The Wall of Tentacles - Frankston Muarl
2020 was a big year for us all.
But for me the one silver lining from the whole year was the opportunity to find the passion behind my art, see the way I want to share my art in the future and the chance to take the first big step in doing the one thing that gives me purpose to my art ... revitalising community & public spaces with my art to engage with the locals & leave behind something they will be stoked on and will be proud of into the future. The below video captures this first project:
I was approached by the Level Crossing Removal Authority acting on behalf of the state government of Victoria to create an art mural on a wall that the local Frankston community had said would be attacked by vandals if it wasn't something exciting, unique and connected with youth demographics. The project was a huge one - with 12 months of planning, creating documents, getting construction licenses, signing contracts, negotiating suppliers and sourcing some amazing sponsors. The mural had to be bright, connect with youth & be something the City of Frankston would be proud of, covering over 235 square meters of wall (approximately 70m long!)
The design I came up with was all about using the long wall space to create something Australians haven't seen before. In the world of Street Art personally, I feel it is saturated with realistic portraits of animals, or abstract blocks of colour and it all starts looking the same. As an artist I feel like we have given up true unique creativity in return for crowd pleasing "art" that won't offend anyone. So I was stoked when the approval for my unique, bright & bold mural design was given the green light!
To cover the entire 70m long wall in BIG crazy, dripping Octopus tentacles!
The end result was seeing 235 square meters of wall covered in bright tentacles, a lime green background and a sense of surf style art at the largest scale Frankston, or the wider Australian community, hasn't seen before! The feedback from the locals - they loved it! A number of young people came past through the weeks onsite to ask questions, learn & a few even grabbed a roller and helped out! Families enjoyed seeing the progress and loved showing their kids a working, professional artist that brings colour & brightness to the community.
This is what my purpose is for my art these days - using it to bring communities together, engage them & revitalise spaces like this ugly grey wall, so they are proud of them & excited by their local area again.
I owe a huge thank you to the awesome people who got behind this project!
- Dickies Australia Check them here
- UniPro Australia Check them here
- Dulux Australia.
- Skull Candy headphones.
- MTN Paints Australia
And special mention to Adam Mackay from UNDEFEATER for taking the photos & filming the project.
