Author Archives: MTW
Primary Suspects (Reka)
What would the Melbourne graff scene be without our beloved Reka? It‘d have nothing on the contemporary Euro‘s or Californians that’s for sure. I remember riding the Franga/ Dandy line back in 2002; everyday relishing the Reka characters adorning the embankment walls along the lines -particularly between South Yarra and Malvern.
The once elusive Reka has since inspired legions of next-generation writers and toys, whilst building an artistic practice that has seen him adorn the walls & galleries of New York, San Fran, LA, Berlin etc. One of the founding members of the EverFresh Crew and Skinny White Boys stalwart, Reka continues to aspire to great heights, luckily, taking us punters along for the ride! Now, witness the Primary Suspects show at the nucleus of Melb‘s fine art graffiti community: Backwoods Gallery - 2nd until 18th March, Easey St. Collingwood:
Captain Philip (The First Fleet)
We might look upon on colonists and early settlers as rogues; political vagabonds if you will. And we‘re familiar with Western infilitration and Euro-centric exploits that have ravished our centuries. With that in mind, I‘m drawn to the stewardship of Captain Philip. However, I‘m more concerned with his global re-positioning than with his conquering and self-important impositions. I mean; as with a vast number of these colonists: when they‘d move house they did not fuck around. You might have visited Cook‘s Cottage in the Fitzroy Gardens of inner-city East Melbourne. That cottage was originally the childhood home of Captain James Cook, European explorer of the Australian East coast. The cottage was de-constructed brick-by-brick in 1933 and moved from Yorkshire to Melbourne in celebration of the European settlement of Australia. But that, of course, was in the 20th Century. Captain Philip wasn‘t the type to wait over a hundred and fifty years for his estate to arrive post-humously. Philip led the First Fleet on its‘ mission to colonise and subjugate the Australian continent. The mission was one of utmost importance: the British were utterly compelled to be the first foreigners to settle the continent. This haste was borne out of the fear that the Dutch and the French would beat them to it. So Philip led the 11 ships of the fleet: 1030 people (of which 767 were convicts), 7 horses, 7 cattle, 74 pigs, 29 sheep, and 6 rabbits. And then we get to Arthur Philip and all his shit: This crusading Captain was able to halt the embarkation of the fleet until the Crown had roused all of his ‘effects‘ -that which made up over half of the cargo. It was composed of windows fom his house, his cast-iron stoves, tons of his furniture & crockery, and wood cut from his estate. He had a house constructed in England prior to embarking; in sections that were assembled in Australia. I re-iterate: Philips and a surprising number of his contemporaries didn‘t fuck about with their relocations; although contrarily (as with Philip), more often than not their estates did not stand the test of time in foreign climes, and were obliterated. Curiously, Philips himself ended up back in England living in a whorehouse, anyway.
BetterWith TwoFingers
We caught up with French graffer and Street Artist BetterWith TwoFingers, and hit him up with a bit of a quick Q&A on where he‘s at dans ce monde:
INFX: These days you’ve made paste-ups your street art medium- Why the departure from aerosol?
BW2F: I choose this way because I’ve always been inspired by the power of images and their impact in the streets, on books or other medias. The fact is I used to make graffitis for a long time with a crew and paste-ups were a good way to mix others kind of techniques and to express more ideas. And of course, the penalties are less expensive for paste-ups than for sprayin’ in the streets.
INFX: You get around Europe a bit. Where are we most likely to see your work?
BW2F: I’ve travelled a little bit in Europe for example in Amsterdam and recently in Austria, but you can most likely see my works in France in cities such as Lyon, Paris, Grenoble and some others cities but also in deserted areas just because the spot was cool enough for me.
INFX: So when in Paris we‘ll keep our eyes peeled! Now, Why do you make street art?
BW2F: I only love streets and cities for two things: makin’ and seein’ a lot of street art stuff and makin’ skateboard. Street-Art is the way of expressin’ myself, sharin’ with others and meetin’ people even they don’t have any relations with Street-Art, and also it’s a concrete jungle adventures at each time.
INFX: Do you have a day job -what kind of work?
BW2F: I’m workin’ in a library.
INFX: Buried in the books! What is your favourite pizza?
BW2F: Good question!!! Calzone of course!
Well, that answers the question of what I‘m having for dinner tonight. Merci, BW2F -and all the best!
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You can find BetterWith TwoFingers on Facebook.
