Our good friends down at Artboy Gallery have their first artists show coming up, and it promises to be a great one with local artist Dirtfish showing his new collection of works.

This is from the press release:

“Emerging from the rich Melbourne street-art culture, dirtfish draws upon a range of influences including comics, graphic design and pop art. His current collection titled “hello my name is” is a frenetic multi-canvas work that mimics the appearance and texture of character-filled graffiti-clad walls. By incorporating photographs taken during his recent travels to cities including NYC, Rome and Madrid, dirtfish has added a new dimension to his distinctive paintings.

“I don’t take happy snaps on holiday; I take photos of graffiti. I was re-inspired by the graffiti in different cities and the collaborative and temporary nature of the artform. I went back to the studio and worked on my own aesthetic to recreate the same feeling on canvas.”

The works of well-known graffiti artists like Banksy, Shepard Fairey and Space Invader fetch high prices from collectors. Increasingly, street art is perceived as a legitimate artistic artform
encompassing a multitude of disciplines including stencils, stickers, paste ups and even knitting!

The new collection by dirtfish is a snapshot of this usually transient artform –

“By adding my own characters over the top of real life graffiti, I was able to initiate a dialogue with graffiti artists from all over the world. “

Lee Picot has been creating art using the pseudonym dirtfish since 2006. His paintings and sculptures have been well received at exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney. Other creative projects under the dirtfish banner have featured at various Melbourne markets including Rose Street Artists Market and This Is Not A Design Market. When he puts his paint brush down, Picot runs Northcote graphic design studio 3sidedsquare.com with his friends.

ArtBoy Gallery gatecrashed its way into Greville Street Prahran in July and brings together emerging and established Melbourne artists such as Matt Irwin, Ralf Kempken and Bruyn in one big, bright and bold space. With a unique mix of pop, abstract, stencil/urban and photography, ArtBoy Gallery is a retail space for exciting and affordable local art. Open Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 11am to 4pm.”

Who: Dirtfish
What: Hello My Name Is Dirtfish
Where: Artboy Gallery, 99 Greville Street, Prahran, Victoria
When: Show opens Friday November 12th @ 6pm til 9pm, and runs til 21st of November

Check out the Artboy website as well as Dirtfish’s website for more details.