This week I was able to visit a street art gallery that was a part of the Brisbane Street Arts Festival. I was amazed at the work and, as someone who doesn’t know much about street art, I was absolutely thrown off by the professionalism and friendliness of the participants. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting before attending the event, but what I got was definitely not what I expected. The event was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and it made me think of how much these artists should be supported, and if the event or festival had had more publicity/marketing, how big this event could have been. While the event was spectacular for someone who doesn’t know a lot about the scene, I think that festivals and events like this need to be spread wider, to engage a larger audience of potential artists, buyers, and people who are just genuinely interested in the art form and the work produced.
The Brisbane Street Arts Festival has been running for three years and they include live murals, workshops, exhibitions and an event called Scribble Slam which I hope to review next month, as it only occurs once a month and I wasn’t able to attend this time around. They have hundreds of creatives working to create this amazing festival, which I think is an incredible opportunity for those interested in street art, or even those who aren’t and would like to be able to learn more about it.
I was able to attend the ‘Crush this City’ exhibition on it’s opening day, which is at the Urban Paradise Gallery in Annerly. The exhibition is open from April 16th to April 28th from 10am to 6pm, and it’s free. This is great, because it makes it accessible to students and those of us who are a little cash-strapped. I think the event being free is a great way to entice more people to the event, but again, this relies a lot on marketing and publicity which I didn’t really get to see much of with this event.
When I attended the event, there were around six artists doing live murals around the two buildings that were acting as the gallery. It was amazing to see these artists, in their element as they worked in a safe space, decorating the outer walls of the buildings with their amazing murals. Seeing artists in their element like this is something that you don’t really get to see with more conventional art forms. I thought it was absolutely mind-boggling to be able to see and artists actually working on the piece, rather than just having the piece displayed as is the case with a lot of other art forms.
As someone who has only ever been to more conventional galleries, the difference between them and the Urban Paradise Gallery was astounding. It was fantastic to see these more unconventional types of art. The use of spray paint, skateboards as a use of media and so many other things was truly phenomenal for someone who doesn’t generally know a lot about the street art scene. Being able to see this truly opened my eyes to the variety of work that can be done outside of the mainstream media of conventional art.
The biggest difference to me, with this gallery, was the fact that the artists were hanging around and talking to everyone inside the gallery. If anyone stopped and took an interest in their work the artist came up to chat to them about the artworks and their artistic processes. In more conventional art exhibitions it’s very unlikely to actually be able to sit down (or stand) with the artist and be able to talk to them about the creation of the work. There seems to be a bit of mystique around the processes of artists that these street artists don’t seem to have. They are more than happy to talk about their work and the progress they’ve made as an artist to anyone willing to listen.
When I entered the building, I was greeted by someone who worked at the gallery. He had a chat to me about the history and future of the gallery. As it turns out, the buildings are due to be knocked down in eighteen months and they are actually squatters in the building. Which explains how they were able to get away with spray painting the sides of the buildings.
The use of these buildings are, obviously, illegal, but on the plus side at least they weren’t being destroyed or damaged, the buildings are being used as a platform for young Australian artists to get their works seen, and sold, as they were selling the artworks in the gallery.
This exhibit was phenomenal and shows the determination and unconventional ways in which these street artists are making their names and art known in their hometowns. It also shows their pride for their city and their work.
As someone who is used to more conventional terms of art, this was a greatly eye-opening experience for me. To be able to see art in a different form and in such a free (in the sense of restraint, not money), unstructured way was something that I greatly enjoyed.
The atmosphere of the place was amazing. Outside where the live murals were happening there was a live DJ, which made the whole place feel even more relaxed and the artists definitely seemed to be enjoying it.
The festival as a whole, I believe, is something that needs to be more widely publicised because something that shows art in this natural, unconventional form, which also showcases so many brilliant Brisbane artists and creatives is something that needs to happen more often. While we always hear a lot about exhibitions at more conventional places, such as the Gallery of Modern Art, street art is something that is not widely known within the small confines of visual art in Brisbane. I think festivals like this should happen more often, simply for the fact that our Brisbane artists need more recognition for the amazing work that they do and the brilliant culture that they draw with them.
I would be excited to see how the rest of the Brisbane Street Art Festival was compared to this exhibit. I definitely recommend going to take a look for yourself as this article is simply just my opinion of what I witnessed of just one exhibit. However, I encourage everyone to form their own opinions on the festival.
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