It’s always sad seeing an artist who has done so much for Melbourne street art, and indeed Australian art in general, head off to international climes, but mostly its also a happy occasion – knowing that they are moving upwards and onwards to bigger and better things.

We’ve been fans of Rekas work for many years, and watching his progression and the evolution of his art to where it is today is an inspiring thing. Pushing boundaries with varying mediums, consistently producing an incredible amount of work and, as a beautiful byproduct, helping to bring exposure to the entire Melbourne emerging and underground art scene, Reka is an artist whose work will be sorely missed.

That said, Reka leaves behind an amazing amount of work across the streets of Melbourne, from his newer styled pieces, to venerably older pasteups, rollers, pieces and characters from earlier in his career, there is no doubt that he will remain a fixture across the ‘burn for many years to come – hopefully he’ll be popping back here and there to gift us with new works, every so often.

In light of this news, if you haven’t already seen it, Reka will be holding an open studio exhibition before he leaves, a final farewell, a few drinks and a chance to get a hold of some of his new work before he takes off!

“After a ten year career defacing the streets and gallery walls of Melbourne, Reka is packing up, moving overseas and having one last hurrah.

He will be holding an open studio for one night only, displaying a new body of work exclusively painted on found objects. Using spray cans and rusted metal found from walking the train lines and abandoned factories, Reka has organically used each aspect of his natural element to create a process-driven concept, turning everything from the cans’ paper labels to the folds of oxidised sheet metal into self-contained artworks.

On June 20th, Reka is opening up his studio for a behind the scenes look at his new paintings and mixed media works, plus throwing in some paintings from the past decade for good measure. It’ll be an exhibition and leaving party all rolled into one, so come down and join Reka for a one final beer.”

This is your chance to see the artists most recent works before he heads off to the US to begin a new stage in his artistic career, and from the preview work we’ve seen it’s really going to be something – check out some of the preview pics of works here.

Rekas hard work and dedication to his craft is proof to any that if you possess the talent, make the sacrifices, and work your fkn ass off, that you can achieve the creative dream. From all of us here at Invurt, safe travels and good luck – may the beer be grand, the art even grander, and the journey immaculately fucking cool.

Who: Reka
What: Reka – Open Studio
Where: Backwoods Gallery, 25 Easey St, Collingwood, VIC
When: One night only – Wednesday 20th June 2012, from 6pm til 9pm.

Check out Rekas website, Backwoods Gallery, Everfresh and the Facebook event page. Also, as always, Backwoods have released a cool mix to go along with the open studio, from Edd Fisher – nice.