Brunswick walls

Brunswick trackside walls are hot property in Melbourne. Its a balancing act of don't cap what you can't burn or try finding a new wall or if there's no wall space go up. Multi-storey graffiti is a sign of healthy and thriving graffiti scene. Its good to track change. Brunswick like most inner-city places has gone through a huge change in the last 10, 20, 30 years. Even since the 2013 visit I noticed lots has changed. More built up, more green space and graffiti is flourishing. 

2013

The roll-up days of Ha ha and Sync. Ha ha featured in the Melbourne street art documentary Rash from 2005. Ha Ha was Melbourne's answer to Banksy. His passion and productivity for street art, was hugely influential. In contrast to his big bold roll-ups along train lines his main icon was his stencil work. Without artists like him its hard to imagine what the stencil scene would have been. In 2005 the stencil graffiti capital book was released. This boom in street art lead to laneways dedicated to stencil work like Canada Lane Carlton and Blender Lane in Melbourne. Interview with Ha Ha. We all but lost Canada Lane, fortunately it was immortalised somewhat in the book Uncommissioned Art an A to Z of Australian Graffiti. More on that later.  

2024

Golfa appearing seemingly everywhere.

2013 Artists below

Retayner

Bailer

Bailer and Retayner famously put Melbourne on the map with their album Hedge Burners. Over Spray stands strong as one of Melbourne's best graffiti themed hip hop songs released in 2012. These two artists traversed the medium of lyrical abilities back to back with visual artforms. They've done it beyond most artists lifetime dreams. On one hand Retayner has released burners on walls across Melbourne and united the Oz hip hop scene to bring together to bring best unrivalled cyphers. Bailer's book Wall Stories was published, showcasing a comprehensive take on the Melbourne graffiti scene. Probably the biggest Melbourne graffiti book since the likes of Kings Way. Publishing anything on this scale in the graffiti scene is fraught with challenges where the legality of artwork can make writers run the other way. Between them a solid combination that's influenced the likes of many Melbourne and Australian artists.

2013

2024

To go back to the same walls 10 years later and see the same artists holding the yard, what a sight to behold. Especially in a trackside environment where the space is premium. Resume and Bailer piece holding ground. The new emergent generation pieces above of Kewl and Cola. There's consistently and increasingly a range of artists that get the highest and best spots, includes the likes of Uzi, Cola, World, Smel, Getting Up, Golfa and of course Nost and even Porke from New Zealand was notorious for it.

Fine art~Bailer

One of Melbourne's finest for more images check this mad site.

 http://allthoseshapes.com/bailer_graffiti_street-art/

and listen to this..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6V9vUPLMJ4

Richmond

NOST!

In your face, don't give fuck attitude and they're about to come and bomb throw-ups on your house. Nost crew is a law onto themselves. Graffiti has loose rules, and most artists follow them as a guide. Nost ignores the no go zones and constantly pioneers new spots that have never seen a spray-can. We don't know it now but Nost and Pork are the  equivalent of 70K back in the early 2000's. Pushing boundaries, getting good spots (heavens), abandoned buildings, train lines and trying many different styles. If they were arrested now they'd still have 100's of tags, throwies and pieces around Melbourne for years. They have successfully smashed the system, probably harder than any crew has ever done before.  

Fresh From Hosier Part 8.

Hosier lane pieces

"Hate us, cause they ain't us"

Sear one of the few female graff writers

Fresh from Hosier Lane Part 6.

Spring is here, with warmer weather attracting more artists to paint outside.

"Hate us cause they ain't us"

Sear one of the few female graffiti artist's in Australia 

https://www.facebook.com/SEARious-Jones-148147255232551/timeline/

Empire of Nost

Melbourne's most notorious. Anybody who walks the back and front streets of Clifton Hill or Collingwood will see the power and influence of Nost. They are a modern day version of 70K.  Nost goes hard, pushes boundaries and pioneers new spots constantly. With the sort of work ethic it is still astonishing they haven't been caught yet. It doesn't matter which side of the graffitied fence you sit on, you will commend the effort involved in producing such extensive work. 

