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Fonts, Beauty and Wrongtown

Fonts, Beauty and Wrongtown

Its a little slow on the news front the past week, I’m looking down the barrel of an impending deadline for my first solo show, and winter appears to force habitual hibernation here and there – but there are still some pretty cool things happening around the city, even so, and these cold rainy days aren’t stopping the artists of the ‘burn from getting shit done.

ADi and Craig Poore have their exhibition Beautiful Strange on at At Large gallery at the moment, and though I was (fuxn) ill and missed the opening, ADi posted up some photos of the opening in his blog. Cant wait to get out to the gallery during the week and check out both of their works, as should all of you.

I made it down to the opening of Go Font Yourself 5 at No Vacancy as well, and once again I was impressed by the quality of this rounds offerings – some amazing prints to be had at really reasonable prices, and its always a pleasure to check out these shows and see the cool ways people are interpreting the various various fonts in their works. Twoone had some live print making going on, and it was fun to see him at work. Go check this out whilst its still running!

The weekend, however, saw a different kind of event – I happened to come across an invitation to something called Wrong Town, I had pretty much no other information about it, apart from the names of a few of the artists and a time and place (I’ve since found this article with a lot more info) –  and with the meeting place only a few  blocks from my house, I headed down on a sunny Saturday afternoon to Rockerly Gardens in South Yarra to check it out.

Getting there, a substantial crowd had already formed – and to my surprise (not really knowing what was actually going on) I estimated there were a hundred or so people gathered, at the least. After a little while, the crowd started moving on some unseen cue, and we walked up the road, then down into a typical suburban street. A short walk into inner city suburbia, and  a gate painted with a dripping, red “Enter at your own risk” was the only giveaway as to what lay beyond.

Sidling up to the house, I was both baffled and excited – we had to duck down under some windows to enter the house, the front door being closed – and the crowd of people made it a little difficult to really get in at first, but walking in I suddenly figured out what was going on – yep – Wrong Town.

It seems that the house we’d come to, was marked for demolition – the owners had kindly let a group of artists come in and do their thing to it before they knocked it down – and, that they did. The transformation was pretty damn cool, as evidenced by my once again remarkable (not) photo skills –  but you get a good idea as to what was going on … heres a short rundown, apologies for not being more detailed, there was a lot to see, and I also get the feeling that I missed some stuff here and there … apologies in advance for any mistakes or omissions I make in the following ..

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First thing on entering I saw a small mud-map of the house and took a photo so I could orientate myself as I went through – I love maps, so this was pretty cool.

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Along the wall of the entry, near this, were some pretty cool portraits, alas, the photos I took just didnt do them justice ….

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Tai Snaith did the first area I walked into, the living room. The roaring fire, portrait over the mantel were great – but I absolutely loved the yowling cat – I’m a huge cat fan, and it looked right at home next to the fireplace – though, possibly a little annoyed at all the people traipsing through its home ..

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This was the second room I entered (UVM on the map) – it looked to be a dining room just off the main living room. On first glance, it looked like someone had been under the floorboards and smashed up into the floor from beneath – but, approaching closer, and looking down within – there was someone sleeping on a bed in the crawlspace under the house. Odd, but, as I was to find out – there were a lot of pieces in the show that were very simple, and yet very effective – this was just the start.

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Just on the way into the bathroom, I could smell candy. It looked like some kind of cream and foam covered in hundreds and thousands coming out of both the walls, and draws. In one of the top draws, not in these photos, was some kind of weird red slime – I somehow convinced someone to taste it, and yep – strawberry jam filling the top draw.

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Just beyond the draws, was one of the stranger rooms in the house. Not in this photo, but just off to the right as you peered into the room through a hole in the door, was a shower recess filled with half mutilated and oddly shaped figures. Creepy, again. Then, looking to the left, past all the debris of a smashed up constructive zone, a half dead figure in what appeared to be some kind of … milk? Oh yeah, fucking weird, but oh so fkn cool.

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After seeing her Platform show, I was pretty excited to see Vextas name on the map, I enjoyed her installation work. Though the photos dont do it justice, the glows and neons, small almost feathered stencils falling into a hole, and a glowing pyramid in the sink. I think this was a collaboration, though I’m unsure with who (that map is a bit fuzzy, if you hadnt noticed!)

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Loved this glowing pyramid under the water in the sink.

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Andy Hutsons tunnel. I saw this on my second run through the house – as there was a line in to it on my first pass. I’d seen a hole (rather large) in the backyard and Twoone told me that the soil had been used on one of the pieces inside. Waking in, it looked like a tunnel had been constructed through one of the rooms. Heading down into it, bits of dirt dropped into the back of my neck, and at the end – a sink, water left running. The whole thing made me feel like I was back as a kid, clambering around caves in Yanchep national park – and there were moments of vertigo and claustrophobia as the tunnel narrowed done. Fun.

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There was one piece that actually really stood out, but I don’t have an image here – I’m pretty sure it was by Bonnie Lane. I’m not really much of one for video installations, but there was just something about it that really, really creeped me the fuck out and made my skin crawl. Walking into the room, you heard near incomprehensible, muffled voices – then, turning around, there was an image of a small girl skipping in slow motion with her back to you, inside the closet. I don’t know what it was about it, but just something in the context of it made me want to get the hell out of that room really, really quickly – art doesn’t get to me like that very often, so I loved it for all of that I couldn’t stand it.

Simple, yet brilliant. That was pretty much the whole over riding feeling – a lot of the pieces were fairly simple, and yet the more I think back on them, the more complex they now seem.

Also, there was another room that I loved – it was pretty bare of decoration from recollection (my photos didn’t work out), but from one end of the room, from inside the cupboard to the other side, a single strip had been cut across the entire space, straight through the furniture and the floor – from the map, I’m not sure which room this was – maybe Robbie (?) Rowlands or Teresa (?)

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Heading outside to the bar and another beer, this was on the wall – Tom Civil pulling off another fun piece across a shed/garage wall.

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I’m a complete and unashamed fan of Twoones work – and there is just something about his style that allows it to translate into an installation perfectly. He puts a lot of effort and time into his work, and seeing things like this just increases my love for his work. His now near iconic circles, triangles and animal skulls were perfectly placed in the old garage of the house.

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The last thing in a plethora of things that grabbed my eye, was Ash Keatings etchings on all of the glass windows of the house – lots of concentric circles and geometric shapes glinting in the sunshine.

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Sitting out the back afterwards, beer in hand (yep, there was, very thoughtfully so, a bar set up out in the yard – and White Rabbit is a damn fine winter drop) and with the warm light of  the sunshine staving off the cold, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Taking it all in, the diversity and sheer creativity that went into what was such a transient project is commendable. Like most group shows, some of it didn’t gel, but a lot of it did – but there is no mistaking that there was some damn fine talent and imaginative minds on display throughout the entire house.  Thanks and awesome job to all involved for putting on such a fantastic show, perfect Saturday outing and I’m really glad I was able to check it out – transforming a normal, run of the mill home, into something unique deserves a large amount of kudos – now I just want more – this is the shit that makes me love Melbourne even more.

Well, back to it – if anyone has any news on events coming up, or has any ideas for stuff you’d like to see us cover, just hit us up from the contact page – we’ve also started up a newsletter, so please sign up for that if you’d like to receive any special announcements or news via that.

Ez.

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