Yosuke Yamashita
Yosuke Yamashita is a Japanese musician and artist from Tokyo. He has performed extensively worldwide, and has composed music scores for various films, from the late 60s until the present; most notably for Shohei Imamura‘s 1998 Dr. Akagi. He has also recieved various awards, including Japan‘s Award for Fine Arts in 1999 and the Medal With Purple Ribbon in 2003. Currently, he is a visiting professor at both the Kunitachi College of Music and the Nagoya University of Arts. The ten minute video featured below has its‘ origins in one of Yosuke‘s most intruiging works. This 2008 piece, titled Burning Piano is exactly that; albeit with Yosuke playing an improvised jazz piece on the piano throughout its‘ inflammation. However, this was not the first time Yasuke had played a burning piano. That was some 35 years earlier, when he was approached by filmmaker Kiyoshi Awazu to play a burning piano for his short film of the same name. The 2008 version was filmed after Yosuke had revisited the original work, and thus he felt it needed a revival. The 1973 film can be found on Awazu‘s website: www.kiyoshiawazu.com
Givers
It was splendid to meet the guys from Givers -they were very cheerful, attentive, and courteous. But when they hit the stage last night at The Corner Hotel all that changed. Their indie pop form of psychedelic & melodic rock sashayed from the whimisical to a thrashed out, totally heavy prog-rock finale. They were clearly focussed upon the music only, and not mere pleasantries. The band hails from Lafayette, Louisiana in the deep South, but the vocals (mostly by the enchanting Tiffany Lamson and guitarist Taylor Guarisco) are geographically much more varied; perhaps in need of a definitive style. And although they‘re touring side-shows off the back of the Laneway Festival and double-headlining with Portugal. The Man I believe this young group is still in its formative stage. It‘s not simply their melding of styles; but Givers are incompetent in much of their vocal endeavours, and they perhaps need some kind of ‘hook‘ or ‘thread‘ in their style that will help define their identity. Regardless, and despite my opine that their hit Up, Up, Up is tired and motionless, they did in fact strut their varied talents quite well and I‘m still revelling in the fact they were such a nice group of novice rockstars! Have a listen to Meantime and see what you think:
Project Melbourne Underground
Never before has Melbourne‘s graff scene witnessed such an exhibition as the Project Melbourne Underground collection. Over 6 months in the making, this unprecedented graffiti bonanza encompasses 800 square metres of Burn City‘s finest talent: we‘re talking 90 artists over 3 levels of the Emerald House car park, at 105 York St. South Melbourne. Featuring our local kings of the culture Tres, Phibs, Deb, Awol, Lister, Drew Funk, Sofles, Maka, Adnate and the Everfresh massive, alongside international heavyweights Does, the ominous Banksy, Nash, Ces, and so many more. The emphasis is overwhelmingly on the graffiti (rather than ‘street art‘) scene; with epic letters on the make -straight from the streets and the fine art galleries that have defined this creative talent pool.
It‘s all happening at the Emerald House car park; with the venue open publicly as part of the South Melbourne Street Fair on Sunday 19th February -so get on down there and check it out!
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Charles Manson once said that ”If you‘re going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy“. In the case of this engrossing but tiresome film,there is a witchiness but it unfortunately falls short of a production ‘done well‘. I say this because I was irked by its‘ many mediocrities. The parallels established betweeen our protagonist, Martha, and her dual realities of the communal dystopia and the corporate-citizen mundane left me in disbelief. I felt that these comparisons were highly unrealistic in an otherwise believable scenario: the characters of Ted and Lucy were far too stereotypical and I was glad actors Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy had salvaged the most they could from the roles. Equally, Martha was played very well by Elizabeth Olsen; her performance increasingly compelling following Martha‘s egress from the clutches of Patrick. This Manson-like figure was also played adeptedly by John Hawkes (Winter‘s Bone) but none so convincing as to warrant accolades. The film‘s climactic drive was equally powerful to the acting, but unfortunately lacked the production values to let this film accomplish.
At the end of the day, Martha is director Sean Durkin‘s smugly crafted amalgamation of his previous projects (such as the short Mary Last Seen) into what I believe is a failed attempt at understanding the mindset of someone shell-shocked by indoctrination.
Vectrex
Vectrex? Yes, the name is both confounding and mesmerising. It sounds like some sort of cross between Electronics, Geography, and Chemical Warfare coloured with Prog Rock. And it is all these things & more: Vectrex was an early 80s video game console that was manufactured using surplus military electronics, was the first vector-based system (similar to an Oscilloscope), and could bust out glitch-metal anthems at the drop of a hat. Amped with an unencumbered 1.5 MHz of processing power, and smashing the gameplay with a whole 1 KB of RAM, this baby was born out of the rapid development of video game systems prior to the market meltdown of 1984. The system (created by John Ross) was the ultimate in technology: new Vectrex games came with a plastic sheet; inscribed with coloured designs to affix to your monitor. It also had a Laser Pen and 3D Imager glasses that featured colours on a disc that spun past your eyes while playing the game; developed by the unstoppable John Ross nearly a decade before any other 3D system. Alas, these innovations were not enough to save the system from widespread disdain by the masses. Following a 9-month shelf life, and the introduction of the Atari 5200 was the unfortunate death of the Vectrex. Thankfully, though, during the 90s the entire system, games, and components were released into the Public Domain.
