It’s a post apocalyptic world where two enemies must come together to fend off an enemy of even larger proportions…

There is BEAR. There is RABBIT. And there is a city under siege by squirrel goons zombibified by an  alien acorn…

 In the modern age where contemporary art is all the rage and often the words are more appealing than the actual installation, a few art forms have been brushed off. So, how nice it is to see one gallery, Art Boy, picking up the cartoonists, graphic and street artists, and all the other artists who give you more BAMB than intellectualized prose, and gathers them all together in one bright white hub…

This past week Craig Bruyn invaded the Art Boy Gallery, emblazoning the walls with a dozen different paintings, sketches, and even stamping the walls, door, and window with his graphic story of Bear VS Rabbit. 

Craig Bruyn has to be the archetype of what we can all accomplish in our spare time. He mentioned the exhibition as being a ‘hobby’. By day he designs popular toys such as Battleground and Skanmaster and even dabbles at creating video games. In his leisure time he creates several dozen paintings to be displayed at art galleries…

And these paintings weren’t just hanging over his pillow or bathroom sink; all were custom made exclusively for the Art Boy Gallery.

I am enviously impressed…

As a child who relished her allotted time of 2 hours of cartoons per week, I luxuriated in the joy of seeing painting after painting of the artillery clad heroes at the Art Boy Gallery. Vibrant reds jumped out as Rabbit leapt through the air and black paint dripped from buildings as zombies drugged through the city…

Now, I love my intellectualized installations, but they don’t curdle my senses or excite my eyes as this genre of art does.

We’ve been viewing cartoons for decades, since Mickey first tooted his horn in 1928, but glancing throughout the history of art, cartoons are still fairly new. And, for galleries to exhibit this genre; well I just don’t see that all too often. So, when I come across it, I absorb it, relish it, and invite others to experience it too…

It's not every day that a jeweler  requests you into his studio and then calls your family heirloom ring "disgusting". Granted the words, "I like your ring" did come before that, but in the age of air kisses and snarky comments from namelesswebmaster102 it felt odd to hear an insult face to face. Odder still was how it hit me as a refreshing taste of honesty. I didn't care that a guy thought the beautiful ring my mother passed down to me was gaudy. I only wanted to ask this honest guy more questions.  

"What inspires you?" 

 He had me glance at a few pieces of his work. Shiny geometrical cuts of metal criss-crossed and piled into patterns for his necklaces and rings. For him the designs take shape as his fingers break the saw over the metal or he lights the fire to mold the silver and steel. An inspiration doesn't sprout and inspire him to work, but it is the work itself, the touch and feel of the tools that brings to light an idea, a necklace or ring. 

Selling bespoke cuffs, and rings, and other one off pieces wasn't his initial design when he studied sculpture at MRIT. Yet, when he took jewelry as an elective to have the opportunity to work with metal instead of the wood he typically used in his sculptures, he found himself leaning more towards the art of jewelry making.  Working with pieces of art that will be worn rather than viewed in a large space is a refreshing change for Lewis and one that I'm sure the guys and girls who wear his self labeled 'androgynous jewelry' will be glad to hear.

Working like a true artist, Lewis Allen is devoid of any dreams of fame or even quests to market himself. Rather, he sits at his bench crafting a new design for the sheer love of making jewelry. Although, he does take a few moments to post pictures of his work on his blog and may even be willing to customize a cuff or necklace, that is if he is honestly interested in the idea...

 Angelic coos and ahs echoed throughout the room. But, it was her style that caught my eye.

Huddled against the cold night, my eyes followed her stride into the room and stalked her as she dug her hands into her pockets.

High waisted jodhpurs have never been on my style radar, not even when Balenciaga graced models in the pants for Fall 20007, but somehow as she casually shook her chestnut bangs from her eyes she made them look right…desirable. Paired with a sheer black tank the look tiered away from riding in the country to a night out in the city and definitely more practical than the miniskirts I don in 10 degree weather. And also, appropriate for being the girl who I watched around the room to the lead vocalist of a band…

 You & the Colonies is an Australian based folk band. Rising in unison, their voices sang with the melodies of two guitars and a cello, but it was the soft soprano coos of Cynthia Sear that stood out to me. Her voice blended then rose to the high ceiling filling the room with echoes of sheer beauty. It was a charming performance for a Monday night and one that I would definitely recommend to those who also have a fondness for folk music. And, now I’m off to try to wiggle into a pair of jodhpurs myself…

I have a strong nose and wide shoulders. Almost every night for a month in South EastAsia, I snuck out into the heat of a city lock down to visit the camps of Political Protestors. Some would call me strong. But, holding my lithe fingers and hearing my soft voice, some would call me delicate.

