From Sean Greenwell:

Please come to Black Cat tomorrow morning (Friday, 25/9 from 8am) where we will RALLY and ask the question, “Yarra Council, will you SAVE or DEMOLISH our historic cultural icon?”

This outdoor garden area has been a public treasure for more than 20 years, and is one of few icons left from the fitzroy we all love… before gentrification.

The CEO and other Councillors at Yarra City Council have expressed their utmost support for saving the cultural icon, but it is becoming quite clear there is a hidden agenda at the administrative level.

The Executive level of Council has assured me they will help to ensure the survival of this public treasure.

BUT, we believe there is a very small fraction within the council that is determined on removing the garden and eventually shutting down the Black Cat (By imposing new and harder permit conditions through sneaky strategic planning and local law maneuvers)

As you all know, we were issued with the first maneuver yesterday by Council’s Building Surveyor; an emergency order to remove the garden pergola as it was deemed unsafe. This seems reasonable on the face of it. But this is just the start.

The Councils Building Surveyor also indicated that we would need to apply to have the other items in the outdoor garden area approved. But we haven’t changed anything for 20+ years. THIS IS WHERE THE FIGHT BEGINS!

WE NEED AN ANSWER ON RECORD FROM THE TOP – “Yarra Council, will you SAVE or DEMOLISH our historic cultural icon?”

Please feel free to send this on.

Hope to see you all tomorrow.

Stay tuned, peace

The Black Cat garden is an institution in the summer. I spent countless hours there playing chess, drinking beer, smoking, laughing and enjoying the essence of Fitzroy street life and activities… now the Melbourne council in all their glory want to tear it down.

I’m getting sick and tired of the attitude of the white collars running our city. First they ban graffiti, then use it un-solicited as advertising in tourism hooks, now they’re tearing apart the cultural streets of Fitzroy and Collingwood to satisfy real estate mongers, while also using the ‘laneways and cultural icons’ in their tourism hooks. I call BULLSHIT on this, and we Melbournites need to stand up and fight.

I’ll be there in spirit, but for those in Melbourne, get down and get yourself heard. This isn’t just the saving of one outdoor garden, this is the beginning of a long fight to save FITZROY.

As part of the “This is Art” series of shows at Galleri Jonas Kleerup, tonight is the opening of Seen (if you don’t know, close your browser right now). I can’t wait.

Photos to come after the event.

As promised….

I had a good little chat with Seen, talked about his tattoo studios in The Bronx and Paris. Pretty chilled out dude, nice to have some graffiti kings visit sleepy old Stockholm.

For a laugh…  http://badpaintingsofbarackobama.com/

Going to the wall: touring Melbourne’s street art

Only $98 for the tour. I wonder how much our beloved artists get from that, let alone if they are exempt from carrying cans and coping fines. Help fill in an ex-pat Melbournite… would ya?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je1KOcBYGjM[/youtube]

This is how we do it in Sweden. I’ll never get sick of Michael Jackson flash mobs. Long live the king.

The hallowed walls of Revolver Upstairs feature pieces by renowned artists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey (Obey), Perks, Chris Johanson, Reas, Brendan Huntley, Doze Green, Todd James and James Jarvis, John Spooner, Jonathan Hannon (Anti War Whole Food Art & Design), Gus Braidotti, Simon Wood, Robert Nelson, Raph Rashid, Itch, Kano and more.

The Late Show is especially excited to announce Melbourne based creative conglomerate The Serps will be adding some of their unique stylings to the Revolver Walls.  The Serps (also known as The Serpents) was forged during the summer of 2005 by now sober friends, Tristan Ceddia and Brendan Huntley. The  original agenda was simple – to establish a platform through which friends could connect and work across creative projects. Based in Melbourne, Australia, The Serps now have around 30 members within their ranks. Recruiting from coast to coast in Australia, membership stretches as far as San Francisco, Tokyo and New Zealand.

The crew includes people from all walks, including photographers, literary masters, musicians, athletes, fine artists, tattooists, graphic designers, career criminals, graffiti writers, kitchen hands, a-grade students, high school teachers, BBQ specialists, bus drivers, home owners, and competitive cyclists.

