It was a pretty darn drizzly old day on Saturday up in Newcastle, but in between the showers I managed to complete the piece below titled The World Is Your Monster. Here you can see my little fella being dwarfed by it, standing at nearly 3m tall it is by far my biggest stencil to date. If you are in the neighbourhood you can check it in Keightley Street, off Hunter Street Mall. A big thanks to Simone Sheridan from SAW for making it all happen. Rumour also has it that some pretty big names may be gracing more of the surrounding walls soon…so stay tuned coz’ like I have said before, Newcastle is one town to watch!

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

Our Damoclecean Meggs launched King for a Day, the opening show at the new Backwoods Gallery. Almost everything sold out a few short hours. Rinsed it.

Show is still up for another couple of weeks, check NICE here for the details.

Preshow Asahi always calm the nerves

These prints on niceproduce soon

A few highlights from the collection.

‘King for a Day.’ Mixed Media on Wood. 900mm x 900mm

‘… for Death or Glory’ Mixed Media on Wood. 900mm x 900mm

‘Friends Close, Enemies Closer’ Mixed media on canvas. 1000mm x 1000mm

‘Reap what you sow’. Mixed media on canvas. 1200mm x 900mm

‘De-robed & De-throned’ Mixed media on black stained wood

‘All Hail the King’ Mixed media on canvas, 760mm x 760mm

Head into Backwoods before the 15th and check it out. The show was a sellout but there are still prints.