Expat Observations: Street Art

Melbourne is known globally for its street art and it is a huge tourist attraction for the city. All of those laneways around town are the perfect canvas for street artists, with Hosier Lane probably the best known spot (and one that is constantly evolving). There are some very talented artists here and these are some of my favorites.

Baby Guerrilla is best known for her large scale stencil paste-ups, which often have people floating in the air. Some of her more recent work can be found on buildings around the Victoria University Footscray Park campus.

Be Free is best known for her stencils of a little girl doing various things depending on the space that has been chosen. There is a lightness and sense of fun in her work that is very appealing to a wide audience.

Rone paints the most amazingly detailed portraits of women you will ever see. He also did the four Aussie muses for last year's Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition in Melbourne. His latest work is a mural at Etihad Stadium of two female AFL fans in the crowd cheering on their team.

Adnate is another artist who does very detailed portrait work, and is probably best known for his beautiful paintings of the faces of Indigenous children.

Baby Guerrilla Solo Exhibition Opening

Yesterday evening Kat and Dave joined me for the opening of Baby Guerrilla's solo exhibition at Post Industrial Design in Footscray.  I am a huge fan of her street art, which I have posted about here and here.  But besides the very detailed black and white stencil paste ups she has put on walls across Melbourne, she is also an accomplished painter, having graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts.  It was interesting to see these two sides of her personality on display in the exhibition.

There was a big turn out by the time we got there, with some people wearing masquerade masks (had we known there was a theme we could have participated).  Baby Guerrilla herself was there in disguise applying temporary tattoos of her artwork onto people.  There were also some sticker decals for sale, as well as her paintings and drawings.  It was great to be able to see her work up close, especially the paintings.  If you happen to be in Footscray go check out the exhibition, which runs until 22 March.

Afterwards we went to have dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant Dong Que, and then returned to Kat and Dave's lovely renovated house for dessert and to watch Silver Linings Playbook.  Both Kat and I really enjoyed the movie, and I was impressed by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence's performances.

Melbourne Street Art: Baby Guerrilla

One of my favorite street artists at the moment is Baby Guerrilla.  I love walking around Melbourne and discovering one of her pieces on a wall.  These are a few that have gone up recently around Brunswick.

Albert Street

Dawson Street

Brunswick Road

Melbourne Street Art

Brunswick, 2012 by Baby Guerrilla

Union Lane, Melbourne, 2011 by Conrad Bizjak

Northcote, 2011 by Be Free