Just Another tip or two
BEING an artist can be tough. You’re up against so many others and the pressure to please an audience can be enough to send you into a clichéd height of madness. This is why we bring to you some clever tips from the industry’s best: Just Another Agency. Founding partner Toby shares 5 tips for all you budding artists out there. TIP1: Be yourself – Don’t try and force your work to be like everyone else’s -have your own unique voice. That is what will always set you apart. TIP2: Personality – Personality is …
Klara
Klara is quite lovely: easy going with a can-do attitude. And do she does -you will witness Klara‘s paste-ups all over town: often without realising it is her handiwork. But there is no missing the quality of her exploits, and this West Australian native‘s quest to make her art happen here in Melbourne. Klara was happy to meet me in the studio last week to interview herself with the aid of some super-maxxed up technology bonuses. Check it out:
All Through The Night (Cyndi Lauper)
Ethereal electro-pop is a fairly loose term being bandied about at the moment. The resurgence of this reincarnation of early 80s synthesiser music has arguably been spear-headed by the Winding Refn film Drive. On this soundtrack, Refn invited Cliff Martinez to revisit the score he produced for the 1989 Steven Soderburgh film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. However, the sound emanating from Martinez‘ work goes back almost another decade: which brings us to All Through The Night. This song was written by Jules Shear -a modest 80s music producer that is also credited with the creation of the MTV Unplugged series. He wrote All Through The Night for The Cars and although they recorded the folk ballad, they did not release it on their Heartbeat City album, nor as a B-side on their Drive single. Shear, however, did his own recording and released the song on his 1983 solo album Watch Dog. The next year, following a failed collaborative effort between Lauper and Shear, Lauper decided she would record an unrevised cover of the song. During the recording sessions at NYC‘s Record Plant the track began to take on a new form and was completed in a style that epitomises the early 80s synth ballads which, as mentioned, seem to be experiencing a revival of late. Have a listen to this live version from 1984:
Australia Day (William Cooper)
William Cooper (1861-1941) was a Koorie man of the Yorta Yorta people. He was self-educated and modestly self-effacing in his pursuit of aboriginal representation in the new Federal Parliament; endlessly petitioning King George V for such a motion. Cooper moved to Footscray during his late adult life, where he joined the Australian Workers Union and became further entrenched in indigenous politics. He represented rural Victorian aborigines in fighting for assistance (which was hitherto denied them), during the drought and depression of the 1920s. His most poignant legacy, though, was his repugnance to an event planned in Sydney, 1938 to re-enact the January 26, 1788 arrival of The First Fleet, and raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove. All aboriginal associations protested the event and Cooper decried January 26 as a “day of mourning“. This declaration was the foundation for a tradition of aboriginal protest against what is now popular as Australia Day. Cooper currently lays deceased in an unmarked grave near the Barmah Forest; a tragic sarcasm to the cause that he championed.
Brendan Lee
Brendan Lee is an Australian Photographer and Video Artist from Victoria. His works are mainly centred around Australian identity and the colloquialisms associated with the urban ‘bogan‘. Brendan has recently achieved success in his 2011 show Australian Days at the CCP (Centre of Contemporary Photography), and with the release of his book Bogan Proof Fences. The book is a complement to his next show (of the same title) running from the 1st March until 25th march at The Substation 1 Market St. Newport.
INFX caught up with Brendan in this interview (of sorts) yesterday:
brendanlee.com
Aeon Oner
Aeon is one of Europe‘s emerging Street Art talents. His styles range from blockbuster through wildstyle and the abstract. This Belgian-based graffiti artist has joined the ranks of those giving hard evidence to INFX about their exploits and endeavours:
INFX: Quelle est la force de la scène graff en Belgique?
Aeon: She is very diverse, we may as well hold back the [old] school, new school, the organic or wild style. Given its industrial past, Belgium has many abandoned buildings, which allows us to move on surfaces diversified and come to the frescoes of [many] sizes. Many more urban festivals are based on the graffiti which allows us to showcase our style.
INFX: Je suis creuser votre plateau de skate. Y a-t-il un intérêt à travailler avec les marques de skate locales ou grand?
