Retired Rich Bitches!

Generally the further you travel away from the city center the graffiti becomes more basic and less skilled. However its not always the case, and graffiti does turn up in seemingly unlikely places. Patterson Lakes is an artificial suburb of Melbourne and was developed in the 1970's as an area for people to store their boats in their very own protected, private marina. The area before that used to be part of the Carrum Carrum swamp; a large wetlands. Since then the wetlands have been drained, the area was farmed. So the local ecology has been hammered by the European arrival.

 

  Patterson Lakes is an affluent area with median house price of $655,000 and a high percentage of retirees. So it doesn't have the traditional, stereotypical  low-income, poor population that most people would associate with graffiti. This influencing factors makes it a unique addition to the Melbourne Graffiti portfolio.

"No Boundaries"

 Underneath the Western Ring Rd of Melbourne, I found this... Its rare to see fade out pieces without outlines. Its a lot harder to produce pieces like this and still maintain the overall flow of work.

Glenroy

Testosterone

Hidden walls in suburbs and cities are safe place for artists to express their feelings. Graffiti is dominated by heterosexual, male artists (often ego trippers). These are the more pleasant graffiti pictures, which to large extent avoids misogynistic graffiti sometimes seen mostly in male toilets and under bridges. I have never seen any graffiti which is by females idolizing the male genitalia. This is probably reflected by the way different genders think. 

..

Its simple and probably not scientifically sound but you get the idea.

 Rowville

 North Melbourne

This attempts to counteract all the erect dicks, and illustrates the bleeding obvious that no one has erections all the time, even in this hyper-sexualized  society we live in.  

 Rowville

Again another image idolizing the male genitals making it look strong and powerful.

Hugh Dunit

Renowned Melbourne artist from 1980's. Using the moniker Hugh Dunnit to say who done it (graffiti)? Known as a king from his era. Some pieces remain, but many have been painted over. He was a pioneer, making use of high accessible walls, inaccessible to buffers to produce heavens (pieces above ground, usually on rooftops or buildings).

For more photos http://graffitiphotofreaks.tripod.com/Graffiti_Photofreaks/id33.html

Richmond

Bang on bong o'clock

Have a spliff and calm down. As you can see many places that are good for graffiti are also good bong spots. These places are both generally secluded and quiet. Generally these include down the drains, under bridges, abandoned buildings and anywhere that's "outta sight outta mind. Cannabis and graffiti go hand in hand. There is no other *illicit* drug as highly regarded by graffiti culture. 

Hawthorn 

old school, Stoner eyes taking effect 

Bong on time 

Hoddle's Creek

Melbourne 

Getting High in a rooftop carpark

Pascoe Vale 

Stoner's in need 4 some weed

Hawthorn

Cannabis sativa

Random pic

Sydney

Abandoned (Tepid Baths), Hobart

Down on the Southern Island of Australia is the smallest state, Tasmania. Despite only 1/2 million people on this island and 200,000 of those in Hobart, the graffiti scene is well established.

Hobart Graffiti (Tepid Baths)

(Repost)

Sinch lives on.......

Since the death of prominent graffiti writer Sinch, many writer's have taken to the streets to commemorate a dedicated graffiti bomber. 

Noble Park, next to Princes Hwy

Facing new Frontiers

As the graffiti culture progresses with age, it gets better, a bit like cheese. Melbourne's scene really took off in the 80's. 30-40 years on boundaries are still being pushed and the skills continues to develop and evolve. Freeway signs are one of the latest frontiers with many pieces popping up on the Monash Fwy. 

South Gippsland Hwy

Keep it clean! (Abandoned)

On the corner of Heatherton and Stud Rd is this abandoned car wash. 

 South-eastern bomber Nost from ID crew (In Deep) and MR (Midnight Rockers) and Meat who gets around with the unique throw-up of a angry bald person.

Someone dumps their shit and then it encourages others, similar to how graffiti develops over time.

Inside the car wash office

Noble Art

You rarely come across walls plastered with tags. The general rule is if you can paint something better cap it. But in this case other writers have respected the tags by not painted over it. 

While society hates tags, graffiti writers admire the hand style used. Graffiti is one of the only art-forms which pushes the boundaries of what is aesthetically pleasing by the confronting, product placement.   

Back lane in Noble Park

Space savers

Graffiti is basically changing the style of the letter-form but keeping the essence of its structure. Graffiti artists do some amazing works in a small limited space. This concrete wall is only about one meter wide and yet 5 letters are squeezed on and the piece remains legible.

Greensborough, Victoria

MR and Yucks in Oakleigh

Where have we come from?

I searched through the inter-web to try and find the oldest photo of graffiti. I found this from the Victorian State Library records. 

I came up with this pic of Box Hill from 1977. Graffiti has changed a lot since then. This photo shows graffiti as a dialogue between the writer and society. This wall faces the train line and would be seen by the passing train audience. The political graffiti is indicative of the time it was painted during a period of political awareness and progressive thoughts and ideas.  

Graffiti

South Yarra

Claiming your yard

Melbourne's south-eastern suburb of Dandenong is known for its bad reputation. With  little graffiti around town, this area is competitive with most high profile spots already taken particularly by notoriously productive KSA crew (Kicking Some Ass). 

Shoam piece in Dandenong.