Phibs, wild and wonderful

Last night we attended the opening of Phibs' exhibition at the Plump Gallery in Enmore. What a pleasure to see walls filled with Phibs' (aka Tim's) intricate, boldly graphic art!

 

Obviously we are not alone in this feeling as the gallery was getting crammed with people, many spilling out onto the footpath. We were lucky enough to meet Tim and we a had a great chat about art, street art, his influences and style – and computers. He was happy to let us take photos, and so we did.

Mixtec (ancient Central American) art

Phibs is from Sydney, but has worked in Melbourne also. Having worked as a freelance artist and a street artist for years, his aim is to move toward more "legitimate" art and less "unauthorised" work.

 

Very busy gallery opening with Tim on the far left.

Outside looking in.

 Nevertheless you can see his pieces around streets of the inner city of Melbourne and Sydney.  His style is quite distinctive; a strong graphic feel with intricate bold tapering lines in swirling movements, and strong sense of art and mythology of ancient cultures. I always get a feel of Teotihuacáno, Mayan or other ancient Central American art.

So as Molly Meldrum used to say: "Do yourself a favour" and go see The Journey exhibition at the Plump Gallery, 240 Enmore Road, Enmore. It is open from the 8th to the 28th of September. You can't miss the gallery, there is a huge Phibs colourful face piece on the wall out front.  We shall be returning in daytime to grab a photo of that.

So much to see,
J in JAM

GRRL+DOG we are hunting you...

We popped into the Artisans' Market at the Eveleigh Carriageworks on Wilson Street to visit family and took a stroll around the stalls. There's always heaps of fun and funky, arty and amazing things to see, smell and taste. They also have a farmers' market every Saturday. http://www.eveleighmarket.com.au/sydney/

This Sunday it was our pleasure to meet Denise Litchfield aka GRRL+DOG. Denise is a very crafty woman, creating dolls, knitting and street art. Her work is fun, colourful, and quirky.

 

Her website states:
"Denise Litchfield is inseparable from her dingo kelpie, rescued as a pup from a plastic bag.
Going by the name grrl+dog‚ they form a six legged fibre collaborative that includes street art, knitting and community projects. They love to scrounge for vintage fabric and scraps to recycle."

She places fibre and street art in "unexpected places, guerilla fashion"  and says "it is better to ask forgiveness than permission".

 

It is one of our pleasures to 'find'  her fabulous knitting around a street sign or on a tree limb. I first saw her street art in Newtown and it just amazed and thrilled my sense of fun and colour. You have to look for it, it's not always easy to see, especially if you aren't aware of it's existence! See more of our photos here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/64292272@N07/sets/72157627315082560/

There's much more to see at www.grrlandog.com or you can buy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/grrlandog or see her guerilla knitting photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dneese_l/sets/72157610868899993/

 Find art in the unexpected,
J from JAM

The Extraordinary Mr Will Coles

Sydney based artist and sculptor Will Coles is an absolute favourite of ours. The magic of his art for me is the objects themselves, the idea attached to it, PLUS the quirky hunt for the sculptures. You never know where you just might find one!

 
Born in Warwickshire, England in 1972, Will's website says he "grew up in the Suffolk countryside and spent several years in London and Glasgow before moving to Sydney, Australia."

His grandfather, Norman Sillman, is a sculptor allowing Will ready access to art and art theory. Further experience was gained at the Ravensbourne College of Art, Wimbledon School of Art and the Glasgow School of Art.

Even though the sculptures are interesting visually, the product is less important than the ideas and thoughts they try to generate. Will's sculptures 'ask' you to stop and think about things such as consumerism, our individual purpose in life, our wastefulness, our adherence to an unsustainable way of life.

Will has written:

"Think, about the waste of every day life, of the things you throw away as waste, of the life you throw away doing something you hate, of wasting your life away.

"Think, about a better way of living, a better way of life, maybe doing something else, somewhere else."

Thank you Will Coles for giving me the pleasure of your public art!