Strong and delicate are hard elements to blend, especially for jewelry, but winding down the twists and turns that are Melbourne, I came across one jeweler who seamlessly melded the two elements into her offerings of necklaces, and cuffs, earrings, and rings… 

 Smooth gold and silver are engraved with the tiniest wisps of leaves and branches that encircle the finger. Emerald eyes of butterflies and owls stand out as the centerpieces of pendants hanging from long chains.

 Claire Taylor is a metal-smith and a jeweller embossing women with delicate designs catering to our femininity and strength . Her Smith Street Shop is not only where she displays her collection, but also where she hammers and saws at the metal smith table in the back of the store.

  Barcelona and Melbourne galleries have exhibited Claire Taylor’s designs for her concentration to detail and sculptural outlines. She redefines raw cuts of silver and gold into imitations of paper cranes or engraved geometrical symbols. Imaginatively, she redefines the idea of women’s jewelry by offering pieces that are beautifully delicate but strong and carry something of an ‘ancient heroism.’

Draping the silver chains over my head and allowing the pendants to fall against my chest, I felt a sense of adorning my body with jewelry that represented who I feel I am...who I want to be. And, with such dedication to a delicate & strong craft, the pieces can be handed down to my children's children, and represent how we want to be in the furture...

Music generates sub cultures trespassing age, gender, and ethnicity to gather together people all dubbing their heads to the same beat. Hip-hop, with all of its flows and rhymes has cultivated a style of gold chains, graphic tees, and of course the speedy outpour of lyrics.

The 1970’s saw angst driven teens in the Bronx populate before outdoor speakers to express themselves in the new form of the spoken word. Gangsta-rap initiated talk about drugs, sexualisation, and hard life grit in the 90’s as it refurbished boys Shawn Corey Carter and Curtis James into multi-millionaires. In the 2010’s it’s ‘flown around the world twice’ as new kids like Justice & Kaos throw out rhymes with slap stick lyrics, heavy beats, and a DIY attitude that has garnared them thousands of fans from not only Australia, where they are from, but also a budding fanbase in the states from Chicago to New York. 

On a Saturday evening the hipster dive, the Laundry Room, headlined the duo.  Falling into the buzz and stimulation Justice & Kaos bring to a room, I readied my body to bounce to the beats.

 With a steady flow of lyrics that apparently all the raised hands knew, the duo romped around the stage seamlessly jumping from track to track all while making it a little personal with a few jokes on the mic.

Admirably, each verse was posed with a rush of adrenaline and they paid homage to all that hip-hop was and is. 

"Yo, I’m out of my head son clinically insane. In a different lane, I don’t fit into the frame. I can change the world...a revolution trickling through my veins.”

If only the cute boys partitioned a real revolution or posed a radical new feature to the beats of the hip-hop scene...I think I would have left the scene dazed and hooked like the groupies of old school days...

Because, isn’t something ‘new’ and radical what we’re all searching for in music these days...

What the shining boys of Austrlia’s Rap Scene did bring was a true skill of rhyming, good beats, and an adrenaline rushed show outshining the other rapping kids that went before them. And, judging from the packed crowd all driving their lips and heads to the beats...Justice & Kaos are on the cusp of creating their own culture in Aussie Hip Hop. Or perhaps they already have...

Individual girls with individual style. All styled beautifully…

“People ignore the strange and unusual. I, myself am strange and unusual.”

Lydia from Bettlejuice

Kissing or Eating

Glass doll eyes, possums, and butterfly wings on blindfolded girls.

Red Riding Hood holding ‘grandma’s’ cheek as she pours more wine.

Caterpillars crawling along eyelashes and a bug’s leg holding an eye open wide…

Slide into the world of Keiko Murakami where delicate doll like figures are printed into a startling world of creatures and night time beauty.

 Open your mind to ‘Paranoia Fairy Tales.’ 

Night Birds

Joining other artists at 69 Smith Street Gallery, Keiko’s illustrations jumped at me for the way her pen waltzed through the emotions of curiosity, fear, and love; all while holding onto a startling beauty tingling my spine.

 

How curious I was to see Red Riding Hood smothering ‘grandma’ with wine and licking her lips with grandma missing in the next drawing.

 ‘Kissing or Eating’ posed a girl with a possum in front of her lips. Held tightly in her grasp, the nails of the child are feline and sharpened. How beautiful the girl appears to be, how terrifying to think her mouth is opening wide for the furry animal. But, then again it could only be a kiss...

Let’s Drink more wine

Gazing into Keiko’s world framed along the walls, my mind skipped to childhood days of rewinding Beetlejuice or anything touched by Tim Burton. It was a budding fascination of all things hauntingly beautiful.

