Street art takes on World Square

• Desktop

The whole thing started with a two‑line email which travelled from the offices of Multiplex, one of Australia's largest construction companies, to the small Melbourne studio of Andy Mac. The message was short. Multiplex needed help.

-> It seemed that Mac, responsible for the Citylights sites and curator of numerous street art projects, was the person the building giant had been looking for. Stretching more than 200 metres, the hoarding surrounding the long‑term building site around the World Square development on the corner of Sydney's inner city George and Goulbourn Streets had been besmirched with random messages and scribble.

-> Multiplex management had been impressed by the diverse and innovative nature of the street art adorning Melbourne back alleys such as Hosier Lane and Centre Place and now they were wondering if Mac could organise a project that would bring opportunistic tagging at the Sydney building site to a halt. Decorating the hoarding with advertising, posters or commissioned graphics would have been an option, but Multiplex chose to invite a group of Melbourne street artists to create a piece of art that would generate excitement, not least because its genesis would be visible to all passers‑by and residents of the area.

‑> Mac sprang into action. His studio, in a laneway off Flinders street, is a Melbourne street artist hub for producing, documenting and discussing work as well as spreading the word about upcoming exhibitions. For the next month, the studio became the preparation epicentre of this 18‑artist collaboration. Selected by Mac, the artists' only common characteristic was their interest in urban environments. Not all of them had met before, but "everyone definitely knew of each other's work, and many had collaborated with each other in various combinations," says Mac.

-> Retrospectively, the artists see their meetings as a time where the team spirit and collaborative nature of the project developed. "I really enjoyed all the meetings leading up to it, where we had 18 guys in here just talking about initial ideas and brainstorming ideas for the work and the background of the wall. It was a bit chaotic, but it was interesting how it translated to what we did on the wall," says Tom Civil, who designs publications and zines when he's not working on stencils and street art designs. He believes that collaboration is inherent in the nature of street art, and that the artists are used to sharing space: "People often add to other people's work on the street, so the artists are really into collaborating anyway."

-> The studio was buzzing with activity. When artists weren't sketching designs, cutting stencils and contemplating styles, sales reps from spray can manufacturers and street wear clothing label Globe were pulled on board as sponsors for the project.

-> On a Wednesday morning in mid‑August, when a large package of stencils and paint had already been shipped to Sydney, the crew of 18 artists set off to spend five days creating their giant artwork. Another four production staff accompanied the group. A website for the project was developed on the fly with Wendy Cooper designing and coding the site from Melbourne, and David Campbell managing the updates and animations on‑site as the work progressed.

‑> The art will be on display until March 2005, when the panels will be auctioned off to raise money for the Open Family and Youth off the Streets charities.

‑> The mixture of artists was as diverse in age as it was in background. While some of them rocked up to the meeting point having briefed their employees with instructions on tasks to be performed during their absence, others were picked up from their parents' homes.

‑> Mac explains that his selection focused on bringing together a diverse range of artists who shared a common motive: "Everyone involved in this project is in some way very sophisticated in taking advantage of public attention. That's probably what all the artists had in common, whether they were gallery artists, street artists or publishing artists."

‑> James Dodd agrees that experimenting with public attention is a central motivation of street artists. "The urban environment is one that we like to engage with on a different level other than advertising and signage do. The way we see it is that our art is providing a creative version of that," says the visual artist who presents his work in both a street and a gallery context. "We all like to respond to the urban environment. All of the art is interventionist. Some of it intervenes with what is there, say with billboards and signs, and other work is an alternative to existing urban imagery.

-> When the artists arrived at the site they were faced with more than 500 square metres of blank wall. To provide a starting point for the work, VCA student and artist AI Stark had developed a background pattern that was complemented by Mac's research on World War One dazzle camouflage, a system of 'disguise' developed for warships and designed by futurist and Dada artists. Before radar technology, navy ships were painted in panels of bright colours of various shapes to confuse the perception of the ships' outlines, making them difficult for enemy torpedoes to target.

-> The artists devised a reminiscent effect in three colours. On their first night after having been confined by rain to sketching ideas in their hotel room, the group began to paint.

