Reka in the UK

It makes me proud to see Melbourne-based artists traveling the world showing off the awesomeness of Melbourne street art and graffiti. Reka is doing a bit of a world tour at the moment, he’s currently in London and he is KILLING it! Check out these fresh pieces:

“Game Set Match” by Reka in Dalson Junction, London

Continue reading “Reka in the UK”

Weekend link-o-rama

Awer in Berlin. Click to view large.

It’s a mega link-o-rama this week because I’ve been traveling from last Saturday until Thursday morning.

Photo by Awer

Klughaus Gallery Readies for Kingbrown Magazine / Launch and Opening Exhibition

Morning Breath

One of the coolest spots in Manhattan’s Lower East Side/Chinatown neighborhood is the Klughaus Gallery, as it features some of the best graffiti and street art to be found anywhere. I haven’t been getting down there often enough, but when in the neighborhood earlier today, I dropped by. And it couldn’t have been a more perfect time, as the gallery was getting ready for Thursday evening’s Australia’s “Kingbrown Magazine” / Launch and Opening Exhibition. Curated by Fountain’s John Leo and Melissa McCaig-Welles in collaboration with Kingbrown and Morning Breath, the exhibit features a range of wondrous works. Here are some favorites:

Beastman
Reka
Anthony Lister
The Yok
Daek

More about the wonderful Kingbrown Magazine — that I’ve only recently discovered — in a future post.

Photos by Sara Mozeson & Lois Stavsky

Weekend link-o-rama

M-City in Jarocin, Poland

Let’s see what has been happening off of Vandalog this week.

Photo courtesy of M-City

Reka – Open Studio at Backwoods Gallery

Got an email the other day with some sad new for Melbourne and some awesome news for our friends in Europe and the USA. Reka’s moving overseas and having a final show at Backwoods to celebrate. I love his work on found objects so I’m really looking forward to this show.

From the Backwoods press release:

After a ten year career defacing the streets and gallery walls of Melbourne, Reka is packing up, moving overseas and having one last hurrah. He will be holding an open studio for one night only, displaying a new body of work exclusively painted on found objects.

Using spray cans and rusted metal found from walking the train lines and abandoned factories, Reka has organically used each aspect of his natural element to create a process- driven concept, turning everything from the cans’ paper labels to the folds of oxidised sheet metal into self-contained artworks.

On June 20th, Reka is opening up his studio for a behind the scenes look at his new paintings and mixed media works, plus throwing in some paintings from the past decade for good measure. It’ll be an exhibition and leaving party all rolled into one, so come down and join Reka for a one final beer.

More preview photos after the jump… Continue reading “Reka – Open Studio at Backwoods Gallery”

Primary Suspects by Reka at Backwoods Gallery

Last night I went to the launch of Reka‘s latest show “Primary Suspects” at Backwoods gallery in Collingwood. As usual Reka did not disappoint.

Reka’s blog gives a good run down of what the show is all about… “When a suit goes to work, they take their briefcase. When I go to work, I take my cans. Primary Suspects is a reflective exploration into the lifestyle of street vandals and the effect that it takes on us, both mentally and physically. From brushes with the law, confrontations with other graffiti writers, climbing onto rooftops and exploring the underground, the streets have become our desks” (Read the rest here).

The show also explores Reka’s fascination with old found spray cans, which he has painted and named after some of Melbourne’s graffiti and street art legends.

Apart from the paintings and old cans, Reka put together a short looping film of himself wearing a suit and getting sprayed by hydrants full of paint in the 4 primary colours. This played on the back wall and got a lot of attention.

Check out the promo clip as well, very funny! (from RJ’s post a few days ago) Continue reading “Primary Suspects by Reka at Backwoods Gallery”

Reka at Backwoods Gallery

Reka, of Everfresh Studio, has a solo show opening next week at Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne. Primary Suspects opens on Friday and runs through March 18th. Reka says that Primary Suspects is an exploration of what choosing graffiti and street art as a career choice means for those artists.

Here’s a video trailer for the show. I’m not sure it says much about what sort of artwork we can expect at Primary Suspects (although Reka describes the video as a metaphor for his job as a vandal/artist), but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching…

Check out more previews from Primary Suspects after the jump… Continue reading “Reka at Backwoods Gallery”

Belated link-o-rama

El Decertor

Thanks to spending the weekend in NYC for Skewville’s show at Factory Fresh (on now and great), I am late with this week’s link-o-rama. Nonetheless, here it is:

Photo by El Decertor