Space invaders
RMIT Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia commissioned street artists, Nails, Al Stark, Twoone, to paint a wall as part of…
Installation image. Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers. Photo by Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery 2011.
Installation image. Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers. Photo by Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery 2011.
Installation image. Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers. Photo by Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery 2011.
Installation image. Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers. Photo by Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery 2011.
Installation image. Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers. Photo by Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery 2011.
Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers
Drawn entirely from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, this touring exhibition surveys the past 10 years of Australian street art.
To further explore the impact street art has had on the contemporary art scene, RMIT Gallery is commissioning a public art project with local street artists. The graffiti wall will take place in a laneway near RMIT Gallery during the exhibition. A public seminar, Vandals or Vanguards?, discussing the political, social and artistic aspects of street art and zines, will take place at the gallery on Monday September 26 with local and interstate artists and experts.
Space invaders looks at artists and their iconic street-based works at the point of their transition from the ephemeral to the collectable and from the street to the gallery.
Featuring 150 works by over 40 Australian artists, this exhibition celebrates the energy of street-based creativity and recognises street stencils, posters, paste-ups, zines and stickers as comprising a recent chapter in the development of Australian prints and drawings.
The exhibition is curated by Jaklyn Babington, Assistant Curator, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books at the National Gallery of Australia. This exhibition is part of the National Gallery of Australia’s extensive program of sharing the national collection with the whole of Australia.
While modern hip-hop inspired graffiti reached Australia in the early 1980s, Australian street art is a relatively recent phenomenon.
A major strength of Australian street art is its ability to mix pop-culture imagery with political messages. From hard-hitting protest to political satire, clever combinations of sarcasm, mockery and parody, the means to mix art, politics and the street press is now in the hands of a new generation of Australian artists.
Space invaders also explores a paradox that has emerged in Australian street art in which an early flirtation with new technology has given way to a sentimentality for the traditional and the handmade.
While numerous approaches and diverse creative philosophies make up the Australian street art scene in 2010, the true and central constant has been the do-it-yourself ethos. Space invaders takes a close look at street art and the many ways that artists are getting up, getting out there and getting seen.
The exhibition is curated by Jaklyn Babington, Assistant Curator, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books at the National Gallery of Australia. This exhibition is part of the National Gallery of Australia’s extensive program of sharing the national collection with the whole of Australia.
This exhibition is supported by the Contemporary Touring Initiative through Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program, and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government and state and territory governments. The Cultural Partner for Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers is NewActon/Nishi and Molonglo Group. The exhibition is also supported by Special Media Partner Triple J.
School tours are available. Education kits are also available to download from the National Gallery of Australia.
The Space Invaders exhibition officially opened with a spectacular launch party.
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