International street artist and painting maestro extraordinaire, ROA, visited Melbourne over the past few weeks, endowing us with a whole bunch of amazing works both out on the streets, and in the gallery.

His solo exhibition at Backwoods, Carrion, was a confronting experience – which was a big part of its brilliance. Having seen work from him on his previous visita to Australia in Perth last year, and at Outpost Project, we were wondering what it was that he would be doing at Backwoods to top both that and his recent shows OS – man oh man, did he produce the goods!

The opening night was pretty warm, and, upon entering, you knew it really was something very  different. This wasn’t just a show that relied on his creative visual works, it had a swath of sensory assaults throughout the entire installation of works. From the video as we walked in, to the smell and presence of decomposing native fauna, everything added up to an experience that was quite unlike any we had had at Backwoods.

He just released this video as well of his work at the Healesville Sanctuary in prep for his show …

Unfortunately, Carrion was the kind of show that photos alone just dont do justice – but Dave Russell did a great job capturing the images of Carrion, as well as the painting sessions that he did whilst he was down here.

Enjoy the pics.

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