BEYOND Street Art WALL TO WALL collectives and artist management studios If you’re in Melbourne in March, that routinely schedule exhibitions and street take a short trip to Victoria, art festivals, curate works for events, and located north east of the city, for off er residencies to visiting international their annual Wall To Wall Street artists. A city-run programme off ers young Art Festival organised by Judy Roller. It’s a crowd funded event street artists a platform for mentorship and that draws thousands of collaboration with established names. artists and art enthusiasts. To get under the skin of this Melbourne judyroller.com.au subculture, I walk the laneways of Melbourne with eminent street artist Rone, who’s been in the scene for a decade and a half. Where’s the art at? Mention street art in Melbourne, and Hosier Lane LOOK OUT FOR is a name that’s sure to pop up. The narrow laneway ► The Juddy Roller studio ► If you spot calligraphic style in the city centre is among Melbourne’s best-known is on an alley connecting lettering in swirly black and street art venues, crammed with a dizzying array of Johnston Street and Chapel white, it’s the trademark work Street. The studio is open to of Mayonaize. One of the best public if there’s an exhibit or places to see his creations on event, but the area around display is the exterior of The it houses some of the most Stone Hotel on Brunswick Crammed with a dizzying interesting and eye catching Street. Look closely: the works, including Adnate, Kaff- artistic font actually spells out array of colours, the walls eine, and Smug’s creations. the word ‘Mayonaize’. Also in Stag heads on human bodies the area is The Bogan, a fairly of Melbourne’s famous and other animal-human controversial piece depicting lanes change constantly. hybrid art pieces are usually a man smoking a cigarette, Kaff-eine’s work, abundant holding a beer, and eating a No two visits are the same. in this area. ketchup-covered pie. The Bogan is a collaboration of artists Adnate, Smug, and Sofl es on Leiceiter Street. Above: Artist Mayonaize works at Everfresh Studio. Melbourne’s Groovy Street Art A handy guide with insider tips on who’s who and what’s where in Melbourne’s street art-crammed laneways. By Malavika Bhattacharya nstagram fi ends, take note: Melbourne’s street art in Melbourne began as a fl edgling laneways are fi lled with gram-worthy movement in the early 2000s. Back then, moments, if you know where to look. its legality was a grey area, and even now, With street art splattered liberally across there remains a distinction between graffi ti its buildings and non-descript corners, and street art. The latter is an accepted (and A teenager spray painting the city is an open-air museum of murals, legal) form of expression, with departments on a wall in stencils, graffi ti, and installations. of the city government often commissioning Hosier Lane, in Though the concept of art in public pieces to liven up public spaces. In fact, the Central Business JEFF GREENBERG/GETTY JEFF IMAGES District. I spaces has been around for decades, subculture has organised itself into various SHUTTERSTOCK BHATTACHARYA; MALAVIKA TRAVELTRAVEL ++ LEISURE LEISURE / /SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 2016 2016 TRAVEL + LEISURE / SEPTEMBER 2016 6872 69 09_BYND_Melbourne Street Art_16_UL-2nd time.indd 68-69 26/08/16 3:46 pm BEYOND Street Art WALL TO WALL collectives and artist management studios If you’re in Melbourne in March, that routinely schedule exhibitions and street take a short trip to Victoria, art festivals, curate works for events, and located north east of the city, for off er residencies to visiting international their annual Wall To Wall Street artists. A city-run programme off ers young Art Festival organised by Judy Roller. It’s a crowd funded event street artists a platform for mentorship and that draws thousands of collaboration with established names. artists and art enthusiasts. To get under the skin of this Melbourne judyroller.com.au subculture, I walk the laneways of Melbourne with eminent street artist Rone, who’s been in the scene for a decade and a half. Where’s the art at? Mention street art in Melbourne, and Hosier Lane LOOK OUT FOR is a name that’s sure to pop up. The narrow laneway ► The Juddy Roller studio ► If you spot calligraphic style in the city centre is among Melbourne’s best-known is on an alley connecting lettering in swirly black and street art venues, crammed with a dizzying array of Johnston Street and Chapel white, it’s the trademark work Street. The studio is open to of Mayonaize. One of the best public if there’s an exhibit or places to see his creations on event, but the area around display