[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/27530660[/vimeo]

A brand new collaboration between two Sydney-based groups with the shared concern of breathing more colour into our city.

KON, Sprinkles and Cam Wall, have been invited by PRIMO! Magazine and The Outsiders (Teem and Mr Sweet) to bring their perspectives and their talents into a single forum where they are encouraged to work, play and paint together. The primary aim of these small beginnings is to contribute to putting Sydney on par with artistically vibrant cities from across the globe, and to cultivate powerful and prolific relationships within the city’s artistic community.

Backyard Play is a celebration of the notion of home, nostalgia and diversity. Every upbringing in this country is set against a different backdrop, and the concept of “play” is defined in a myriad of ways. Where the backyard of one persons childhood was a grassy garden in suburbia, yours may have featured the bush, the desert, the sea, the farm or the CBD. Our project is designed to unite the Australian community through art and shared experience, and there is no more perfect concept to launch this regular event than this.

The first exhibition has been preceded by a collaborative day of creation, where artists created works inspired by the theme of Backyard Play with media including aerosol, pen and paint on canvas. The day was documented on camera and film, and this footage has been edited into a number of trailers and a documentary that will be screened as part of the exhibition.
We invite you to be part of our debut show.

Where & When Plump Gallery, 240 Enmore Rd, Enmore Opens Thursday 8th of December 2011 Exhibition continues until Wednesday 14th of December 2011.”

Gaffa gallery have approached my pal Tim Andrew to do a re-launch of his exhibition Big Deal in a pop-up location down at The Rocks in Sydney. I was fortunate enough to get along to the debut of Big Deal a few months back at Gaffa and I highly recommend you get along to this show. Featured will be a bold mix of Tim’s graphic two dimensional work, including his signature colour palette and brilliant (and maybe a tad disturbing to some) sculptural pieces. I personally loved the pineapple’s and Kujo’s piece, as per the flyer below, go check it out for yourself.

Be sure to get along to this show if in Sydney town!…

On the back of winning the Absolute Stairwell Gallery’s Peoples Choice auction and recently participating in the Adidas ‘All in Challenge’, BENNETT announces his solo show ‘ORANGES & LEMONS’.

The concept behind the show’s title is derived from a well known children’s nursery rhyme and is set to challenge the way we perceive images, from the way they are “meant” to be been viewed.

Working in mixed media, acrylic and aerosols, BENNETT’s work is often laiden with controversial and sometimes shocking commentary. He re-contextualises common, mass-produced objects and themes within the layers of his mashed up styled pieces. The result although entertaining to the audience, ultimately challenges viewers to draw upon their own conclusions from the numerous narratives and scenarios in which they are faced.

BENNETT currently works out of Sydney’s StupidKrap studios.

“ORANGES AND LEMONS” opens Thursday May 19th at 6pm.

Oh Really Gallery
55 Enmore Road, Newtown
Sydney NSW 2042
Show continues till May 29th – Opening hours 11am – 6pm

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/21906258[/vimeo]
www.michaelbennett.com.au
				

This is “Tea-Bot”, my contribution to the This Little Teapot Exhibition curated by the fab Rebecca Murphy. Opening tomorrow night at Sydney’s Paper Plane Gallery. More pics over here and see below for the fantastic line up of artists, show deets etc…

Fifty fist-sized teapots have met their fate at the skilled hands of a select group of established and emerging artists. With the fabulously diverse line-up consisting of painters, print makers, photographers, graphic designers, typographers, digital, textile, and street artists, there’s sure to be eye candy to satisfy any sweet tooth.
Artists include…
Bec Winnel, Burntfeather, Jessica Klingelfuss, Nicole Tattersall, Aramas Ridge, Sam Octigan, C…aitlin Shearer, Alex Louisa, TEZ, Jessica Singh, Emma Kidd, Rebecca Murphy, Kaitlin Beckett, Gimiks Born, Caitlin Rigby, Ellen Stapleton, Jordan Clarke, Flossy P, Mz Katii, The Bold Italics, Kat White, Tabitha Emma, Ben Zen, Qwux, I & The Others, Tony Curran, Tiger, Eirian Chapman, Lizzie Hall, Michelle Dawson, Andros, Gloz, Ian Mutch, Bronek Kozka, Sarah Holmes, Laura Carey, Jacque Prior, Kirbee Lawler, OKAY, Hannah Fenton, Kirst Ohh, Anna Mae Marquez, Yasemin Sabuncu, A.West, Beth Josey, Matthew Roland Bannister, and a few more super secret surprise artists – all fabulous Australian talents!

Everyone is welcome to attend the exhibition opening night on April 13th, 6-8pm, at Paper Plane Gallery in Rozelle, Sydney. There will be free refreshments including beers, delicious hot and cold teas, and nibbles etc served throughout the evening.

These tempting teapots will be on show until May 1st.

Proudly supported by T2, Curvy, and Paper Plane Gallery.

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.

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

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.

Pic snapped and kindly supplied by 2026 …off Bondi Road, Sydney. Love it!

My friend Jennifer Leung will be showcasing a series of photographic work and also curating a four metre paste up wall for this event at the Qbar in Darlinghurst Sydney.  Also live wall art by Judie So and some cool live bands too…see more deets on the flyer below and you can check Jenn’s fantastic snaps here.