As the Project 5 team mentions often: urban art is hot property right now. With this in mind, they have facilitated a collaboration between four street/urban artists and the charity Information and Cultural Exchange which results in an Project 5’s third “live art” event where you can watch the artists in action followed by an auction of the artworks. Cockle Bay Warf was the venue of choice for the art-doing.
When compared to, say, a horse race, watching someone paint a 1.2m x 2.0m wooden panel is not exactly fast-paced. Having said that, it is a fascinating insight into the different processes that these artists take in creating works. The stars of the show were Kid Zoom, Ghostpatrol, James Jirat Patradoon and Deb, all young Australian artists who are doing exciting things in their respective scenes.
As the sun-dipped below the horizon, the works started to take shape. Note the eye, see if you can find it in the final work…
We left as it started to get dark; as you can see it was only early days in the creation of these works. The artists continued working Saturday and Sunday.
The Auction @ aMBUSH
So 6 days later we finally made it to the hotly anticipated Project 5 Auction. Champagne in hand (the people at Leonard Joel Auctions know how to lubricate the cash-hand), we had a look.
The works were impressive. It was hard to believe how far they’d come since the Friday previous. Each panel was now resolved and ready to find a home.
There were plenty of people out and about waiting patiently for the main event. aMBUSH always draws a big crowd, but this particular evening it was positively buzzing with artists, the fans and a sprinkling of celebs in attendance.
The auction proceedings were introduced by Triple J Hack’s Tom Tilley. Yes, he is good looking. He was followed by some well-chosen and brief words from Andrew Johnston (Mr. smiley check shirt in the photo). Moving away from last October’s auction in Elizabeth Bay was a great choice – more people, more energy, and more bidding. Bidding for the Kid Zoom piece raced past the price that the Anthony Lister went for last year.
A nervous James Jirat Patradoon during bidding for his work.
Over the shoulder of the winning bidder for Patradoon’s work. Note empty champagne glass.
What a fantastic and well-executed concept! Thank you Project 5, it was wonderful.