Those words are how I’d describe Keiko Murakami’s illustrations, but with a dash of humour. Her cute little girls step beyond the conventional pose and mingle with animals in such a way I tilt my head and wonder… 

Chrysalis

Who’s There

 I don't believe I have to explain my graffiti obsession anymore or why I had to run out of the car to take a photo of THAT... or pull my friend into an alley to take a picture of THIS...

I'm not crazy, because I get a little too excited by street art or clutter my hard drive with backup pics of graffiti. 

I just do it because I love it...And, I hope you love it too. 

 Captured in all their graffiti glory were these two girls on a little place called Centre Place in Melbourne. 
"Why do you love graffiti so much?" someone once asked me. "It's not as cool as it used to be when they were tagging trains and stuff."
 Here's why...
NOTHING is as cool as it used to be.
But, I think graffiti always will be...
Graffiti is not confined on a sheet of paper or reserved for viewings from 9am-5pm. It's large and when you see it, in your face. It's available for viewing at all times of day. It's a blend of pop culture and pulp fiction that can question society or make you blush...because on you're way to work you cannot ignore it.
 It can bring a community together ( wall murals of an influential person who passed away), and inspire.  
Like all art forms there is the good and there is the bad. And when you see the good, well you just have to pull your boyfriend into an alley and snap a picture of it...then post on your blog...
And, I hope that answers their question.

“We don’t see why you have to spend all your money to look good.”~Emily

Me & Co is a shop offering appealing fashion forward labels from around the world with nothing tipping over the $200 mark.

Women, we can squeeze our bottoms into pumpkin spice jeans from Hoffer, pile on Nikki Montoya’s gold chains, and smile at the bit of sexy lingerie underneath the softest Tees…all without the cringe of handing over a credit card. Oh, and for the boys there are plenty of offerings from budding Australian shoe label December Forever, the Danish label Suit, and Hoffer from New Zealand.

It’s a new aesthetic I’ve seen raising in Melbourne’s boutique hemisphere lately, and one that as a ‘struggling artist’ myself, I wish to see continue. It’s accessible fashion minus runway copy cats and quantity over quality.

It’s fashion of a high calibre presented with a gallery aesthetic, and all at a decent price range. 

Knit Huffer, White Tee Me&Co. Basic, Black Jeans Huffer, Shoes Funkis

Debuting in November 2011, Emily and Mark opened Me&Co with the idea of creating a shop that had a Scandinavian / Japanese setting; meaning all white walls for a simplicity that effectively displays the clothing. 

After the buzz of seeing the new exhibit at 69 Smith Street Gallery a few doors down, my mood desired art more than shopping. But, Me&Co piqued my curiosity with the vast white space, and invited me in with the melange of rustic autumn colours in the jeans and fuzzy knits. 

  Having explored Me&Co, I’d have to say that Emily’s line of lingerie Emily Jane were my favourite items of the store. Delicate as a piece of art work, yet somehow basic enough for everyday, all pieces are handmade and a few are on sale…So, ladies, I invite you down to 57 Smith Street to experience Me&Co for yourselves…and gents  head down too.

 Tee Suit, Jeans Commune, Shoes December Forever

How ironic it is that while Frankenstein is currently the book I’m reading, I should come across this collection of works…

I must commend my friend who was willing to put up with my wandering steps to snap these babies in the rain, in the cold, in the middle of the night.

Thank you Katherine…

SINCE GREY

LEONARD ST.

 Walking the streets at night has always been a pleasurable pastime of mine. Wedged between the cocktails and the rising dawn, my best friend and I would roam the Soho area of New York and stare at the lighted displays of the fashion houses in the downtown area…

CURVE

THE SIGNET BUREAU

Rekindling the past, I walked down Gertrude Street. Amongst the quiet of the night, the displays shone with a radiance unnoticed amidst the distractions of the day.

I was enticed by new collections of fuzzy knits, heavy boots, and all the other thickly woven adornments shielding us from ill fashion and the cold, and not to mention the picturesque displays themselves which shine even brighter in the night...

‘IN YOUR FACE’ weaponry is not the typical all encompassing detail for a shoe. And, I admit when first spotting these ‘Hell Raisers’ in Leopard print calf hair…I was a little scared.

You are NOT going to get through air port security wearing these babies! 

Second glance and I slipped my foot into the buttery leather. How quickly converted I was. The comfort of a loafer harmonizing with an overdose of punk studs romanced my heart and I happily skipped into the street wearing my new shoes. The designer is Unif, a New York brand specializing in cool. And the store is Bleecker St, a new destination on Windsor Street specializing in independent New York labels…

I’m thankful to have walked into the store before the studded beauties were sold out, because they are the perfect accompaniment to my my graffiti obsession...