If you haven’t seen it by now; you gotta check this guy out. Ron Muerck is an Australian-born artist that made puppets for Sesame Street and The Muppets. He came to prominence in 1996 with his exhibit Dead Dad -a fibreglass moulded sculpture detailing a scale model of a dead human. The work featured in […]
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Crown Heights
Last night we were witness to the opening of the Crown Heights exhibition at Eleven A in Highlander Place.
The gallery upstairs at Eleven A hosted works from the current kings of graffiti in Melbourne. Works featured were from contemporary crews KSA, MR, F1 and MSA (among the lesser-known). Artists themselves included Aeon, Renks, Greco, Tres, Break, Lush, Banos, and more. Although there was at least a dozen pieces that were brilliant; unfortunately most of the gear left a lot to be desired. Albeit creative and varied in form, the disappointment stemmed from the percieved lack of attention to detail (seeing brush-strokes from marker pen can piss you off a bit). I must re-iterate that this was confined to the lesser works; the smaller and apparently more affordable shit on show. Many of these were simply black book pieces; the kind of stuff you’d expect to form a guide to a brilliant piece assembled on one of the lines.
In all, it was an interesting night. The stand-out pieces were somewhat complemented by the tedious. A varied range is always palatable although I must admit that we expected more from the big names around town (and abroad). Another downer was a Kylie Minogue remix pumped on the loudspeakers, while a dj booth in the gallery proper was left idle. If only a bit more care was taken in the execution of the lesser works and some pride in the arrangement of the venue; notably in price lists and said lack of kickin’ tunes; then we would’ve not only stayed longer but also left in a positive state of mind. At the end of the day, though -who am I to judge? The exhibits are up until May 20th so can do so yourself...
-Rock the Boat
The Space Invader
Little is known about the Invader, but his intricate tiles depicting characters from 8-bit video games (i.e. Space Invaders) have found their way onto common surfaces all over the world.
Particularly prevalent in the West; I have seen these works in cities including LA, New York, London, Berlin and Hong Kong. There is also a grab-bag of these characters right here in Melbourne. Below are some examples that I encountered last weekend. Having taken the time to investigate these local instances, I felt I would share this story with you.
The Invader is a French street artist that is around 40 years old. He began working casually during the nineties in his home town of Paris; before his tiled assault went epic in 1998. From trendhunter.com: “The locations chosen for the Space Invaders mosaic are not done at random; in fact, they contain a specific order and plan. In Montpellier, for instance, the artist planned out many different locations for his pieces so that when you look at a map, the points take the form of a giant Space Invader character.“
Henceforth, he began taking the artform abroad, reaching over 35 countries in total, taking in all the cities mentioned above; and more. Recently, he has hit the Hollywood sign twice and has achieved higher notoriety after his cousin Thierry Guetta (AKA Mr. Brainwash) teamed up with Banksy to produce the film Exit Through The Gift Shop, which premiered in San Francisco last week. Below are a few examples drawn from the Invader’s stints in Melbourne and a map from the Space Invader website showing the locations that have been hit...
-Rock The Boat
RIP Guru
Vale to the late Guru; reputable MC for Gangstarr and hip hop visionary.
The rapper died a few days ago after a long struggle with cancer. He had been in a coma since late February this year.
Guru stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal; a title that references the Nation of Islam. Guru (or Keith Elam) rocked the East Coast scene, ever since teaming up with DJ Premier and Mark the 45 King in 1985. Their greatest release Hard To Earn is an essential hip hop classic and Premier himself regarded as one of the best hip hop producers of all time.
Featured is a short tribute mix by Los Angeleno Dj Dexxx1.
Buchan Caves
During the Easter weekend, I travelled to Gippsland with a menagerie of fine people, and children. From our base at Lake Tyers we took a reconnaisse to the Buchan Caves.
Between a medley of “where are these bucken caves?” and other such, we careened past a Rodeo with half of the Dargo present and finally arrived at Buchan.
The caves were particularly kick arse, and below you may see some crude examples of the mineral formations found therein.
One of the mature-age women at the Information desk remarked that I should return to go “extreme caving” (you can imagine what she meant) and conversed with me on the graffiti in some of the lesser-known caves. Feminist graffiti from the modern period, c.1920. Amazing.
-Rock The Boat
Phoenix
Howdy,
Weekend, as in here, will be started tomorrow. A time to forget a series of unfortunate events of my daily life which in short term can be called “work“.
Music is one of the perfect runaways for me to release myself from my daily life boredom. No particular music in my playlist, even. Yes…I do separate it into several types of playlists; depends on its genre. Nothing can describe one’s mood better than music, this including me.
I got a suggestion a while ago to check on a song by Phoenix with the title If I ever feel better. I can say that I love this a lot. This song gives a real perfect relaxing ambience. I can dream of myself listening to this song in a real fancy lounge with few friends, cocktails and small dances around.
Taken from a source, it states that Phoenix is a French band which draws elements from an eclectic ’80s upbringing to arrive at their rock-synth sound. Love how the smooth vocal of Thomas Mars blends with synth. What a perfect fusion! Drown by the flow of the music, can’t stop playing it on and on.
Not mentioning how beautiful the lyrics are, which makes all the bitterness seems not so bitter. Sweet….!!
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
Dance, dance and dance ’til fade. Well, I guess my weekend is starting now…
-Blommer22
Dabs & Myla
Melbourne‘s graffiti scene is humbled to have the Super Smooth street art duo Dabs & Myla call this city home.
The pair run in sync; they comprise an epic ensemble that have grown together in both art and relationship over many years. “Every day we wake up, paint all day …and keep each other entertained with constant chatter and stupid jokes” they muse.
Dabs & Myla are heavy-weights on the Melbourne graff scene: with New 2 and as part of SDM and ADN crews, they have trailblazed the fine arts development of graff and remain among the best in the business. They‘ve recently flown into town after 12 months in LA; where they‘ve hooked up with some industry greats and found both inspiration and new outlets for their amazing artworks. They told INFX that they‘re to return to LA again -having moved there semi-permanently; teaming up with Craola to paint some delicious walls (see pic from Miami down below). Also, check some of their works in this video, including coverage of their Super Smooth book launch and Hollywood & West gallery show:
Tim Vine
This evening myself and a couple of close friends attended a stand-up performance at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
The man we were fortunate enough to see was Tim Vine; an English comic from UK television programme The Sketch Show. The act was a riot! It consisted of a seemingly endless onslaught of cheap gags, described as “An inspired medley of out to lunch one-liners” by The Guardian.
Mmr. Vine (pronounced with two m’s) came out with such beauties as “I saw a woman giving birth to a baby in the snow the other day… -she said the weather brought out the child in her” and “I went swimming with the dolphins -and we just clicked” Then, after taking out an X and Y graph as a prop and cutting in in half: “I love the smell of freshly cut graphs” Sheer banal ridiculousness and a laugh a second, as the jokes were moving almost too fast to comprehend the punchline/s. A definite hoot, all for the tidy sum of $25.
A must see for those with a taste for banal humour in all its glory.
From last year’s festival:
-Rock The Boat
