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November 22, 2007

The contested public spaces of the visual urban landscape over time can be viewed from the perspective of urban archaeology----old decaying building sites plus graffiti. This gives us a sense of urban history, as this site has been levelled to make way for a modernist office building:

Gary Sauer-Thompson, redface in urban decay Adelaide, CBD 2007

Graffiti Archaeology is a movement dedicated to recording the ever changing urban art landscape by photographing well known graffiti locations over time and posting them online. Photographers have been documenting the changes through time of graffiti in Adelaide , Melbourne and Sydney---eg., Church on Fire---and treat graffiti as urban revolution and as art.

From New York style graffiti as writing and stylized letters it is an easy step to cartoons, visions of angry streets and whimsical humor:

Gary Sauer-Thompson, Benzo, brown robot, Adelaide CBD, 2007

Who then is carrying the street art forward away from the graffiti as writing in Adelaide into graffiti as art?

Well, nestled amongst the old industrial estates along the River Torrens in Hindmarsh is a new creative space for graffiti artists. Spank Studio and Gallery features five-metre ceilings and over 150 square metres of studio and gallery space; and with rough walls and jarrah floors, it’s more like a factory warehouse than the polished, sterile, white spaces of other artist-run initiatives. It was created by three of Adelaide’s best graffiti artists, Store, Fredrock and Benzo.

I do not know the Spank Studio and Gallery and it's not online. Nor do I know the work of these graffiti artists apart from Benzo, whom I have come across here. It would be good to build up a gallery of their work. But where to start? Are they online? Have others done it? I understand that Store, Fredrock and Benzo collaborate on work around Adelaide.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 5:41 AM | Permalink

| Comments (5)

Comments

Gary
the address of Spank Studio and Gallery was Unit 1D, 34 Adam Street, Hindmarsh just over a year ago.

Posted by: Pam | November 22, 2007 5:36 PM

Pam,
I went and had a look for Spank Studio and Gallery in Hindmarsh but it looked all closed. There was a big sign --Spank-in the corner but the unit looked deserted.

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | November 22, 2007 9:05 PM

Gary,
This talk by Chris Tamm on street art in Adelaide is sinteresting. It was given at Artistspeak --a weekly series of talks by emerging and established artists, designers and craftspeople at City West campus of the University of SA.

Tamm has been curating and managing culture events in alternative spaces since 2000, including three street art festivals in Adelaide 2003-5. He was also managing editor and art director of Entropy Magazine (winning four national youth media awards during this time). Most recently he has relocated to Sydney and has just completed a six month stint as curator at May's, an outdoor curated street art space.

Posted by: Pam | November 23, 2007 6:01 AM

Pam,
interesting talk. Tamm has his roots in the art and street culture in Adelaide. He recently did a street walk graffiti tour of Adelaide in August 2007.

Where is all the flourishing and vibrant street art since 2000 being exhibited? Is there an Adelaide equivalent of New York's East Village of the 1980s--artist studios, artist's galleries immersed in a wider community, artists working to broaden the scope and definition of art, and so making art more relevant to one another and to Adelaide?

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | November 23, 2007 11:13 AM

Pam,
I've come across more work by Benzo--here. I recognize the signature now.

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | November 23, 2007 4:44 PM