Dandy Line

The bleak built-up urban environment of Dandenong provokes the artistic community to change it and make it better. Everybody hates graffiti but huge grey concrete walls are just as fucking offensive. Dandenong is a great multicultural diverse town with good graffiti, great River Red Gums and shit architecture. Industrial landscapes are slowly changing with the state government's urban renewal project "Revitalising Central Dandenong." This will pour money into public infrastructure to improve the amenity.

Melbourne's most productive bomber atm

Recipe for good graffiti?

To produce good graffiti like the trackside example below, requires some of the listed different elements,

• Surface-high quality smooth surface.... primed concrete is premium and the brick wall is not far behind
• Audience-the spot is public and seen on a regular basis by different people 
• Accessible/Inaccessible-Accessible sites will always attract the majority of graffiti artists, a smaller minority will be encouraged to go further and "break and enter" for harder to reach spots gaining notoriety amongst graffiti artists
• Buff-Lack of buffing over years will often allow walls to naturally establish.... generally walls improve over time and you reach a climax period when the art rarely changes
• Fame-directly linked to audience and inaccessibility

Trackside graffiti near East Richmond, Melbourne

This wall demonstrates the aggressive territorial approach of KSA crew. They tend claim large areas by progressively expanding their pieces and throw-ups onto adjacent wall space. 

Iron Or(e)?

Australia is the worlds largest exporter of iron ore. China is the largest importer using the material to make products like steel for growing cities. China has been stockpiling Iron Ore and developing urban areas. They have reduced the amount of Iron Ore they need and the price per a tonne has more than halved. The estimated value of iron ore exports for 2015 year is a whopping 90 million dollars. 

This absolute classic piece of graffiti displays our dig it up mentality. Nothings sacred when it comes to generating wealth. Even if mining uluru seems extreme, aboriginal sacred sites are continually threatened by mining in areas like the Pilbara. The Labor party introduced a mining tax so the wealth generated from mining could be spread more evenly amongst its citizens. In 2010 in Perth  mining fuckwit Gina Rineheart addressed  the rich minority the 1,200 crowd, standing on the back of a truck demonstrating her poor level of intellectual intelligence by shouting "AXE THE TAX". The Abbott government terminated the mining tax because it was bad for business. The mining industry is protected species in Australia endorsed by the Liberal Party 

Source-http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/90-billion-the-downgraded-value-of-forecast-iron-o

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-03/fact-check-australia-share-iron-ore/6483632

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/ancient-aboriginal-sites-at-risk-in-the-pilbara/story-e6frg6z6-1227069546753

Amongst the skyscraper's

Artists continue to bomb the billboard which is visible from the city loop trainline. Nost pushes the envelope further and is still able to find new spots despite painting half the city already.  

Pakenham line Piece

Highly talented artists produce work like this with no drips, mistakes and sharp defined lines. It includes elements of 3D with light shadows, movement lines, splash background and a conventional chrome fill with white highlights.

Carnegie wall

"What a Character!"

In Melbourne, graffiti is more than just tags. These photos are examples of crews that use characters as their tag or calling card. The most infamous is of course is the Cat. Seen in the northern suburbs and particularly inner-west. It takes a lot of technique to develop a character in which you can throw-up quickly.

 Merri Creek, Alien Wizard
The wiz is like an extra terrestrial alien, with quint-essential, Australian cork hat for the funkin blow flies. 

 Brunswick
loving the blue-stone laneways of Melbs plastered with graff

 Brunswick
Graffiti is tasty!

Croydon

Melbourne
This quaint, adorable, character is often seen in and around the suburbs of Melbourne. Nufevah uses a variety of different materials and mediums to put up work. Nufevah works often come with an environmental message attached. Is it a type of whale?

RIP Sinch

Renowned graffiti artist Sinch dies from train surfing stunt incident. Sinch will be remembering for smashing Melbourne with the often iconic fat-cap tags in prominent places. 

South Melbourne, February 2013

Sinch video

RIP Sinch Facebook