Title: Sentinel
Size: 16″ x 20″
Medium: Spraypaint, acrylic and India ink on canvas.
Description: This work depicts a part of the city that is very unique to Vancouver: the scaffolding that rises above the alleyways in the older parts of the city where street art is most often found.  As this is a global auction and I am my city’s sole representative, I wanted to provide a work that really represented where I’m from.

As a street artist, these alleys are my playgrounds and my galleries- they are the places in which I put up most of my work.  Every time I see the poles and wires rising above me, I feel like I’m home.  This particular stencil was hand-drawn from a photograph that I took while out on a solo mission.  The lone crow atop the pole ‘kept 6ix” for me, acting as lookout while I did my work, lifting into the air only as I moved on.

Hand-drawing my stencils is a process that I have used since day one.  I find that it produces a more unique stencil design than by using a computer – and although it is a longer more difficult process, it is a much more satisfying experience.  This stencil represents a new development for me artistically – more and more I am making stencils from my own photograph – I enjoy that the image is wholly mine from start to finish.

Bio:

I am a street artist based in Vancouver BC, Canada.   I make art because I have no choice.  I have a constant compulsion to create and leave bits and pieces of myself around the city.  I make art because it keeps me sane – because otherwise I would implode.  It’s in my blood, in my bones, in my head and my heart and my lungs.  I make art because without it I am nothing.

I make stenciled posters for the street and mixed-media work on canvas and wood panels.  In all of my work, I am inspired and informed by the artists around me; by my family, friends and complete strangers; by random happenings and coincidences.  Recently I have been working with themes of memory, dreams, nostalgia and sadness.

I’m constantly pushing myself to explore new mediums and methods of creation – to continue to challenge myself artistically (and to keep from getting bored).  In the near future, I want to use linoleum printing to create larger scale posters, and to bring some of the techniques I use on canvas into my work on the streets.

“Untitled”, 30×60cm, acrylic and Posca on canvas, 2008

Bio

Matt graduated as an illustrator but has since worked in a variety of creative capacities, including graphics, fashion and product design (he has also had shitty jobs along the way).

After resigning as senior designer for a large licensed artwork company he lived in Japan for two years where he rediscovered the joy of being creative purely for the fun of it. He was invited to participate in live painting shows around Tokyo and appeared on Tokyo MX TV with the Tokyo based art crew Rinpa Eshidan. Upon returning Radelaide, he had his first solo show and has been plugging away in the art scene since, with shows in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

He has a cute wife and they enjoy food and beer together, a lot.

Short bio:

Being an alien to the whole street art culture, I began stenciling about a year and a half ago. I don’t really have a style and just try things to see if they work: sometimes starting from pics I have taken in my trips, some other from shapes I draw, … or just seeing that a place “needs” something and then finding a way of doing it.

I have been part of some group exhibitions in the UK, Israel and Australia, have been sending stuff to “It’s Yours Take It” events all over the world and have recently painted for the May’s Lane Art Project in Sydney.

title:         cap
technique:     stencil graffiti on black MDF
size:         20×20cm
year:         2008

Bio

Stefan Winterle,  geb. 1976 in Lörrach

• 1993 erster Kontakt mit Graffiti.
• 1995 erste private und öffentliche Auftragsarbeiten.
• 1997 Abitur.
• 1997 bis 1998 Zivildienst.
• 1998 bis 2001 Studium der BWL/ BA Lörrach.
• 2002 Erste Bilder / Pochoir auf Leinwand.
• 2003 Atelier im Kesselhaus/ Weil am Rhein.
• 2005 “Streetart” Kunstverein Laufenburg.
• 2005 “Regionale6″ im Kunstraum Riehen (CH).
• 2006 “Ferrett`Art” / Ferrette (F) / Publikumspreis.
• 2006 “während du schliefst” Verein Bildende Kunst Lörrach.
• 2006 Mitglied der Graffiti- Galerie Marshall- Art in Zürich.
• 2007 “Carhartt Gallery”/  Weil am Rhein.
• 2007 “ART international 2007“/ Zürich (CH).
• 2008 “Living and leaving the streets 2008″ Kulturmarkt Zürich/ CH
• 2008 “Stencil Festival 2008″ Melbourne/ AUS

Bio

I could go on and on about my use of colour or my heavy influence in
comic illustration but at the end of the day the only real thing that matters to me in my work is the – “art of letter structure”….

That’s right…. – Graffiti .  To make a letter come alive, to create movement or rhythm, to give life to the alphabet.

Every single day – we write , read or type. All of the above being the most important point of communication and center of learning on our blessed planet.
So to me the understanding of how a letter is built and thus – the ability to then deconstruct it is if not ,one of the most beautiful and important forms of artistic expression.

My artwork is my meditation – my rock and my balance. And the ” art of letter structure” is the keeper of my soul.

Dimensions: 61cm x 76.5cm

Bio
Fray is a young emerging Melbourne based stencil/street artist.
He draws inspiration from music, friends, laneways, train corridors and life in Melbourne.
Though his work is not often of a political nature, the act of putting his work on the street is often that of a political statement.

We have a special addition to our auction, by physical graffiti artists WORKMAN JONES (they use their bodies..a different kind of political street art practiced during the day) who created the stencil protest as a work that paid homage to Melbourne’s stencil artists.

It is a collection of 5 canvases that made up the roaming wall of graffiti – a pro street art campaign that challenged the City of Melbourne’s zero tolerance policy during the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

The roaming wall, made up of 5 canvases covered in photographs of stencils from around Melbourne, was taken to the streets in a political protest against the City of Melbourne during the 2006 Commonwealth Games, who spent thousands of dollars painting over the top of Melbourne’s vibrant collection of street art in the lead up to this global event, to present the city in a way that reflected the unrealistic and dichotomous ideology of a consumer driven society free from diversity, issues, problems, homelessness, poverty, art – life.

FUSION 2008 is proud to offer the original panels from the protest. Please note- this collection is a protest piece made up from images taken of stencils on the streets of Melbourne. The artists who’s work was photographed for the protest did not stencil their work onto these canvases.

This is the only piece in the auction that is not the original work of the stencil artist themselves, and is in the auction due to its political fabulousness for supporting freedom of expression and the street art movement.

Each piece of the roaming wall will be auctioned off individually.

Bio

Patrick Jones is an activist, street artist, heirloom vegetable grower and writer working towards a post-industrialised form of poetry. He lives in Djadjawurrung country north of Melbourne. His article on privatised bottled water appears in the latest issue of D!SSENT magazine and his book, ‘A Free-dragging Manifesto: how to do words with things’, is about to be launched at the 2008 Melbourne Writers Festival.

Title: Looking Good in Purple

Dimensions: 50.8×50.8 cm

BIO
Joey is a 21-year-old student from Melbourne who studies graphic design. Whilst exploring heavily graffitied areas in Melbourne he grew a love for stencil art. About 18 months ago he cut his first stencil and since then has exhibited in group shows, been a part of laneway street art projects, live sprayings and auctions. Joey gets his inspiration from all forms of art and design, music and from what he observes on the streets.

BIO

Seldom is some brat kid that cuts and paints stencils.

He lives in a small country town just outside of Melbourne.

He resents the small country town.

Seldom has been stenciling for two years.

He’s had group shows, dual shows, solo shows, auctions and street
installations in Australia and overseas.

Seldom loves making a mess.

He draws his inspiration from his wicked family and friends.

Seldom loves home brand ice cream and beer.