It started with one of Creepy’s housebacked characters, an eerie marker of things to come. And then, within a matter of weeks, Grand Lane had erupted in a flurry of wild shapes and bird feather.
It was an ambitious project envisioned by City of Perth, with two interstate street artists given over 99 meters to spray paint and fill. Those two artists included Bonsai (best known for his seminal No Vacancy exhibition simply entitled Birds on Oak) and Japanese born Twoone.
Together they have created a montage of geometric eruptions; a homage to West Australian birds. Epic is an understatement in regards to the sheer scale of this work. And, best part? It’s part of an ongoing project by the City of Perth to revitalize Perth Laneways.
‘This project enhances the intricacy or our urban fabric and makes an ordinary old throughfare into something new and interesting,’ explained City of Perth’s Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi.
‘The mural also relates to the history of the area
through the relevance of the WA birds and the history of the Grand Theatre.’
So we can expect more projects like this in the future?
‘Yes, it is our intention to continue to allocate monies to ongoing improvements of laneways and to ensure we improve as many as possible over time.
‘It is about making our relatively small 8.2 sq km city all the more interesting. Every little laneway, corner and unused area should be the best it can be – but it all takes time and dollars and the way local government works the work is programmed over a 12 month period
within 5 year plans.’
And with over 600 spray cans and nearly 190 hours of elbow grease – literally – the project now stands as an urban gallery well worth investigating.
For a complete background on this project go to www.perth.wa.gov.au/grandlanemural
