Month: May 2016

It’s Our Thing

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Blacktown Arts Centre

2 June – 6 August, 2016

Start time: 10.00AM

It’s Our Thing is an exhibition inspired by chance encounters between some of Australia’s founding hip-hop crews and visual artists in Blacktown in the early 1990s.

It’s Our Thing revisits the emergence of this dynamic sub-culture and examines how the collaborative practices and styles of hip-hop culture have influenced the work of contemporary artists Khaled Sabsabi and Minky Rawat.

Sabsabi and Rawat will present new and archival artworks, alongside works by some of the most iconic artists of the 20th century – Joseph Beuys, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

 

Pioneering hip-hop crew Def Wish Cast and emerging local act Soul Benefits will perform at the exhibition opening on Thursday 2 June from 6pm.

 

Throughout the exhibition, visitors to Blacktown Arts Centre can participate in free artist-led workshops, and a panel discussion with the artists and curators which will include explore hip-hop culture in Blacktown now, and in the 1990s, and feature a demonstration of analogue sound mixing by Khaled Sabsabi (6 July).

 

Time

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Recently deactivated Facebook and Instagram, kind of conflicted about social media in general. Definitely not opposed to social media though I feel it chews up a bit of time. When I was a teen I would sit around and draw for hours on end if I were a teen today I could lose hours to social media. As an adult I always paced myself with social media but time has become so precious for me these days I would rather share ideas on this blog or share images on my graffiti site. It is hard to know what is worthwhile on the web it seems everyone is distracted and is time poor. In some ways I am winding back the clock and just doing what I feel comfortable with. In terms of graffiti I have kind of faded in the bigger picture but I feel my art is something that still makes me happy regardless of getting attention or being a big name. In a lot of ways I have nothing to lose and can let myself go on tangents. A lot of artists if they are making a living from art can not necessarily deviate too much from their trajectory. At least I have a bit of spare time and can do some more art and writing.

Hub

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Recently after Zap had gone overseas the wall owner of the Hub let his son take over the wall until Zap gets back. It was a bit of a shock as I got a phone call from a friend letting me know the wall was being painted in entirety by a bunch of guys. I was heading there about to get the bus when I called the wall owner and got the message he was letting his son take over. So really the photos now are archival as it is mainly painted over at least the bottom area. I think Zap will lose it when he gets back but it is an opportunity to get something a bit more organised on the wall. We have been lucky having a prominent wall for highly experimental and edgy graffiti. Even though it is an under appreciated genre it is good to see very direct work. The next round may have a more design soft focus on the main expanse of wall with the grittier stuff on the track side of the wall.