Too Heavy For Superman
Joseph Allen Shea
Anthony Lister's tireless approach to living is an unrelenting approach to art. What is evident in his work is the inability to remove a man's life from his creations. Slouching for no borders (physical and metaphysical), as an artist he is omnipresent. Studio, gallery and museum shows aside, his name and imagery is on street corners worldwide accessing a massive audience by way of stickers, aerosol paint and all manner of markers.
His paintings, drawings, sculptures and happenings pull from his experiences as a youth in Australia and participating in the repetition as a father of two. Superheroes, skateboarding, graffiti, Australian gangster celebrities, television, jail birds, tattoos, the internet, pop and advertising resurface in his art practice.
Anthony Lister's presentation of contemporary life shows the creases, the cracks and the putty, he doesn't air brush over the humanity or euphemise what's real. Recognizing the limitations of the human condition is as important as realizing ones goals. Losing is important for there lies options, the room for improvement, for sometimes 'It's [even] just too heavy for Superman to lift'1
With invitational residencies in London and New York, a mentorship under Max Gimblett, a CV as long as your arm (including shows at Elms Lester London, New Image Art L.A., Metro 5 Gallery Melbourne and K Gallery Italy), numerous awards and monographs, Anthony Lister's renown among peers, curators and collectors is testament not just to his extreme productivity but the works exceptional potency.
Resourceful with materials and the 'canvas' at hand, Anthony Lister has been called a 'street' artist, but he is more as an 'all-moment' artist. He is incessantly creating, and when he finds himself on the street he retains this mode of expression. His monographs disclose this when he presents as many lifestyle images as artworks. Images exist on web 2.0 interfaces such as flickr, blogs and youtube of the artist painting in his studio as a party riots around him - he is participating but persistently he is making marks and executing ideas that will remain past the hangover.
Anthony Lister is living and he is translating real-life in real time. As the artist states "I am not trying to change the world... I am just reacting to a world that is trying to change me"2
1 Waiting for Superman, The Flaming Lips, 1999
2 Artist Statement 2004
www.anthonylister.com
Joseph Allen Shea
Anthony Lister's tireless approach to living is an unrelenting approach to art. What is evident in his work is the inability to remove a man's life from his creations. Slouching for no borders (physical and metaphysical), as an artist he is omnipresent. Studio, gallery and museum shows aside, his name and imagery is on street corners worldwide accessing a massive audience by way of stickers, aerosol paint and all manner of markers.
His paintings, drawings, sculptures and happenings pull from his experiences as a youth in Australia and participating in the repetition as a father of two. Superheroes, skateboarding, graffiti, Australian gangster celebrities, television, jail birds, tattoos, the internet, pop and advertising resurface in his art practice.
Anthony Lister's presentation of contemporary life shows the creases, the cracks and the putty, he doesn't air brush over the humanity or euphemise what's real. Recognizing the limitations of the human condition is as important as realizing ones goals. Losing is important for there lies options, the room for improvement, for sometimes 'It's [even] just too heavy for Superman to lift'1
With invitational residencies in London and New York, a mentorship under Max Gimblett, a CV as long as your arm (including shows at Elms Lester London, New Image Art L.A., Metro 5 Gallery Melbourne and K Gallery Italy), numerous awards and monographs, Anthony Lister's renown among peers, curators and collectors is testament not just to his extreme productivity but the works exceptional potency.
Resourceful with materials and the 'canvas' at hand, Anthony Lister has been called a 'street' artist, but he is more as an 'all-moment' artist. He is incessantly creating, and when he finds himself on the street he retains this mode of expression. His monographs disclose this when he presents as many lifestyle images as artworks. Images exist on web 2.0 interfaces such as flickr, blogs and youtube of the artist painting in his studio as a party riots around him - he is participating but persistently he is making marks and executing ideas that will remain past the hangover.
Anthony Lister is living and he is translating real-life in real time. As the artist states "I am not trying to change the world... I am just reacting to a world that is trying to change me"2
1 Waiting for Superman, The Flaming Lips, 1999
2 Artist Statement 2004
www.anthonylister.com
Growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, Meggs' early artistic development was influenced by the cartoons, comics & sci-Fi films of the 1980's. Fuelling his vivid imagination and creating a passion for superheroes, fantasy characters and bold colourful graphics, such as those found on toy packaging and video covers. This soon developed into a passion for skateboarding culture, graffiti art and graphic design.
Several years after completing his Bachelor of Design, Meggs became frustrated with client based design work and began exploring his personal artwork on the streets, particularly in the form of stencilling around 2003. Meggs quickly developed a recognisable style of complex stencil images and paste-ups, as well as exploring character based aerosol work with underlying themes of demons and duality. Early works such as the 'devil kids' and 'spew blobs' become familiar to the back alleys and laneways of Melbourne's CBD and surrounding suburbs.