Cheers,
J in JAM

Sylvia Ji via C215

I was checking out some of C215's latest amazing street art pieces - and if you haven't seen any, then do! His stuff is decorating streets of Europe and the USA, but none here.

 

I was wishing he'd come to Sydney and bomb us with his street art treasures, and I followed a link to a link to a link...

...and then saw some amazing art by Sylvia Ji. Bless Google and Flickr! Stumbling across new art is great fun.

Sylvia Ji is an west coast American, born to artistic parents: her mother sketches, her father paints. In her art, those who 'know' say she explores beauty, sexuality and social notions of what it is to be feminine. Some of her paintings are symbolic reflections of herself, portraits of people she knows or just nameless faces.  She has works on display in both San Francisco and Los Angeles galleries.

 

 

I see stunning, curvy women in amazing colours with a dreamy feel. The faces remind me of Mexican death masks. Locally I've seen some of those masks at Mao and More on Cleveland Street, Surry Hills.

You can check out her many paintings on her website as listed in our links http://www.sylviaji.com/paintings_2011or look at C215's amazing street art also listed in our links http://www.flickr.com/photos/c215/ .

None of these pics are mine, but borrowed from Google images. Credit to the photographers who took them. Great work.  Apologies if you aren't credited, but if you let me know they are yours, I'll add the attribution!

Enjoy the colour,
J in JAM

Mechanics Like Street Art Too

So many people like street art! In fact my own words were repeated to me by Greg, a car mechanic, yesterday "If you have this (gestures to whole wall of a funky tagging piece), you don't get this (gestures to scribble and vandalism on another space)."

Had a couple of hours free so I popped to the neighbouring area of Chippendale to search more streets where I encountered Greg and Greg at Gregory Strange's Motor Mechanics on Cleveland Street. We had a great chat about street art.

Greg S (for Strange, the owner) commissioned the racing car piece on his wall. He told me the name, model and make of the car in the mural and artist who did it (Steve Smith). The 2 Gregs also took me to see the other piece they have (given to a street artist who changes it regularly) on their back wall.

They are proud to be involved in street art. We agreed that it would be good for Sydney, tourism, artists and businesses if MORE people got behind street artists and gave them space to express themselves legally.
 

Sugar Shark

Midget, Chief Executive Officer

After meeting Midget their dog and 'Chief Office Executive' and being invited to return for another chat, I set off wandering the area a little more and found a few interesting bits and pieces including a huge Sugar Shark piece, another Charlie Chaplin, Box Ed, Max Berry, Phibs, etc

 

 

 
I also found another knitting piece near an Art Gallery - I assume it's by Grrl+dog. I love finding them!

A very enjoyable couple of hours. Too bad the weather is looking bad for my next break.

Street art unites us,
J in JAM

Dunlop Factory Adventure

It all came together yesterday. Both with an afternoon free, sunny weather, cameras, batteries, tripods and enthusiasm....Though I was momentarily distracted by the promise of discount shoes and handbags at the nearby factory outlets, the promise of a photographic adventure easily won.

It was our first, long overdue visit to the Dunlop Factory in Alexandria. It's an amazing place as many street artists and photographers already know. Spoilt for places to aim the camera.

Getting in can be 'interesting', but the gates were open on the afternoon we visited as a fashion shoot was underway. Security looked at me but decided I was with the fashion shoot. Luckily I have a face that says "school teacher". Comes in very handy some days.

Even though it was unplanned we were ready in our sturdy shoes and jeans and the camera bag now has spare batteries, memory cards and the car boot is the permanent home for our tripods.

 
Yesterday there were heaps of tags, some murals, lots of pieces, some stencils and a fabulous car. Some may have been fresh as the smell of aerosol was very strong in a couple of spots.

We are very happy with some of the shots, but are already looking forward to our next visit where I will grab all the shots that didn't come out the way I wanted. I am still learning the manual settings of my bridge camera. And auto focus drives me nuts sometimes!

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing,
J in JAM