Graffiti and Street Art – Perth & Fremantle

I’ve always had a soft spot for street art and graffiti when done well. A few years back when me and Ash went to London we had a little Banksy treasure hunt. We managed to find quite a lot of his work including a fresh one which had only been there for a day or two and sadly is no more, but made it an even better find.

Since being in Perth we’ve both noticed a lot of street art whilst wandering around various suburbs. The Yok and Stormie Mills are two of my favourite street artists whose work can be found around Australia.

PERTH CBD Area

The above pictures were taken on Grand Lane in Perth. The first 3 images are by Timothy Rollin’ I love the different characters. The next 3 images are of a mural by Bonsai and Twoone (Scott Neoh and Hiroyasu Tsuri).

The above photo’s were taken on Howard Lane, Perth. The first 2 images are by Stormie Mills. The others are by The Yok.

There is another Stormie Mills on Prince Lane. Ololo in Northbridge. Wolf Lane also has some great street art.

Street Gallery can be found in Northbridge with various street art covering the outside of the building.

FREMANTLE

More from Stormie Mills and The Yok in Freo.

VARIOUS

Here’s a few more from various places. The first image is by the artist Kyle Hughes-Odgers another of my favourites. There are plenty more graffiti spots around Perth just need to keep your eyes open.

Checkout some of these websites of named artists:

Kyle Hughes-Odgers http://kylehughesodgers.com/
Stormie Mills http://stormiemills.com/
The Yok http://www.theyok.com/
Timothy Rollin’ http://timothyrollin.wordpress.com/
Twoone http://twooneelephant.com/

While your at it if you want to see some more awesome street art checkout my board on pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/elvishendrix/street-art-graffiti/

Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol & Van Gogh – Art in the City

Van Gogh, Dalí and Beyond: The World Reimagined

22 June – 2 December 2013 – Perth Art Gallery, Northbridge WA

This was a visit we did before we moved in to our current home, so about mid June. I’m not sure why we didn’t get around to doing a post about Perth’s Art Gallery exhibition but I have decided to do one now because it was a really good exhibition, showcasing some of the world’s most iconic paintings by Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo.

The first painting we got to see was Van Gogh ‘s ‘The Olive Trees’ 1889 – very iconic

Balthus’s, ‘Joan Miro and His Daughter Dolores’ 1937-38

Michael Craig-Martin

One of my new favourite artists, he has a technical design style which I love and the colours are great, I have a passion for pop art and this reminds me of this style very much.

Frida Kahlo’s, ‘Self Portrait with Cropped Hair’ 1940

This is a really great piece especially as there’s a story behind it that many people can translate to, following her divorce from Rivera, Frida chops her hair off and wears his suit to allow for a male role but wearing her earring and heels she maintains her femininity. Also the text around the frame is a Mexican song translated says: ‘look if I loved you it was because of your hair. Now that you are without hair, I don’t love you anymore.’ All in the name of art.

Salvador Dali had numerous pieces but this being the most popular,

Salvador Dali, ‘Illumined Pleasures’ 1929

I won’t try to explain his reasoning behind his art as let’s face it its surrealism at its best. I love the styles loo e of work though and sean was so excited to see his paintings up close, being his favorite artist.

I was excited to see Andy Warhols work but was bit disappointed there wasn’t more, the piece that was exhibited though was one of my favorites, Elvis Presley Screen print.

I love this piece as I’m like the coolness of Elvis Presley and I have a passion for the silk screen technique too. The piece was huge and got Sean to take my picture next to it, yay.

Here’s a few images of some paintings I found visually pleasing, hope you enjoy them too and feel free to leave a comment too.

Chuck Close, ‘Elizabeth’s 1989

Another artist I had not heard of before this exhibition, Chuck Close. This piece really stood out, not just because of the sheer size but you see it in two ways. When you stand up close you see all these different colored paint strokes and its hypnotic but then when you take a step back you get to take in the whole picture, all the multi colored brush strokes make up this amazing portrait of a lady.

Frantisek Julia, ‘Mme Kupka among Verticles’ 1910-1911

An art piece we both saw in the gallery downstairs that we both thought was amazing was a piece by John Dr Andrea, ‘Allegory: After Courbet’ 1988

We first entered the gallery space and I thought it was a real life installation piece but on closer inspection they weren’t real, they were so realistic especially due to the fact that they were dressed in real clothing. I will be checking out his other work so should you.

Exhibitions: Mekel Fashion Illustration & Beyond The Pale Rock Posters

Mekel: Perths Fashion Week @ Tu, Northbridge

30th August-12th Sept

Found out that one of the illustrators I follow on instagram, Mekel aka Kelly Coates, was having an exhibition in Perth to celebrate Perth’s fashion week. I was tempted to go check out the opening night but decided on viewing her work minus the big crowd.

It was all based in a boutique store called Tu (French for you/yourself & Mandarin for painting/artform). The store itself is great, selling unique fashions and cute accessories that if I had the money I would buy. And out the back past the exhibition is a tiny cafe called Tea for Tu, which sells some nice food and coffee at a good price. These guys took part in the Northbridge Makeshift activity day (we shall post pics and a post about the Makeshift day).

