This is my piece for the upcoming FanBoy vs. ArtBoy show @ ArtBoy Gallery in Prahran, Melbourne. If you are in the neighbourhood get along to check some awesome video game inspired art! Show opens this Friday, see the flyer below for all the deets.

This sculpture titled “19XX” is inspired by the classic WW2 shoot ’em up series 19XX released by Capcom – which includes the games 1942 (1984), 1943-The Battle Of Midway (1987),1943 Kai-Midway Kaisen (1988), 1941-Counter Attack (1990), 19XX-The War Against Destiny (1995) and 1944-The Loop Master (2000).

If you are anywhere near Newie you should get along to this. A milestone for public art in the City of Newcastle and Australian Street Art in general.  With initiatives such as Renew Newcastle and now SAW (Formerly walkArtbout), this town is one to watch.

If in Radelaide you should get along to Dan’s show…

Opening Thursday 13 January at 6pm – show runs until 20 January at 6pm.

Magazine Gallery, No. 1 Clubhouse Lane East Hindley, Adelaide.

go to the event page here

I’m part of the group show Creature feature, featuring a fantastic line up of artists all contributing work based around the creature theme. There will be heaps of giveaways on the opening night, so come join us for opening drinks and some actual edible insects for nibblies, mmm yum!
Monstrosity Gallery
93 Bourke St
Wooloomooloo, Sydney.
Starts 6pm Friday December 3.

Westsyde Connection is an independently run skate shop in Dulwich Hill, in Sydney’s inner west. During it’s relatively short existence of a couple of years, it has quickly manifested into what could be better described as a collective hub than your usual run of the mill skate store. Not only do they cater for skaters of all levels, they also support the local arts by hosting regular exhibitions in their gallery space and showcase some amazing art on their walls from emerging artists to the more established players on the scene…which brings us to the issue at hand.

It seems that their neighbours The Salvation Army have taken issue with one wall in particular, this being their common boundary wall and now Westsyde Connection has a Supreme Court lawsuit on it’s hands.  The wall displays a massive mural that was completed over the course of 2009 and 2010 by a whole bunch of Sydney and Melbourne crew. After having a chat to Westsyde’s RJ Williams, it was decided to leave the artists involved names out of this post due to legalities.

What is hard to comprehend is that the wall actually faces back into Westsyde’s backyard, better known as “the compound” and in no way does it encroach upon the Salvos or anyone else for that matter. Infact it has livened up an otherwise massive ugly brown brick wall. I bet If the fellas from Westsyde had chosen to slap up a few sheets of lattice and plant some climbers the Salvos wouldn’t have any issues. So what has become apparent is their sheer ignorance and awareness towards their community’s youth culture (the youth who they claim to support) and creativity in general. Surely the dollars would be far better spent on more charitable causes rather than wasted on pursuing ridiculous lawsuits upon their neighbours.

Salvos, practice what you preach…Matthew 19:19 “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

Yeah right.

Check the mural below that has created the shit fight and be sure to sign the petition to show your support!

RJ Williams and the the Westsyde Connection Mural. Pic supplied by RJ.

Dan Witz is one clever fella…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FUHSii6OQ[/youtube]

Last Thursday night saw the opening of the biggest paste-up manifestation Australia, if not the world, has ever seen — Paste Modernism 2 at Sydney’s LO-FI Collective . Curated by Ben Frost and Bridge Stehli and presented by Stupid Krap, the space over the course of a few days transformed into an incredible mash up of wheat pasted art, what could be best described as a “visual overload”. There were over thirty contributing artists from Australia and abroad, ranging from the emerging to the more established players in the scene. Below is some pics from the opening night, courtesy of John Lampard and you can see more on his flickr. To check the original Paste Modernism part 1, where it all started go here . enjoy.

All photos courtesy of John Lampard. www.disassociated.com

Newcastle’s This Is Not Art (TINA) festival is an annual event now in it’s thirteenth year! This year I was asked to be involved in walkARTbout along with several other artists, each designated wall space in the city to do their thing. TINA 2010 is special because it is the first year an actual street art component (well legal, anyway) has been added to the event program. This is somewhat surprising when you learn that the the festivals namesake is derived from the infamous (well, if you are from Newcastle) graffiti which once graced the then derelict Latec House.

Organizers in previous years had struggled to incorporate “street art” into the event with opposition from local townsfolk, business and council. This was mainly due to many misconceptions, fear and probably for the most part ignorance. Come 2010 however, attitudes have shifted and the addition of walkARTbout has been welcomed and the overall response has been a positive one, so much so, it will be a permanent fixture in the TINA program for years to come. Full credit and a special thanks must go to Festival Coordinator Simone Sheridan, walkARTbout Curator Carli Hyland and the rest of the TINA 2010 team.

Below, the infamous “This Is Not Art” piece…..

…..and here are a few snaps and video below from artWALKabout 2010.

Damien Mitchell

Daniel O’Toole aka Ears

yours truly

Trine Deans

Umpel (stencils) & Ben Foster

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjwdcn_WiLg[/youtube]

Video via Erik Strapparo

Paste Modernism 2 is shaping up to be HUGE with a super line up of locals and internationals, way too many to list. So if you are in Sydney town be sure to get your backside up to LO-FI Collective this Thursday night…..if this alone hasn’t already sold ya, check the snaps from Paste Modernism part 1 here and then think tenfuckingfold. Sold? thought so, see ya up there!

Thursday, October 7 · 6:00pm – 8:30pm

LO-FI Collective, 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst.

If you are near Newcastle this long weekend you should get there to check the annual This Is Not Art (TINA) festival. Included this year for the first time is artWALKabout, where a bunch of local artists and out-of-towners, such as myself, have been invited to decorate the streets and lanes of the city…below is my contribution “The World Is Your Monster”.  For information regarding the event and other contributing artists go here and here.

Pic snapped by artWALKabout contributing artist Trevor Dickinson