Is Shepard Fairey in Melbourne ?

I have often wondered whether Shepard Fairey puts up all his work or if he also has some minions to do some of the pasting also.  Can't confirm anything on that front but I do know that there is some new pastes going up in Fitzroy. 

It's good to see some pastes in general.  It would be good to see some of the Melbourne pasters to do some pasting around again.  Rone had some good ones and DOMMAD had good ones also, vandal spruce used to get up and there were plenty others that I can't even bring to the hazy old brain. 

Fuck the graff vs paste war, good to appreciate something fresh whatever the style it's in.

Anything that's fresh and getting up is what the city needs.  The buff squad need to earn their keep and the councils need to realize that street based art and graff isn't lying down while the city slathers on murals puts on it's cool mask and pretends it's hip. 

The underground is what made Melbourne and it will be the force that continues to push the city to new heights.  Anyone involved in the Melbourne Arts is responsible for a continuation of a culturally evolving environment or one that pats itself on the back and stagnates. 

What the fuck is this hatred of tags anyway - isn't all this land stolen ?  Or coerced from the traditional owners unfamiliar with the guise of a fair trade.   What if there was a law proposing the hypothesis that walls in the public space remain the property of the public?  That they can be altered by anyone who has something to add to the space, creatively, contexually, politically or for the betterment of society.  Is a bit of paint really such a big deal ?  Everyone has their own ideas of beauty, or nescessity ( which is a type of beauty perhaps ).  If a land "owner" wishes to paint their wall white let them, after a while they are generally left alone.  The idea would be not to open the floodgates to a city wide vandal fest as would be probably feared most, but more likely a community moderated arena.

When trains run TAB and sports bet advertisements and run hate campaigns against train writers it's time to ask ourselves what kind of place we are keeping for the future ?  It is better to come to a compromise between two extreme because the alternative is generally not good for either those for, or those against.  Sometimes this is the perfect solution.

Art War

With the recent cuts on the arts budget we can expect some changes in the arts in the coming years.  

Over 100 million axed in Liberals attempts to reign the spendings in, extra warplanes that are a nescessity aside this is a large amount ( the commonwealth budget being 417 billion )( 4 billion for the warplanes....)( one less and we would have a billion for the creative industry of australia..hmm).

Film industry got hit hard with 25 million axed from their budget and the other sector were also hard hit.  This doesn't surprise me with Abbott, despite not watching the news or even having a tv the small snippets I hear about him are enough to piece together the seemingly narrow agendas of this man.
I can imagine the cuts will restrict the grants schemes which seem to be the lifeblood of a lot of emerging artists and the Newstart allowance will now come with a six month unpaid standdown for new applicants: It is no secret to any of us in the industry or close to those who are the battle to maintain or even apply for the dole under any premise of being an artist.  

It hasn't surprised me and the affect Abbott would have on the arts was one of the first things I could foresee after he won the election.  I didn't think of it as a negative thing, lack of support in the arts seems to be in a state of constant flux and I think it will just change how artists will have to approach expenses such as mediums, materials and locations etc.  

With the loss to gentrification of inner city melbourne almost to what used to be zone 2-3, the emerging and struggling artist class are flowering out to the fringes and occupying the cheaper land and premises, areas like Coburg North, Preston, South Reservoir, Footscrat and anywhere with a lot of industrial zones able to be converted into studios and workspaces for the artist populace.  

Sharehousing is cheaper here beyond the easy reach of the city where bidding wars on the inner city property is the given.  Illegal warehouse living is overlooked by the realestates and the landlords in these areas ( mostly ), happy with the secure income that group shares can provide.  ( exceptions aside )

And having federal support axed will give plenty of grist to artists for protest.  I can remember some of the best street based art I saw in the mid 2000's in Fitzroy and the CBD was the protest art of the anarchists and punks against John Howard.  The loss of politically motivated art has been something of an irk to me and though I appreciate the colourful murals and street happenings of modern Fitzroy I can't help wishing it had a bit more discussion and argument, RAWNESS.

It's a mixed bag, there will be losses and many artists will be forced to take up jobs to support themselves, but the real ones will stay and with the thinning of the ranks perhaps new scope for style will emerge, a cusp time, the waning of the old and a dawning for whatever lies ahead.  

A Post A Day Keepeth the Wyrms Away

In the unintentional way that i usually go by i find myself again on this blogging thing.

As it seems to be again a trend to post i can move with the others and also throw in too sense.

community radio refunded, i'd say it would be more of a pay them to shut up, sinse the majority of the community radio listeners are ageing 60's and 70's protest generation and their offspring would probably find great joy in taking to the streats and dust off the banners and repaint them with the ignorant and consumerist slanted politics moderne.  So we got our radio back, wouldn't it be nice if it wasn't even a matter of contention that we must beg for it and complain in order to get it.  A mere drop in the ocean besides to the gross spending on the defense budget.  

Anyway, without a tv i have less to bemoan, one less happy machine to infiltrate my life and pour newsworthy garbage into my braine.  Happiness it seems is a return to simplicity. The zen of la vie moderne.