Aeon: Yes, because it could lead to changing the image of the skate by the combination with graffiti; it could breathe new life into the movement. It is also good to work with both: local stores allow us to share in the region while industrial [companies] open more doors. I have a preference for the more industrial, but I do not neglect the local stores.
INFX: Quelle est la chose la plus effrayante qui soit arrivé à vous tandis que la peinture?
Aeon: One night on the subway lines, marking a room in elevation with the aid of a ladder. My hand touched the high voltage line and 1,500 volts went through my body; I think it’s my most frightening. I know I got lucky.
INFX: Où habitez-vous? Avec des amis? Dans la ville? Banlieues?
Aeon: I rent an apartment in the city alone.
INFX: Dans un (ou deux) mot, comment qualifieriez-vous décrit votre art?
Aeon: Aggressive and malleable. I want to make a dedication “13, GAV, AKF, D2K, P50, B80, V2T… and everyone I do not have room to quote because the list is long…
THANK YOU
Oui -un grand merci à Aeon et son posse! Voir les vraies affaires. Regarder les photos:
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www.aeon-oner.com
Parecon
Participatory Economics (Parecon) is a contemporary school of socio-economic thought that seeks to change the way capitalism functions in Western liberal democracies. The movement seeks to reform the current state of the capitalist functionary system and alludes to re-distribution of wealth systems. This notion of reform perhaps addresses what a vast number of people reflect upon nowadays; i.e. Why do the CEOs of large companies earn such ridiculous salries? Why do politicians constitute the failed ambitions of lawyers, business ‘leaders‘, and political hacks? And why do our public institutions suffer for lack of funding and educational resources (eg. underpaid teachers)? And, Is the state of the environment subject to the whim of GDP and profit-margins in private enterprise? Parecon seeks to address these apparent failings of the present state of capitalism. The movement has recently been afforded a boost in the wake of the GFC and current Eurozone crises. Its‘ stated values are:
- Solidarity: people caring about one another and being social in their inclinations
- Diversity: having varied options and outcomes
- Equity: having fair distribution of wealth, income, and also circumstances
- Self-management: people having a say over the decisions that affect them in proportion to the extent they are affected
In all, the Parecon movement seeks to create a more regulatory approach to economic advantage; while enhancing the notion of social inclusion. This matter of ‘social inclusion‘ is currently causing confusion in Canberra but I would assert that it harks back to democratic-socialist policies that have their roots in scandanavian socio-political thought: that is, to foster community development (which may well translate to increased funding). However, it is important to note that Parecon has yet to define itself politically; contrarily, though, that is cause for joy as it invites input and discussion from all walks of life. Perhaps one to look at if you‘re interested in econmonics, society and political thought?
At the back of Communism by M T Walker.
Iepe Rubingh
Iepe Rubingh is a Dutch installation and performance artist. He currently lives and works in Berlin and has been a practicing artist for just over a decade. He‘s renowned for his The Joker Performances whereby he has shut down and disrupted traffic at busy intersections around the world. One such production caused traffic gridlock in Tokyo; for which he receieved a jail sentence of 10 days (which he had no choice but to serve). Below is a video from his 2010 Painting Reality series. In this video some 500 Litres of water-based (non-Solvent) paint is splashed over the Rosenthaler Platz in central Berlin. The resulting artwork serves as both a nod to Action Painters such as Jackson Pollock; but also invokes questions about the environment. However, despite its‘ overt political overtones; this artwork is splendid to view:
http://www.iepe.net/
The Road to Gundagai
Gundagai (population 2,000) is located on the M31 Hume Motorway and the Murrumbidgee River, almost half-way between Sydney and Melbourne. Despite its modest size this town continues to recieve notoriety; both as a focal point for Aboriginal political thought, and as inspiration for Australian artists -being the epitome of rural Australiana. The area is home to the Wiradjuri people and has long been a significant place of Aboriginal custom, and throughout the 20th Century as home to indigenous political movements. Of these, the late ‘King Billy‘ and his quest for Aboriginal self-determination is significant. As an Aboriginal Elder, he joined John Noble under his anglicised named Jimmy Clements in the entourage of the Duke and Duchess of York (subsequently King George VI and Queen Elizabeth respectively) to open the new Federal Parliament House, Canberra in 1927.
Below are some images captured of two of the historic bridges that span the Murrumbidgee and its flood plains. They picture the 1867 Prince Alfred Bridge that is sadly falling into a state of dire disrepair, and the Gundagai Rail Bridge over Murrumbidgee River which is a railway bridge dating from 1902.
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Photographs by D. Royce Walker & M T Walker.