is the exterior of The it houses some of the most Stone Hotel on Brunswick Crammed with a dizzying interesting and eye catching Street. Look closely: the works, including Adnate, Kaff- artistic font actually spells out array of colours, the walls eine, and Smug’s creations. the word ‘Mayonaize’. Also in Stag heads on human bodies the area is The Bogan, a fairly of Melbourne’s famous and other animal-human controversial piece depicting lanes change constantly. hybrid art pieces are usually a man smoking a cigarette, Kaff-eine’s work, abundant holding a beer, and eating a No two visits are the same. in this area. ketchup-covered pie. The Bogan is a collaboration of artists Adnate, Smug, and Sofl es on Leiceiter Street. Above: Artist Mayonaize works at Everfresh Studio. Melbourne’s Groovy Street Art A handy guide with insider tips on who’s who and what’s where in Melbourne’s street art-crammed laneways. By Malavika Bhattacharya nstagram fi ends, take note: Melbourne’s street art in Melbourne began as a fl edgling laneways are fi lled with gram-worthy movement in the early 2000s. Back then, moments, if you know where to look. its legality was a grey area, and even now, With street art splattered liberally across there remains a distinction between graffi ti its buildings and non-descript corners, and street art. The latter is an accepted (and A teenager spray painting the city is an open-air museum of murals, legal) form of expression, with departments on a wall in stencils, graffi ti, and installations. of the city government often commissioning Hosier Lane, in Though the concept of art in public pieces to liven up public spaces. In fact, the Central Business JEFF GREENBERG/GETTY JEFF IMAGES District. I spaces has been around for decades, subculture has organised itself into various SHUTTERSTOCK BHATTACHARYA; MALAVIKA TRAVEL + LEISURE / SEPTEMBER 2016 TRAVELTRAVEL ++ LEISURE // SEPTEMBERSEPTEMBER 2016 2016 68 7369 09_BYND_Melbourne Street Art_16_UL-2nd time.indd 68-69 26/08/16 3:46 pm BEYOND Street Art Street Art Legacy While each person will have their own favourites walking through the city, it’s worth taking a detour to some iconic works of art. In the 1980s, when the street art scene was booming in New York, eminent American artist Keith Haring visited Melbourne to create a series of public art projects. During this visit in 1984, he created a mural on the exterior of a building that was then the Collingwood Technical College. With his trademark fi gures outlined in red and blue, the late artist’s work still stands today on Johnston Street in Collingwood. Today, only 31 of Haring’s public works remain around the world, and this piece in Melbourne was carefully restored after a bid to preserve the creation. This is defi nitely an important stop for both art enthusiasts and anyone interested in Melbourne’s street art legacy. “There’s an aggressive competitive spirit to paint over someone else’s work. A GOOD FIND! It’s an ego sport.” On the outer façade of The Night Cat, a popular club From above: The in Fitzroy, Everfresh Studio monochrome mural has created a massive, on the outer facade monochrome mural that colours across every available surface. The works of The Night Cat, reads ‘Welcome to Sunny change constantly and no two visits here are Fitzroy; artist Rone Fitzroy, from Everfresh’. the same. Nearby Union Lane is where nearly strikes a pose on a It’s intricate and in bylane in Melbourne. 50 street artists have created a mural as part of your face. the city’s mentorship programme. Along with the Rutledge Lane, opposite Federation Square, and ACDC lane, an homage to the homegrown are usually marked with an artist’s name, and once rock band, this is an art-fi lled precinct in the city you’re familiar with some trademark styles, it’s centre worth spending some time in. pretty easy to make a game of ‘identify the artist’. Art has spilled out from the centre into Known for his lifelike murals of women, Rone alternative neighbourhoods in Melbourne’s suburbs. is an internationally recognised artist whose works The grungy, creative suburb of Fitzroy is another can be seen around the world. For example, artist hub of street artists, fi lled with studios, iconic Kaff-eine’s work is melancholy and often whimsical, works, and hidden gems. Start at the Rose Street featuring animals, children, and fantastical car park, where the pillars and walls are a canvas characters, while Meggs, along with Rone, is a for several local artists’ work, all of which blend founding member of Everfresh Studios, which is into each other. “There’s an aggressive competitive INSIDER TIPS known for its murals and stencils found across the spirit to paint over someone else’s work.