In 2004, Meggs joined forces with artists Sync, Rone, Phibs, Reka, Wondalust & Meek to become a core member of 'Everfresh', a unique collective of street/graffiti/studio artists who are recognised as one of Australia's most progressive and prolific street art collectives. Sharing skills, knowledge and passion Everfresh are now renowned and respected for their collaborative styles in group murals and exhibitions, as well as being accomplished individual artists with their own unique strengths and styles.
Meggs' work continually references the nostalgia of childhood heroes and villains, exploring the notion of 'duality' and an on-going question of morals, rights and authorities. Reflecting on personal experience Meggs produces energetic depictions of heroes, villains, and subverted collages of pop culture symbology.
Spreading his street work as far as Paris, London, LA, SF and Tokyo, Meggs has also contributed to numerous group exhibitions both locally and internationally. His work has more notably been sold through 'Artcurial Auctioneers' (Paris) and is included in the 'National Gallery of Australia's' (Canberra) permanent collection as well as a recent print aquisition by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Continually evolving his painting style with a continued passion for graffiti and character painting, pop-art and abstract expressionism has led to Meggs being well recognised as one of Australia's pioneering street to gallery artists.
www.houseofmeggs.com
Several years after completing his Bachelor of Design, Meggs became frustrated with client based design work and began exploring his personal artwork on the streets, particularly in the form of stencilling around 2003. Meggs quickly developed a recognisable style of complex stencil images and paste-ups, as well as exploring character based aerosol work with underlying themes of demons and duality. Early works such as the 'devil kids' and 'spew blobs' become familiar to the back alleys and laneways of Melbourne's CBD and surrounding suburbs.
In 2004, Meggs joined forces with artists Sync, Rone, Phibs, Reka, Wondalust & Meek to become a core member of 'Everfresh', a unique collective of street/graffiti/studio artists who are recognised as one of Australia's most progressive and prolific street art collectives. Sharing skills, knowledge and passion Everfresh are now renowned and respected for their collaborative styles in group murals and exhibitions, as well as being accomplished individual artists with their own unique strengths and styles.
Meggs' work continually references the nostalgia of childhood heroes and villains, exploring the notion of 'duality' and an on-going question of morals, rights and authorities. Reflecting on personal experience Meggs produces energetic depictions of heroes, villains, and subverted collages of pop culture symbology.
Spreading his street work as far as Paris, London, LA, SF and Tokyo, Meggs has also contributed to numerous group exhibitions both locally and internationally. His work has more notably been sold through 'Artcurial Auctioneers' (Paris) and is included in the 'National Gallery of Australia's' (Canberra) permanent collection as well as a recent print aquisition by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Continually evolving his painting style with a continued passion for graffiti and character painting, pop-art and abstract expressionism has led to Meggs being well recognised as one of Australia's pioneering street to gallery artists.
www.houseofmeggs.com
Daniel O'Toole // The Sydney born Painter Daniel O'Toole also known as 'ears' works both on the streets and in the studio with a loose abstracted portrait style that plays with lyrical line work and bold colours.
Often Whimsical his male faces appear to be lost in thought and overwhelmed by the world in general. Described as an exploration into morbid self-portraits with an observational undertone, Daniel's work hints at an understanding of realism whilst playing with a more graphic and illustrative approach to painting.
Having studied at National Art School Daniel has pushed in an anti-institutional direction building a body of work that combines his learnings of a street art background with an undercurrent of traditionalism, and demonstrates an ability to balance his influences in a focused effort.
'The work is inspired and driven by music, life and the city.
www.earstotheground.net/
Often Whimsical his male faces appear to be lost in thought and overwhelmed by the world in general. Described as an exploration into morbid self-portraits with an observational undertone, Daniel's work hints at an understanding of realism whilst playing with a more graphic and illustrative approach to painting.
Having studied at National Art School Daniel has pushed in an anti-institutional direction building a body of work that combines his learnings of a street art background with an undercurrent of traditionalism, and demonstrates an ability to balance his influences in a focused effort.
'The work is inspired and driven by music, life and the city.
www.earstotheground.net/
Webuyyourkids is Sonny Day & Biddy Maroney, from Sydney, Australia.
They began working together in 2006, making screen-printed tour posters and have expanded to make artwork for many posters, albums, tshirts, magazines, the internet, the telly and the magic of YouTube. And a Jeep. And a beer bottle.
They combine their commercial work with frequent gallery exhibitions and have had solo shows in Melbourne's Lamington Drive and Sydney's Monster Children, Mart and MTV Galleries.
Computer Arts magazine described their work as "Harsh Majical" and "Fresh As Fish In Restaurant".
They like to draw pictures about witchcraft, mishaps, misdemeanors, voodoo and black cats.