-> Artist Bonsai went ahead and informally marked sections in various shapes while others followed to fill the shapes in three different colours of roller paint. First interactions with passers‑by occurred. "We were working on the street, no barriers, no nothing. It was a really informal set‑up. And these drunken dudes walked past and they were doing a bit of roller painting for a while. We got to meet a lot of people in the process of it. Everyone ended up talking to people in the street, chatting about all sorts of stuff."

-> The relationship with the security guards provided by Multiplex is one that many of the group see as symbolic of the nature of this extraordinary project. Security and police, the street artists' natural enemies, became part of the project by providing feedback and even inspiration. Relationships were reversed and redefined. "Security guards are used to chasing people doing this," says Civil as he explains security guard Brian's reaction to the street art project, "and he said 'Now I know why I can't catch you buggers, you are so quick!'" The project was as much about the artists' own work as it was about the recording of the surroundings and interaction with site and environment. Hence, policemen, builders and a security guard also found their way into the artwork, particularly through the work of artist Marcsta.

‑> "Marcsta drew a lot. He basically worked his way around the site filling his notepad with drawings. He worked in the community of people around this building the whole time," says Andy Mac, who also documented the project on camera and in more than 4000 photos. At one point, three policemen approached Marcsta and asked to be drawn, striking a pose. In the end, the drawings and paintings of policemen and security guards were transferred onto the wall.

‑> The artists also brought their home to this city block. Melbourne icons like legendary drumming busker Victor Lancaster are represented in the work. But it's not only the motifs that bring a touch of Melbourne to one of Sydney's highest density areas; the techniques which they applied also embody a unique Melbourne spirit.

‑> As word filtered through the graffiti grapevine, local street artists began to drop by the site. "We were really stoked to be joined by some legendary Sydney graffiti writers like Perso, Amuse and Pudl. It is unusual to have so many artists of diverse styles working side by side in the street and it is fair to say there was some serious style checking going on," says Mac.

‑> "They were stoked," exudes one of the younger participants Monkee. in reference to the local artists' reaction to the variety of styles featured in the work. They were particularly impressed by the numerous pieces that deviated from traditional graffiti styles in making use of line‑drawing techniques or comic styles.

‑> The Melbourne artists believe their city ‑ with its laneways and back alleys ‑ is an ideal working environment and fosters the evolution of a strong street art community, due in part to an ambiguous public policy on street art and its incorporation into the urban fabric of the city through projects like Citylights.

‑> Their collaborations at World Square created a landscape that bristles with energy and tells stories of and about the creators and their characters. The city-dwelling rabbit which is the protagonist in artist Kieran Mangan's current production, a 120‑page graphic novel, is featured in multiple places and poses, emerging from the mane of a large Viking created by Monkee.

‑> On another wail, Richard Butler‑Bowden drew Michael Fikaris' portrait next to Fikaris' giant lumberjack sasquatch, one of his newly created characters for a production of The Silent Army, a comic book publishing coalition he co‑founded with Mangan some years ago.

‑> Back in the studio, exhausted and happy, between bags and spray cans, and continually downloading images from a number of capturing devices, the artists reflect on the nature of this extraordinary project. Mac hopes that it will further promote an understanding and appreciation of street art in Australia, and encourage discussion on the use of public space. ‑> Fikaris says that this 'open air studio workshop' was a perfect opportunity for the public to witness the making of street art. "That's what makes the street a great gallery. What's good about the street is that it has a vernacular of its own, which relates to a purpose in general: the public. And the footpath, that's the public domain," he says.

‑> Mac nods "And that is a big plus for street art. It is not closed off in an institution, instead it is in your own environment. So you automatically feel like you can have a say. This informality makes it very accessible."

‑> Civil agrees that people feel a connection and an ability to judge street art because it is situated in the public realm, rather than in a secluded gallery space: "I reckon people who don't really go to art galleries are often more open and are ready to change their opinion. They would come up and ask: is that a mistake? Are these drips meant to be there?' And then I would say, 'Actually I meant to make those drips there...' and they'd say, 'Oh, alright...' They just sort of say what they think," says Civil. He believes the project was about breaking down the prejudice that accompanies graffiti and street art, and lessening the distance between artists and street artists. And Mac adds, "... to create a sense that it is art, it just happens to be on the street."

Writer: Vivianne Stappmanns

Issue #199