Launceston

Since there is lots of other websites, fb pages and blogs devoted to inner-city graffiti and more so street art, here's some regional graffiti for balance from Tasmania's Northern city, Launceston.

Fresh from Hosier Lane part 5.

Fresh from Hosier Lane part 5 of a continuous series. This is the epi-center of Australia's graffiti scene where urban art is always transforming and evolving. Where new ideas are born, changed and altered.  

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. 

Get Hectic in Box Hill

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.  

Ink Felons

Chandler Bridge over the Yarra River, North-east of Melbourne. The Chandler Hwy which crosses above is "the worlds shortest hwy." http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/world-s-shortest-highway-chandler-highway#.VRErxNIW30c Its also a significant bottleneck for traffic with only two lanes. This bridge is next to the old Australian Paper Manufacturers factory. The factory was the first paper mill in Victoria, however it was closed and the site was abandoned for a period of time. It is now being transformed into a "mini suburb." http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/amcor-mill-site-sells-for-120-million-20130629-2p48r.html  

Broady

The outer Northern suburbs are different to the rest of Melbourne. Dry, residential, urban and a very high proportion of migrants. Broadmeadows is often tainted with the low socio-economic negatives, but the towns reputation is changing. There is a reoccurring trend in city suburbs; gradually suburbs are being gentrified. Eventually this affluent wave will probably move out to Broadmeadows. More info on gentrification http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/spotting-the-next-hip-hub-20121110-294l1.html. The graffiti here is very good. 

Mural-town Sheffield, Tasmania

Sheffield in Northern Tasmania is a great town for anyone to visit. The major tourist attraction is the murals  (Town of Murals) for which it is famous for. The town of just over a 1,000 people have held an annual international mural festival since 2003. There is a competition with a theme of which the nine finalists proudly display their artwork in the park. 

This is an interesting mural of work. The depressing mood of the painting is created using dull-grey and black colours. Then there is the shinning, bright, graffiti piece which draws the viewers attention. This mural is made interesting because its taken graffiti and put it in a positive position amongst the bleak urban landscape. Behind the built up society is a distant natural environment separated by an impenetrable concrete wall.   

This is a classic. The mural is titled "No Demands Land" spin-off of Van Dieman's Land (the name of the island prior to being called Tasmania). It really goes to show the relaxed nature of the Tasmanian lifestyle. 

 This is a graffiti wall in Sheffield. The legality of painting this wall is very unclear. There is no formal declaration by the Kentish council that it is a legal wall.

 The other icon of Sheffield is the incredible backdrop of Mt Roland (1234 meters) which sits South of the town.

Temporary art

Leave a shipping container and a white trailer near a graffiti hub and it will be painted the next day. Someone will tag it and then a throw-up appears which is capped by a piece. Just across the road is the Tepid Baths with over 16 years of accumulated graffiti. Abandoned Tepid Baths video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb09OroNWu4  

Ikoe crew

The stencil of the young kid with the boxing gloves is a metaphor for the many kids fighting to make their mark in the competitive graffiti scene.  

 Queen Tash?? 

Back streets of Richmond

Melbourne is full of intricate laneways. Find a main road in the inner city-suburbs like Brunswick St, Nicholson St, High St or many others and go for a wander. Chances are you find a graffiti "littering the walls". More often then not you'll find more detailed works than what you find on the main streets. Laneways and alleys provide time for the artist to perfect a piece and take the time. Secluded spaces away from cops and angry wankers are a key part to Melbourne's Graffiti Culture.

WCA Stomper

WCA (Wild Child Artists) crew painted this incredible piece at Alphington in Melbourne. WCA began back in 1988 and were amongst the pioneer's of the Melbourne's scene. They are one of Melbourne's longest running, still active crews. This piece shows what they are capable of. Its around 25 meters long and 2-3 meters high.   

1992

re-furnished piece 

Fresh is Best Part 1.

Hosier Land, Melbourne

Check out these fresh 2015 pieces from Melbourne's little laneway.

3 piece carpark

Tasmania's often forgotten when it comes to graffiti in Australia. For many Melbourne's scene is where its at. I could be like any other person with a graffiti blog/fb or website and keep posting about the cities recent developments. But almost everybody forgets about the regional towns. Launceston in Northern Tasmania has a strong graffiti culture for a town with only 100,000 people. Its probably got one of the longest official legal graffiti walls in the country, and yet few people know about it. More to come on Launceston.... 

 Sometimes you have to search a bit but walls like this remain in Tasmania. Each piece was painted in 2010 the council has decided to support the art respect it and leave it. This work and graffiti more broadly has become part of urban architecture. Public art (graffiti) is part of the cultural infrastructure of urban and suburban areas.

Resume, Melbs

Tassie Freight Train Graffiti 2

The train yards in the Launceston are a popular place to paint. Orker probably the first island bomber in Tasmania has smashed some panels along with an earlier piece by style kings IKOE (Incredible Knights Of Enamel) https://www.facebook.com/theikoecrew. For more information on Tasmania's rail system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Tasmania.

Graffiti profiles-Mister (Tas)

A couple of years ago Launceston graffiti artist Mister (MR) took the graffiti community by surprise. This guy's tag was turning up on almost every street corner in the city. The unique tag even turned up on the top of the old grain silos that overlook the city, gaining maximum publicity and notoriety. Mister was also probably one of the few graff artists from Launnie who diversified their art using wheat-pastes and other imagery like a barcode and the 8 ball  alongside a tag. Because he was so prolific in his active years he has left behind a legacy and encouraged others to do so.  

This piece has been buffed (Tas Tafe)

Launceston Sea Wall

Hobart's Garbage Graff

On the road to the South Hobart tip is this little beauty. This garbage truck has been smashed by graff. Graffiti is always evolving and new frontiers are being pushed regularly. This is the first bombed garbage truck that I've seen.  

Solist (style king, from south island)

Residential piece

Opposite the Mordialloc High School lies this legal piece. This is a well executed piece with a complex letter-form. It incorporates a stylized character which is cheekily admiring the piece. Nice use of a wide range of colours including non traditional fill of pink and light blue. 

Mordialloc

But...CAN'T YOU READ!!!

If you couldn't read in school the other kids would give you a hard time. But when it comes to Graffiti... well that's a little different. Many artists now-days have whats called public style. But some stick to a different set of rules creating illegible, abstract work.

Old School

Its not often you across a piece as old as this, that's still kickin. This piece is dated 1986, which means it would be getting on to almost 30 years old. Over that time it survived the elements of wind, rain, sun, buffers and even other graff artists. Melbourne's scene started back in the early 1980's so this is effectively the work of graffiti pioneers. The piece shows the idolization of the aerosol can with a background of bubbles. The paint available now-days has improved in quality and a greater range of colours are now available. Nice work!