We’ve been itching to work with these guys for a long time and after months of planning we’re pleased to launch the Solid Series with an impressive multi-faceted installation from the Serps crew.

Highlights include:
A complete Serps overhaul of Revolver’s showcase graff wall
A colour edition of Revolver’s poster wall by Martin Bell
A brand new permanent wall installation opposite Perks’ iconic  piece
A new Serps x Late Show tee designed by Serps co-founder Tristan Ceddia
Plus an all Serps line up on the decks featuring Emillionz, Ivens, Lazer Bone, Michael K, Rickaz and Olmatic Genius.

Festivities kick off from 7pm on Friday 10th July with free entry until 10pm, free beers from our good friends over at Coopers and a limited number of Serps x Late Show tees to give away. The night also features an impressive array of local, interstate and international acts including The Psyde Projects (live), Digital Primate’s new project Ctrl Frq (live), buzzing Gold Coast house producer Wongo, Croatian/Kiwi sister DJ duo Maya Vanya alongside Late Show Fridays regulars Paz, Mat Cant, Mu-Gen, Lewis Cancut and Who.

http://www.theserps.com.au/
http://theserps.blogspot.com/
http://www.theserps.com.au/sz_frameset.html

Who is the bigger intellectual property asshole?

Is it the artist who has amassed a small fortune based on “appropriation” yet still sends cease and desist letters to other artists for appropriating his work? Or is it the largest (and only) US based nationally-oriented news service which fails to recognize “fair use” even when it literally stares them in the face?

Read more to find out… after the jump.

My mate Valuetime (ex-pat Aussie / Melbournite now living in London) has uploaded a few El Michels Affair bootlegs to Soundcloud… from the link:

Cop it!

Melbourne, Australia: Monday 20 April 2009 – Internationally renowned sculpture and stencil artist, D*Face, is in Melbourne this week to launch the Big Mouth Project – a collaboration between some of the world’s most talented artists and WorkSafe Victoria to spread the word about speaking up and being safe at work.

Known for his commitment to the individual having a voice, D*Face has spoken up about issues of social and political significance through his work for the past 10 years – cutting, pasting and drawing his way through the streets of London, using subversive images that challenge the orthodox, while sticking two fingers up at the establishment.

As part of the Big Mouth Project, D*Face today enlisted the help of Melbourne’s biggest mouth – Luna Park – to make his statement about speaking up on work safety.  He has created a giant sculpture of a loudhailer and placed it directly out the front of Luna Park, to show his approach to getting his voice heard and encourage others to do the same.

D*Face’s thinking behind the design was to construct an image that would represent how people can get their voices heard the loudest.  Speaking up and asking questions in the workplace is the best way to stay safe.
Having worked in lots of different jobs over the years, D*Face has experienced firsthand what it’s like to be the new kid on the block, and unsure about safety when first starting out.

He got involved with the project because he believes it is a worthwhile cause as well as the opportunity it’s giving him to collaborate with some of the world’s best artists, writers and typographers such as Luke Lucas to bring the Big Mouth Project to life.
The trip is D*Face’s first to Australia and is he is planning to dive head-first into the Melbourne street art scene this week, and record a visual diary which will be broadcast on the Big Mouth Project web site.

Young people aged between 15 and 24 are more likely to get injured at work than any other age group, so it’s important to know that speaking up doesn’t make you a big mouth, it means you’ll be here to tell the story.

D*Face’s loudhailer sculpture is on show at the entrance of Luna Park, St Kilda all week from Monday 20 April to Friday 24 April 2009.  For further information, please visit www.bigmouthproject.com.

Today I went out to 5 Pointz in Queens and took a bunch of photos, met a few writers and had good chats about the differences between Australia and America. This place is insane. I didn’t see any Australian pieces, however the Youtube clip below shows off some Aussie action, guess who… 😉

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnZp5Iv3Dd0[/youtube]

Meeting up with KR this week, so shots from that later. Enjoy these.