The exhibition was small but the work amazingly beautiful! Her style, strong with clean lines and amazing washes of water colours bursting out of the paper. I really like the positioning and quality of her pieces and would love to have one of these up in my home.

The photos I took were not so great but I shall put them up to show you her work, but I would recommend either checking out her work online Mekel Illustration or follow her on instagram @mekel_illustration. Little did I know until after writing this blog that Kelly Coates has done artwork for a number of big branded companies, this is very impressive. Her clientele, to name but a few are: American Express, Cosmopolitan & Betts

Anarchy Rock & Ink Posters, Beyond the Pale @ Fremantle Arts Centre

Sat 27th July-15th Sept

Beyond the pale was formed in 1996 by John Harris, an established group of Australian (and one American) artists,  who have since created artwork for some of the worlds biggest bands including: Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Queens of The Stoneage and Kings of Leon.

The artwork taking influence from the 1960s to the rebellious careful punk approach. Artists in this exhibition include: Rhys Cooper, Pat Fox, Daymon Greulich, Chris Grosz, Vance Kelly (USA), Ian McCausland, Craig Phillips, Graeme Webber, Joe Whyte and mine and Seans favourite, Ken Taylor.

We took as many photos as we could take to show everyone what great work these guys created over the years for some iconic bands. Ken Taylor has a great design style and his imagination is on fire. I especially liked the Eagles of Death Metal, The Black Keys and Kings of Leon posters.

Some great work and a great day for me and Sean. If you want to check them out and buy yourself some great prints click this link–> Beyond The Pale and why not check out more exhibitions at Fremantle Arts Centre

Also at the Fremantle Arts Centre that day was a collaboration from Black Cat/Gato Negro, artists, anarchists and activists from 1978. There work very aggressive and definitely makes a statement for example one of the posters against abortion depicted a stick drawing of a lady with a coat hanger between her legs and the words ‘This is the enemy’.

That was about all we could handle and so on we went to Little Creatures for a pint.

Close up macro photography and Camera equipment

Since being in Australia I have wanted to improve my camera skills. I’m sure I will have plenty more opportunities to practice whilst traveling. I recently bought a new lens attachment for my camera. I wanted a macro lens but sadly my budget will not allow it although I did a bit of research and managed to get a Raynox DCR 250 lens from eBay for about $80. Here are few experimental photos I have taken with it so far:

I still need to improve but it gave me a chance to play with the aperture. The downside of using this lens is that it’s an attachment which increases the magnification of whichever lens you have attached. This means the auto focus on the camera is pretty useless so you have to switch to manual. It can be tricky when taking a picture of something that’s moving and I don’t have the steadiest hand.

I invested in my other camera gear before I traveled to Australia and so far everything I have brought with me has been very useful. There are some things I might still purchase such as an extra battery and a lens filter but so far I’ve had no need for them.

My equipment consists of the following:

• Manfrotto sling bag
• Canon EOS 550D DSLR
• Canon EFS 18-55mm Lens
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens
• LP-E8 Battery and charger
• USB cable
• Gorillapod
• Canon wireless shutter remote
• Giotto rocket blower

Also now and then both me and Ash take photos using our mobile phone which is OK for a quick instagram snap.

I’m sure there will be plenty more photos coming soon and hopefully I’ll get better at taking them.

Out and about in Perth

Been a while since we last posted but me and Ash are both well and still having plenty of fun. Only 1 month to go until we leave Perth and head for Melbourne. Before we leave Perth there are still a few places we want to visit such as Rottnest island, Margaret river and Exmouth to name a few.

So what have we been up to since our last post?
Been out and about enjoying the sun although it has been a bit wet the past few days. It is winter here!
We’ve been to Fremantle yet again. Fremantle is probably my favourite place in Perth. We went to a few art exhibitions which Ash is currently writing about so watch this space.
We jumped on the train to Rockingham for the first time with a stroll along the foreshore. Nothing beats eating fish and chips looking out to sea.
When the sun came out me and Ash had a beautiful picnic in Kings Park enjoying the views. I also got a chance to try out my new camera lens and got a couple of cool close up shots which I will upload in a post soon.
On the weekend we went to Perth upmarket at Winthrop Hall. A great little market that happens every 3 months with plenty of quirky handmade goods and food stalls – tasty mini pies!

We have a few posts currently in the pipe line:

• Ash’s Art post
• Australian Tattoo Exhibition
• Camera and close-up picture post
• New Recipe post
• Graffiti around Perth

So stay tuned! I’m going to stuff my face with brownies now and catch up with Dexter and Breaking Bad as it’s raining very heavily outside. Tonight we are off out into Northbridge with our housemates to eat WAFFLES!  It’s a hard life 🙂

 

The Australian Tattoo & Body Art Exhibition

On Saturday 7th September me and Ash decided to splash out $30 each and checkout the Australian Tattoo & Body Art Expo in Perth. We were promised a huge show with a tremendous amount of both homegrown and international artists, a wide range of exciting feature areas and a jam-packed entertainment schedule.

