I’d remove the covers and paint on the backs of them. It’s satisfying to know that those pieces would never have been created without spending time in San Francisco.
As part of the Wonder Club you aimed to revisit your inner child for inspiration. When I was a kid it was all about Lego and Thunderbirds. Was there a certain toy, film, comic or fairytale that inspired you?
I guess I refer more to what art has represented to me in my youth. I copied Sweeny, the toddler comic strips, and gave them as Christmas presents once, and later down the line my first graffiti pieces mean a lot to me in their naivety. I lost a big bag of photos that had my first pieces in it but I can remember their metallic holts duplicolour essence, that to me is my inner child. Continue reading “The Caravan King – An interview with Sickboy”
