Tonight sees the much loved Secret Wars series hit Melbourne for round two of the Australian series! This battle style live art event pits some of the best artists from around Australia against each other in a no holds barred artistic smack down.

I’ve heard awesome things about this event from both its  overseas counterpart, as well as the Sydney events – we managed to catch up with Shannon McKinnon, Australias agent for Monorex and Secret Wars, to get the low down on whats already happened in the previous heat, as well as what they have in store for us with the Melbourne series …

Whats the history of Secret Wars, both overseas and here in Australia? Its been going on for a while, and you’ve been involved for several years – how has it developed in that time?

Secret Was started in London in 2006 by Terry Guy. It has pretty much been to  every part of the world and in its current format is in a 16 city European League “world cup” style draw. They are just about to hit the Semi Finals. Some of the cities included were Amsterdam, Barcelona, Birmingham, Dublin and London. We are still in the early stages in Australia, but I have plans to get it operating on that scale – so far it’s all looking good.

You’ve had some amazing artists so far in the first part of the Australian series, can you tell us a little about the previous artists that were involved, as well as the winners of the heats and what the finale was like? Were there any major surprises?

The artists that took part in the Sydney Series were fantastic, especially because they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. JUMBO was the only the artist that had previously participated – he took part in the London Series. JOHN DOE and MIKE WATT knew about Secret Wars but the other artists; HOUL, BRIDGE STEHLI, AMUSE, MAX BERRY and CREON were new to the format. Everyone created amazing artwork and the battles were awesome. The grand final was battled out between Houl and Creon and the winner was decided by a crowd vote with Houl winning by 0.1 of a decibel. Each battle is unpredictable and you just never know who is going to win.

How did you go about selecting artists to battle it out in the Melbourne round? There is such a  huge wealth of talent here that it must have been a difficult selection process – do you already have artists in mind for a future event already?

Selecting artists for the Melbourne series was actually relatively easy, there is so much talent in the city and  I lived in Melbourne in 2008 and had met a few of the artists. As soon as I knew the Melbourne Series was on, I phoned and put it to them first. All of the artists said yes straight away. I must admit I was a bit nervous when I spoke to PHIBS but he didn’t hesitate. I’ve locked in the eight artists for the Melbourne series and it’s a stellar group of artists; Scale, Itch, Phibs, Pierre Lloga, Debs, Ken Taylor, Drewfunk and Braddock.

Some amazing work gets produced in the various heats and finals – what ends up happening with all of this great work after its completed?

Ideally we would leave the artwork up in the venue between the battles, but because we aren’t able to it will go into storage. The panels can be purchased if someone has the space big enough to display the artwork. We do take photos of each piece and then produce a limited edition set of prints for sale. The profits go to the artist. I am hoping that eventually we’ll be able to have a show and exhibit all of the Secret Wars artwork for everyone to see.

What do you think we can expect with this first battle between Scale and Bryan Itch, and what are your tips for who you believe will go the distance in the Melbourne series, and is there an underdog we should look out for?

I think we can expect some nerves, the first battle is always the hardest because people aren’t really sure what the environment will be like. However, I don’t think that the nerves will last very long and we will see some amazing artwork from both artists. As far as going the distance, I don’t like it when someone loses over another so it’s hard for me to say who to look out for – each battle will be great. The draw is on our website, and I’m looking forward to all of the battles.

You have plans for Perth, Brisbane and you’ve already done Threadbo – are there any limits to what, where and who you think you’ll work with in the future – is it an open field?

Yep, plans for both Perth and Brisbane, we start the next Sydney series in February. We are planning on getting over to NZ as well. Ideally, we’re aiming for an Australian wide battle. Talking with Terry in the UK, we have a loose plan to have a world championship in around 2 years time, which I am confident Australia will do great in!

See lots more info, videos and pics up at the Secret Wars Australia website, also sign up for their Facebook page, and go check it out!