Perth Street Art Profiles: Captain Plaknit
Yarn-bombing is not about spinning stories that fail dismally. Rather, it’s a technique of bringing craft skills and aesthetics to the streets, in effect creating graffiti out of thread and wool by using crochet or macramé or some other form of knitting.
It’s a form of street art that would seem more at home in your grandmother’s house but has a huge following in Texas, London and Vancouver. In fact one of the leading practitioners of yarn bombing, WooWork (aka Howie Woo), did a recent installation at Vancouver’s Davie Street Gardens, installing loads of crocheted water droplets, each one with either an amigurumi* cat or dog’s head poking out of it. Apparently it does rain cats and dogs at the Winter Olympics. (more…)
Perth Street Art: Jodee Knowles
The street art scene as a whole has the amazing ability of attracting artists from different backgrounds and essentially appropriating them into the craft. While not inclusive as such, it does open its doors to artists who like the immediate impact of the streets and whose work has an affinity with the unique and interesting characters who adorn it. Jodee Knowles is one such artist. (more…)
I’m Ready For My Close Up Mr Warhol
If you’ve driven through Mt Lawley of late, you can’t help but notice the large billboard on the corner of Beaufort and Walcott. Emblazoned across it is the black and white visage of a ‘60s Lou Reed. He emanates cool, effortlessly.
For those in the know, the image is instantly recognisable as being part of Andy Warhol’s iconic Screen Tests. The premise of this short film was simple: people who visited Warhol’s New York studio, The Factory, and exhibited a particular star quality had to sit for a screen test in front of an old Super 8 camera. (more…)
Stations of The Heart
Galerie Dusseldorf have a double whammy of art happening this December, with some truly amazing work on display. Both Kim Stanley Medlen and Janis Nedela present solo exhibitions brimming with stunning work and queer content.
First off is the work of Medlen, who uses jewellery to explore issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and the gay male body. Here, in HAART, Medlen creates beautiful sculptures of human hearts embellished with peals and gold detailing. (more…)
With Wings We Paint
American born and raised Joie Villeneuve is an artist who is fluent in the language of her own symbology. It’s evident in the landscapes she creates, ones lush with birds and fauna and shapes and colours that iterate a distinct voice, one piqued with playful angles and curiosity.
Villeneuve’s new exhibition at Gadfly Gallery, The Turning of the New Leaf, explores her unique visual language within an Australian context, transforming that which is old into newer phrases and expressions. The result is a rich dialogue of colour, landscape and emotion. (more…)
Eve : Marilyn
Presented by Gadfly Gallery at Perth Concert Hall
11 Nov - 20 Dec 2009
If diamonds are a girl’s best friend then photographs of the woman who sung those famous lyrics are just as valuable.
For the first time since the exhibition premiered in London two years ago, images of Marilyn Monroe by photographer Eve Arnold have gone on display… in Perth! (more…)
Not With A Bang But A Whimper
It’s the end of the world as we know it. Well, not really. Not even if it was 2012, what with all the Apocalypse Mayan calendar malarkey hitting the big screen – and the collective paranoia – in big budget special effect.
But as a culture, we’ve been obsessing over the end of days for quite a while now. We manifest Doomsday cults, pinpoint end dates with failed accuracy (think Y2K) and even now, what with the climate shot to hell, we still find a way to obsess over our inevitable demise. (more…)
Perth Street Art Profile: Freshly Baked Gallery
For Tim Brady, the idea for his interactive online art space Freshly Baked Gallery came from the most unlikely source: a benign yet life threatening tumour on his brain stem was the impetus to shake his life around. Literally. The chronic headaches turned into a two week stay in a London hospital.
‘I’d been working in a very commercial environment as a project manager for a London construction company but lying in that hospital bed for two weeks made me really think about my life priorities again,’ said Brady, who is now fighting fit. In fact, he just celebrated his 30th birthday. (more…)
Grad Shows 2009
It’s the end of the year. Yes, Christmas might be on the horizon. Yes, summer is already burning up the bitumen. And yes, the end of the year means one other inevitable fact: it’s grad show time!
While thousands of students toil slavishly to produce their final works or thread together the final bits of their graduating collections, the rest of us can smile and relax comfortably into our role as spectator. After all, grad shows are a highlight on the calendar, the final coup showcasing some of our state’s most amazing talent. (more…)
Take Me To Llamaland
Rose Skinner knows all about other worlds. Since hitting the Perth art scene with her distinct, lysergic candy coloured installations, Skinner has garnered a reputation as someone who consistently delves into the beyond, constructing moments plucked from some obscure landscape at the edge of imagination.
This year the Awesome Festival sees this bright young thing once again create not one but two dioramas unique to her vision. At The Blue Room, Skinner presents the crux of her work, Llamaland. Over in Forrest Chase she’ll present ‘…and they came from Llamaland’, a insight into the creatures that inhabit her wild imaginings. (more…)
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