One of the best things about street art is that the galleries never close. There’s no need to check gallery guides or worry about openings and fucking guest lists. The pieces are there for everyone. They provide people with an opportunity to engage with, and respond to, their environment. I love the idea that a company pays tens of thousands of dollars to rent a billboard when a kid with a can of spray paint can leave his / her own uncensored statement on a wall for absolutely nothing. Melbourne is full of such kids and such walls.
A lot of the better known street art sites are in and around the laneways of the city centre. This morning though I’m buzzing on my new-old bike to the corner of Edward and Ewing Streets in Brunswick. I walked past this wall a few weeks ago and have come back to take a second look. There’s an old milk bar on the South Western corner of the intersection. It’s absolutely covered in small stencils. The Driven to New Pastures piece by Civil and a number of images by Vexta are amongst the highlights but there’s a lot more here besides. The stencils have clearly been there for a while and some are looking a bit worse for wear but the collection of work here is seriously good and definitely worth a visit.
The style of Civil’s stencil is simple. It works, for me, because it’s unexpected. Street art is often about the appropriation of space and / or subversion of traditional society or media. This piece is more sentimental than that. It’s not an attack upon anything; just a depiction of rural life which contrasts wonderfully with this wet and cold city morning.
Vexta is well known for her faces. There’s something cool, sexy and slightly uneasy about her images. Even after several months / years outside this face is animated and engaging. It’s shouting at you – which is exactly what good street art should do.
Both Civil and Vexta are part of the Melbourne street art scene and examples of their work can be found at several sites in the inner city. Both have also exhibited at Until Never gallery (just off Hosier lane) so if you prefer your art inside then drop by and take a look at what they’ve got around.
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