They are represented by The Jacky Winter Group.
www.webuyyourkids.com
They began working together in 2006, making screen-printed tour posters and have expanded to make artwork for many posters, albums, tshirts, magazines, the internet, the telly and the magic of YouTube. And a Jeep. And a beer bottle.
They combine their commercial work with frequent gallery exhibitions and have had solo shows in Melbourne's Lamington Drive and Sydney's Monster Children, Mart and MTV Galleries.
Computer Arts magazine described their work as "Harsh Majical" and "Fresh As Fish In Restaurant".
They like to draw pictures about witchcraft, mishaps, misdemeanors, voodoo and black cats.
They are represented by The Jacky Winter Group.
www.webuyyourkids.com
Australian artist Ben Frost is known for his kaleidoscopic Pop Art, mash-up paintings that take inspiration from areas as diverse as graffiti, collage, photorealism and sign-writing. Subverting mainstream iconography from the worlds of advertising, entertainment and politics, he creates a visual framework that is bold, confrontational and often controversial. With a blatant disrespect for the signifiers of our visual culture, Ben Frost creates multi-layered surfaces of refreshing intensity.
He has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally, including solo shows in London, New York and San Francisco, as well as group shows in Beijing, Amsterdam, Berlin and Singapore. In 2006 he co-founded the online art portal stupidkrap.com and was a guest speaker at the 2008 Semi-Permanent and AG IDEAS conferences throughout Australia. He currently lives in Sydney and operates 'Worlds End Studio', in Surry Hills. www.benfrostisdead.com
Ben on Project 5:
"Cockle Wharf at Darling Harbour was the perfect backdrop to paint each day with good friends and great music. I had previously done collaborations with Beastman and Phibs, so it was an excellent opportunity to work with Shannon. Our styles compliment each other with the use of color and the surreal figurative interactions, and I hope to work with her again in the future."
Ben on Project 5:
"Cockle Wharf at Darling Harbour was the perfect backdrop to paint each day with good friends and great music. I had previously done collaborations with Beastman and Phibs, so it was an excellent opportunity to work with Shannon. Our styles compliment each other with the use of color and the surreal figurative interactions, and I hope to work with her again in the future."
Shannon Crees is a Sydney born artist. Her works are primarily figurative, evolving from a background of fashion design, illustration and graphics. Colourful and optimistic, he works incorporate a build up of layers that merge pattern and form. They could be described as a textual tapestry, often featuring exotic plants and animals. Her works range from small canvas to large-scale murals, and graffiti, depicted in a wide variety of media. Shannon was recently the only Australian artist included in the high profile line up of 'the best graffiti artists in the world' at Banksy's cans festival 2 in London. She was the winner of Leichhardt council's 'Wall to wall competition. Has featured on Television shows 'Getaway' and 'The Apprentice' as well as the ABC news. As well as exhibiting widely in Sydney, she has had work featuring in exhibitions in NY, London and Tokyo. www.shannoncrees.com
Shannon on Project 5:
Our plan was to throw down colour then let the images unfold. Our pop characters combining with graphic shapes create a familiar yet sureal Landscape. The end result is both indicative of our signature styles and unique and spontanious in colaberating as part of the live pop up show- Project 5.
Shannon on Project 5:
Our plan was to throw down colour then let the images unfold. Our pop characters combining with graphic shapes create a familiar yet sureal Landscape. The end result is both indicative of our signature styles and unique and spontanious in colaberating as part of the live pop up show- Project 5.
Beastman (Brad Eastman) is an artist, designer and photographer based in Sydney. Using acrylic, ink and aerosol he produces intricately detailed artworks depicting a parallel world of scaly skinned, bold outlined, beast-like characters gripped by fear, anger, stress, jealousy, lust, confusion and paranoia. Years of skateboarding has strongly influenced Beastman's characters, concepts and unique style, developed over many years of drawing in sketchbooks and shooting photos. Heraldry, symmetry, family, friendship, nature, the ocean, violence, spirits, birth and the afterlife are all themes which are becoming more and more evident in his artwork. Beastman has exhibited in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, London and Berlin, and has designed skateboards and graphics for various brands including Element, Amnesia, Folklore and Mingo Lamberti. Beastman is also the founder, editor and designer of the online publication [weAREtheIMAGEmakers] - www.watim.com - which features interviews with Australian artists, illustrators and photographers. www.beastman.com.au
Originally from Sydney, Phibs has been painting graffiti for well over a decade. He is well known for his incredibly detailed cutback technique and tribal influenced style. He continues to push himself by bringing his style to new areas of design, working not just on walls, but canvas, skateboards and clothing. He has recently toured Asia as part of K-spray, exhibited his artwork all over Australia and has also been commissioned to create artwork for Absolute Vodka. www.phibs.com