As soon as we walked in you could hear the buzzing from a load of tattoo machine guns. People were happily lying or sitting in all sorts of positions, getting inked by their chosen tattoo artist. One guy was wearing nothing but a pair of what looked like Sumo wrestler pants and having a tribal style tattoo covering his whole body. Most of the people looked calm and relaxed although we did see two people who looked like they were in pain, one of them was almost in tears. I’ve never had a tattoo done myself so am yet to experience the pain or pleasure conceived from having one. Apart from the obvious of people getting inked there were various market stalls, a bar area, stage, Sailor Jerry trailer and a few cars and motorcycles.

The only tattoo artist at the expo that I had heard of beforehand was Billy DeCola from NY Ink. Most of his work is Japanese inspired. After looking at all the tattoo artists on offer my favourites were Wade Johnston, Benjamin Laukis, Sandra Ovenden and Liz Hapi. Feel free to check them out.

We stayed there until the evening to get our moneys worth and watched the Sugar Blue Burlesque who were the main act on stage that night. I’ve only ever been to one burlesque show before but these girls were not on par. As wonderful it is to see some sexy ladies strip down to underwear and spinning nipple tassels it all seemed a bit rushed.

Overall we really enjoyed the day although feel the $30 entry fee was a bit steep for what there actually was. There wasn’t even any decent freebies and it seemed the pricing for having a tattoo done wasn’t any cheaper. It was an experience though and I got plenty of idea’s for tattoos for when I do actually decide on getting one. Everyone has there own opinion but I’d never get a spontaneous tattoo. After all it’s a form of art so I’d need to hand pick the artist and be happy that the design I choose is definitely what I want. Sooo MOM and DAD when you read this, don’t worry I haven’t got one YET but may do before I return home 😉

Food Recipes – Mince Meat Ragu, Sausarole, Seafood Risotto

SInce coming to Australia me and Ash have started to enjoy cooking together although at times we (mainly me) tend to get in each others way. This has been a new experience in itself as back home we live with our parents who tend to do most of the cooking. Thanks Moms!

So here are a few recipes that we’ve started making on a regular basis. All quite tasty, affordable and pretty simple to cook even for any fellow backpackers living in a hostel. Most of the recipes have been found on the following useful websites:

http://www.jamieoliver.com
http://www.nigella.com
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com

We have tweaked them to suit our needs either by reducing the cost or adding taste. I’ve also included the approximate cost of each meal in Australian Dollars based on purchasing ingredients from Coles supermarket.

Mince Meat Ragu
Serves 4 – Total cost $6 = $1.50 per serving
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 1.5 hours

Ingredients: Olive oil, 1 onion diced, 1 garlic clove diced, 2 carrots diced, 2x 400g can diced tomato, 500g mince meat (beef), seasoning.
Optional: red wine, bacon, mixed beans, chilli, rosemary.

• Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add all vegetables and cook for 15mins.
• Add mince meat to pan and cook for further 10mins or until meat sealed.
• Increase heat (add wine?) tomatoes and season to taste. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
• Serve with mash, pasta or rice.

The ragu is a very versatile dish that you can get creative with. Freeze or refrigerate the left overs.

Sausarole ( Sausage & Bean casserole)
Serves 4 – Total cost $5 = $1.25 per serving
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients: Olive oil, 8 sausages or 1kg, 1 onion sliced, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 2tbsp instant gravy powder, 2 cups water, 400g can diced tomatoes, 400g can cannellini or mixed beans, seasoning.
Optional: red wine, rosemary

• Heat oil in large deep saucepan over medium heat. Cook sausages until golden brown then transfer onto a plate.
• Cook onion in same pan until softened. Add garlic (and red wine) on high for 1 minute.
• Add sausages back into saucepan and stir in gravy powder. Add water, tomato (and rosemary), bring to the boil then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Stir in beans few minutes from end until soften and season to taste.
• Serve with crusty bread, potato mash or rice.

Prawn/Mix Seafood Risotto (Paella)
Serves 4 – Total cost $10.50 = $2.60 per serving
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes

Ingredients: Olive oil, 1 onion diced, 1 garlic clove diced, 300g risotto rice, 400g can diced tomato, 3tbsp white wine, 900ml chicken stock, 400g frozen prawns/seafood mix, paprika, 1 lemon.

• Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes or until golden.
• Stir in paprika and add rice. Cook for 1 minute whilst stirring then add wine and cook for a further minute or until absorbed.
• Add tomato, garlic, chicken stock and season. Cook for 15 minutes whilst stirring making sure rice does not stick to bottom.
• Rinse frozen prawns/seafood under cold water then add to rice. Cover with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes until seafood cooked through.
• Squeeze in juice of half a lemon then serve with parsley and a slice of lemon.

Why not try them out for yourself. Remember to subscribe to our blog to stay updated and more recipes will be posted on here soon. Feel free to drop us a comment about any recipes you would like to recommend.