New2 - Aerosol Ninja zine

 A post has kindly been made about my first little zine at Aussie art site:
The Opening Hours

Thanks Michael !!

Kunstbende

Kunstbende is a national art competition in Belgium for youngsters/teens. The finalists have a one week camp and create work in a chosen discipline, dance, photography, sound, visual arts and so on.
The theme of this years' week was city life and the Flemish regions' event was held in the center of Antwerp.
I was the... umm... teacher or leader or vandalism coach for the visual art group. In the spirit of writing/street art they, with a little order and a fair deal of chaos freely took out the room we'd been assigned as a studio. They made an installation with the loose idea of creating a city or communal space that individuals (and groups) then decorated. No art in the room was made entirely by the one person, akin to areas you would normally see in a cityscape.

I'd basically shown them techniques and exposed them to an art world from which they had previously heard of little more than Banksy and Space Invader. Most were out of their element not having used spray paint, markers and found materials before. It turned out a pretty fun process and a good fast paced first try of something new from a talented bunch.

Hospitality House Auction SF

Hospitality House in the Tenderloin in San Francisco looks out for the homeless. Having found myself in that situation as a youngster I have a lot of interest and empathy for people in that predicament.
Anyway, White Walls hosts a charity auction for them. I have a piece up for grabs and there are many awesome artists' works donated to be bid on. The cash goes to a good cause and you get an artwork, a win/win!!!

hospitalityhouse
whitewallssf blog - hospitality house 28th annual auction

NEW

I tried an experiment with subtle perspective on this quick piece last week, something I will need to try again. I kind of attempted a quiet lean back a la Star Wars intro. The vertical lines were altered from the sketch's original straight up and down lines to angles. I thinned the outline toward the top of the piece, the old inward 3d was brought out the attic and some 80's baseline employed to make perspective more noticeable. Maybe the original sketch was a lot better, but you gotta try! Mister CFH was passing through the city, made a surprise stop by the wall as I was starting and he painted an impromptu burner, good times.

Car park project - Antwerp - Belgium

 I recently painted a 70 meter mural in conjunction with local schools and a newly constructed car park. It is situated under a square surrounded by housing.  The company wanted to make the grey concrete structure a little more approachable.

Children drew all the trees, birds and leaves, their teaches put the composition together and chose the basic colors palette to be used, and I mainly stuck to the plan and painted it. I really enjoyed painting kids drawings, a really nice break from my normal fare.

A personal fave of the kids birds.

!!!! Super out there, love this drawing

Loved painting this one

The kids involved, teachers, locals, business people and politicians came out for the opening. the speeches revolved around the community input, ie: the mural as to avoid our newly elected politicians getting the props.

The kids came down and helped fill in one day and chose a couple of bird color schemes

Ephameron Doco

The new Ephameron documentary, 4 years in the making is having its first screening at Beyonderground festival in Hasselt Belgium this Saturday night 8pm.



Beyonderground
Her website: Ephameron

BEYONDERGROUND
april 26 + 27 2013
Kunstencentrum België
Hasselt - Belgium

Clouded Thoughts #15

I received a copy of the latest Clouded Thoughts magazine with a 12 page spread and interview with me. Thanks Clouded Thoughts and Dvate for the interview.

Children of the iron snake

 Take a look at this vid from Melbourne. Discusses writing and street art past and present. nice to see a lot of old friends.


http://www.childrenoftheironsnake.com/

Bambaataa Tour Australia

Two of my DMA Crew member are supporting the legend in Melburn!

Cure DMA PBP

Stoked to be in an oil painting by Cure, he's one multi-talented guy.

New x2

Fast times at Berchem elevated tracks

Buggin' out

MISTER NEW

Rodney Mullen

I don't and wouldn't be able to skate but enjoy hearing what Rodney Mullen has to say. I identify with his views on and approach to his art form. I think there is a lot of parallels to writing culturally and creatively in this video.
His notions on outsiders working within a meritocracy is fundamentally the same as the writing subculture. Personally I appreciate his use of the word 'authenticity' as I've felt for a long while that it is a more appropriate term when critiquing writing nowadays. The word 'original' has long held baggage. I have noticed it can kind of narrow the dialogue in writing circles. It can create less focused discussions with regard to the constant re-churning and exploration of old aesthetic and archetypal style elements which is inevitable in a more than 40-year-old art form.
Of course the application of his understanding of physics I find interesting, having utilized ideas from physics myself.
Anyway, see what you think....

TAME

I'm always stoked to see a photo of my '80's writing partner, Melbourne's Tame One's recent work. His pieces have a feel that only he can do.
Not sure who took this photo, sorry stolen online.

Clouded Thoughts Issue 15

Dvate SDM interviewed me for the upcoming Clouded Thoughts. Out soon in Oz.

Mister - New Two

First one in a long time.
With Mister CFH

Dabs and Myla in Melbourne!

TRSH trailer

Some northern friends having fun putting some work in.

Oriane Dufort

 Ok, so to put this post in context, this is an excerpt from a recent interview I did with White Walls gallery.

The techniques of paper collaging and layering seem like a pretty unexpected direction from your artistic roots. How did this turn develop?
I checked out a show a friend from Paris had curated and there was a few small collage pieces. They were very naive bright colored work, one of a simple house and the other was an apple with a worm. I can’t remember the name of the woman who made them. I identified with the stark use of color and enjoyed the child-like nature of them. Growing up the way I did and then being in the Australian writing scene from my early teens, I didn’t get to be playful in that kind of way. So the process allows a round human experience of sorts for me. I get to fuse playing with cut and paste like a kid mixed with more adult concerns I have about writing aesthetics. My wife makes amazing collage and I was exposed to them every day but it had never dawned on me to make them until I saw those innocent pieces.I also like making the letters in paper in a way that non writers can see the visual depth we intend when painting them flat on walls.

 Anyway, I was in Paris for New Years Eve and caught up with our friend who put on the aforementioned show and I found out who the artist was whose work I dug...
As you can see we share little but some similar technique and a lot of color. I think they are great fun, thanks for the inspiration!

Her site:
Oriane Dufort
and blog
orianeoriane.blogspot

Whilst on the subject, this is the site of a friend from Antwerp Belgium who does great work in cut paper also... His work is very cleverly and accurately constructed, also illustrative in nature.
Jan Werkt

In one hand a ghost... works

The White Walls show finishes tomorrow Saturday Jan 5 2013, here are the cut paper work in the exhibition:

I just saw this review at artbusiness.com

White Walls Gallery: In One Hand a Ghost, the Other an Atom - New2.
Review by Anne Ross: As street art incorporates breaking the rules, the graffiti-inspired work of Australian artist, New2, makes a splash in this black-walled gallery space. His exhibit, "In One Hand a Ghost, the Other an Atom," captures the look of tagged buildings and trains. New2's work remains true to the energy of the spray can which began his career. Now, however, having moved on to other materials, his work is composed of intricate and precise paper cut-outs. A multi-layered collage, Hitachi 1, shows the side of a train car, complete with letters scrawled on a window and an inspired burst of color covering the exterior. Known and Louvain La Neuve tend toward the abstract, suggesting the frenetic light and energy of an urban landscape. The craftsmanship of this artist is admirable. A visit to this exhibit is well worth your while.