Stonehenge

They appeared en masse one typical Melbourne morning.  There was dappled sunlight and a chill in the air.  The drone of traffic was a reminder that Fitzroy is bounded by all roads leading to work. For reasons beyond comprehension a couple were eating donuts from the new shop on Brunswick St as they waited for the 112.  Each tram was full and unbeknownst to all an A2 mystery had descended upon us.  A bombing mystery.

There are several reasons to classify this bombing as a mystery.

First, each piece consistently 'capped' really really good and larger pieces and throwies.  

Second, this only happened once, like a visitation from a different world.

                

Third, there seemed to be a heiroglyphic flavour to the messages they were sending, or trying to send.

    

Of course no capping can go unchallenged and TV Crew rapidly expressed their disapproval, although I am not sure if Peezer has noticed yet.  So this bombing has become a pile of ruins, evidence of an event that anthropologically, has no explanation.

Sleep & Wake @ Egg Gallery

I missed Ryan's If It's Between Death and Magic so I was thrilled that Ryan and Hollie's Sleep and Wake fell into Fitzroy's lap.   I am a HUGE McGennisken fan.  I've been to the Rambler Collective gallery and know he associates with a very talented cohort so I eagerly anticipated Hollie Kelley.  The snap below does not do justice.  Hollie's work is truly magical, a strong compliment to the whimsical yet somber detail Ryan brings.   Her paintings draw you in.  It's the eyes that do it.

Ryan of course displays the intricate skill he is known for. You need to spend some time in front of his pieces because there is a serious dimension under the surface that has a lot to say.  Below are snippets, best viewed as a whole, beneath the ethereal installation.

I implore you to check this exhibition out.  A chilly day, a dialogue between two talented souls and an authenticity that makes you feel like they have laid it bare and hope that you like it.

I love it.

 

Egg Gallery 66a Johnson St

Elementary

Elementary particles are what you are left with when you have stripped a substance bare. When you are up to your armpits in deconstruction and there is nothing left.  You would think at this point that all the bits would be tiny, but then you look up and it is you who is really small, surrounded by a huge pit of elementary...stuff, that is threatening to bury you.

I have have recently been deconstructing the Fitzroy streets until I couldn't see them anymore (hence no new posts).  I could only see occasional new tags, a handful of paste ups and some (admittedly brilliant) commissions.  There had been this intense period where the street was stopped in its tracks and heated debate was generated.  I believe it was a pivotal moment in the timeline of street art in Fitzroy.  It made everyone argue, reflect, and move on.  Fitzroy had been fumbling along in a pretty ordinary way and then suddenly, everything was up for critique, even the critique itself.

The Alimentari wall was one of the hot spots for all of this activity and certainly when I visited it at the time, I could only see the bits.  The obliterated beauty of it all.  Not obliterated by the caps, but by a steady process of decline. But it has come along since then, it's moved on.

I was walking past it the other day and a miracle occurred: there were no cars or garbage bins obscuring any of it from view.  The overcast sky dulled down the rising sun and when I paused at sufficient distance, I could see the black scrawl and white A4 becoming part of  the substrate.  The wall, in the sum of its parts, was breathtaking.

Anonymity and other self reflections

This post cannot be so pedestrian as to begin with apologies for an absence over the past few weeks. Actually there it is being exactly that. So why the absence? After about two weeks I kidded myself I was experimenting and wanted to know how long it would take for the traffic to my site to trickle to nothing. The nice news for me is that it didnt happen - aside from a dip, people are still finding and reading me, so thanks! I will be around more I promise!! But seriously I have been away cos i have been grappling with that beast called who the fuck am I ? You know that inner question mark that wonders what social media has done to who people are. Now that is a post I won't waste on this hasty night time entry... If I could work out how to post pics from an iPad I would. Instead I will make announcements....the most exciting being that Sprucie is back!!! You must recall my adoration for Vandal Spruce. Well he has an exhibition. Yay !!! Anonymity, May 3rd -6th 222 johnston st collingwood. There are event links but there was a venue and date change so best place to find info is Facebook. Alright, enough until I have photographs at my disposal....

Sexing the Paste

Black Mark's Women of Paste stirred Facebook debate about gender, identity and assumption.  I was willing my 'smart' phone to load the bloody notifications faster. For those who haven't followed the Fb thread, the comments on his post are equally compelling.  I can't fully articulate a position on the 'gendering' of street art because my position shifts daily and I would probably disagree with myself tomorrow.  I can't speak with authority about the history of women in street art either, but recommend Googling it and reading Street Girls: The rise of Female Street Art in Cat Fight Magazine.

In Fitzroy in my experience that admittedly commences in the 00's street artists have invariably bombed in waves.  Their methodology for the most part tends to be a combination of tagging, pasting, throw ups and pieces.  Capping and slicing is generally par for the course and as people know, right now, this a bit of a contentious issue. Gender calls are hard to make without making assumptions, and assumptions are impossible to uphold given that they rely on typecasting.

I am guilty of making assumptions about class, and maintain that those more financially endowed will have the capacity to produce pieces that those without will not.  However I don't believe money, gender or ethnography solely determine motivation, influence opportunity or affect the impression an artist makes. As Snyder observed when he visited us recently, Australia has developed its own culture outside of the American context, for example.

So getting back to Black Mark's question, why are women attracted to paste ups, I can't answer without getting an uncomfortable tightness in my throat, and without saying that (1) you cannot assume the gender of the artists to which he has referred, (2) you cannot assume that it is all that they do and (3) his selection is not a current depiction of who is doing what.

I mean no disrespect to Black Mark, for whom I have very high regard and with an uncomfortable eagerness I offer the following compilation of 'male identified' street artists who paste, un-gendered street artists who paste and chicks who do more than paste...

 Barek, above - whilst alas he resides so far away, his creatures have brightened Fitzroy when opportunity has arisen.  Below, whilst not currently proliferating, Flake with his offsider Durban Poison have pasted awesome large scale images

S-701-a and Ruskidd continue to do amazing things for us using amongst other mediums, the trusty paste up

Vandal Spruce once famously covered this building below in skulls.  He is joined by a few newer artists, such as Noican.  Gender not identified.

Above Precious Little, a Snyder

 Above, one of my all time favs Nufevah, below him Burg, gender not assumed

Below, a chick with an aerosol erection, and a hot tag

And below, perhaps the paste up artist of all street artists, Rone

The Inter-Location Project

I wrote a post last November about Love Hate Love, and how I was searching for who this might be and that for all my efforts all I had found was an Indonesian Street Artist, which whilst cool, was clearly not the artist I was looking for.  Except that today I am told that he was.  This answer has led me to a most excellent blog with a truly amazing premise: The Inter-Location Project.  This project basically seeks to 'build a bridge' between a city in Indonesia, and our very own Melbourne Town.

I haven't been this excited about this global world we occupy since I started following a Russian Photographer via Instagram.  Do not think about this concept too hard if you have had some whacky, but it does blow me away that we can now see right into someone else's world.  As much as it blows me away that you can be or know anybody in social media, and yet at the same time, have no idea who you are or who you know.  But that is another post...

Toy Soldiers

The street is a harsh and violent critic.  It is a complex species.  It is homeless and Bourgeosie.  It is Queer and homophobic.   It is public school and private.  It is Bogan and Hipster.  It is male and female.  It is legal and illegal. It is gender fucked.  It is a battlefield where rules of combat collide with anarchy.  So it is a brave soldier that ventures into the street, and a war weary warrior that emerges.