Several weeks ago, we got wind of a new project that was being put together by Coopers (admittedly, one of our favourite brands of amber liquid) that was featuring legendary Chicago artist, Pose. Of course, our curiosity was most definitely piqued, and we decided to see if we could track the man down and get a little more info behind his recent visit down here to Oz for the Life After Dark project.

Pose is well known for his craft across the world – starting out in his native Chicago, he crisscrossed the gamut of experiences that a graffiti artist working within a notorious anti-graffiti city had to deal with. From the illegal work of his youth, and his many hours spent honing his style against the adversity that comes with territory, to now being a name prominently acknowledge amongst global art circles, there is no doubt that he is an influential and integral part of the global graffiti community – a perfect fit for a project such as this.

“Inspired by Australia’s night owls, the underground and those that rise at the demise of daylight, Pose’s Life After Dark installation is a world-first in street art, handcrafted using luminous paint that literally comes to life after dark.

The Chicago-based artist collaborated with the country’s largest remaining Australian-owned brewer, Coopers, to create the unique artwork in celebration of their cult dark brew – Coopers Dark Ale.

Similar to how Coopers Dark Ale is handcrafted using the finest ingredients; Pose’s Life After Dark installation was handcrafted using a collection of special ingredients including the debut use of luminous UV paint. By day the installation appears to be a blank canvas, yet transforms by night to reveal an eclectic mix of images reflecting Australia’s creative and artistic underbelly.

From conception to completion, the art installation handcrafted in Coopers hometown of Adelaide, was months in the making before being shipped to Melbourne for display. The Life After Dark installation pays homage to the night’s musicians, mixologists, rhymers, riders, writers and midnight marauders who truly love what they do.”

We were also, very happily, able to connect with Pose over the last few days and were able to throw a few questions over to the man himself about what he’d been up to in his recent stay down here in Melbourne.

Read on for a short interview we did with the man himself, a bunch of images and all the videos from the project – including the final video wherein all has been revealed!

How did you become involved in the Coopers Life After Dark project, and what lead you to painting down here in Oz? 

Although Australia is on the other side of the globe from me, it’s a small world and like-minded people always have connections.

The collaborative artwork between myself and Coopers Dark Ale pays homage to the night owls and underground communities.

We heard you used some fairly different techniques for this project, could you elaborate a little on the mediums that you used that made the piece unique?

Yeah, this was my first time ever using invisible UV paint, and I’m pretty sure it never been used for a campaign like this as well. So there was a ton of experimentation and a ton of challenges, but as they say the greater the risk the greater the reward.

It was really tricky cause I’m used to using really bold one stroke mediums for my line work, like black spray paint on a white wall or black animation paint on a white surface. For this you are essentially painting blind in daylight, the UV paint is basically white and I was painting my line work on top of that with white paint.

Needless to say, it was a crazy experiment but payed off well in the end.

What was the most challenging aspect of this project for you, and even within the confines of the brief, were you able to sufficiently imbue the project with enough of your own creative spark to keep you happy? Is this ever a challenge for you when doing commercial projects?

It can be really challenging doing commercial work if a client is heavy handed with their feedback or agenda. Many times they don’t really understand that its way more successful and authentic to let me do my thing rather than me being their hired help. I don’t mind doing commercial work if I’m hired to do my thing and I dig what the clients about, its when they want me to fake my style for their thing that it gets into murky water.

That said, I really enjoyed working with Coopers because they let me do my thing, and were totally open to things I thought they might be scared of. For a 150-year-old family brand to tell me to just go for it, was insane. Also, I really dig the brand and how they approach their craft, so the whole thing was killer.

Were you able to get much of a taste for Melbourne culture whilst you were down here? What were your impressions of the city, and how did you enjoy painting in Fitzroy during your visit?

Although my time was short I did get to hook up with local friends, eat well, paint, run around and party so I had a blast.

Overall, I was blown away with the scene in Melbourne, Not just the Graff and art, but the food, street fashion and overall attitude was rad. I felt right at home with everyone I met and completely energized by the scene, I will definitely be making it back out soon.

Now that you’ve returned home to Chicago, what’s next on the agenda for you, and what projects will you be hitting up?

Way to much to mention but as far as gallery work, I am trying to wrap up a bunch of commissions and am working on a solo show with Sanrio/Hello Kitty at known gallery for the release of the “Hello Kitty Hello Art” book, as well as two man show With Revok at Jonathan Levine Gallery, which will be epic.

Such a great addition to the Melbourne graffiti and street art presence. Check out the final video from the project above, as well as the Life After Dark website – and a big thanks to Pose for his time!