Northbridge is now the home to the state’s largest legal mural ever painted. The impressive project spans a whooping 635 square metres and covers three of the four walls of the Western Power building located at the corner of Roe and James Street. This building, which used to be the old Berlin Nightclub back in the ’90s, is now being touted as the new icon for urban art in the city.
An impressive 13 artists have contributed to painting the space in a project that has seen Western Power unite with arts hub Artrage. These artists include members of the Ayem crew – Ayre, Slam, Hobo, Idle, Dlae, Mike and Trevor6025 – the Line Collective – Daek One, Sleep, Feck and Hosay – as well as Sam DeSouza, Ololo’s Hurben, Jodee Knowles and Creepy, who has just returned from exhibiting in New York.
Originally painted back in 2005 as part of the Salvation Show, the old Berlin is now a hub in itself. It not only houses the Artrage Workshops but it is an attempt to generate a greater exposure – and consequent understanding – of street art and graffiti. The walls will soon be decorated with light-boxes which will allow for temporary exhibitions to appear.
But more than everything it’s the step in the right direction from a government body in regard to the ‘issue’ that is graffiti. In the past year, Western Power alone have spent $700 000 in an attempt to manage and remove graffiti, primarily tagging and illegal street art. The mural project is in a similar vein to Canberra’s Graffiti Management Strategy which creates legal street art projects and has proven highly successful.
For participating artist Trevor6025, the project was an opportunity to not only think big, but show the masses exactly what graffiti is all about.
What was your approach to this project?
I thought: let’s go big with this one. Some of the boys have helped out by filling the two but originally I just chalked it all up. These guys are exceptional painters. Levels above me. I’m just catching up to their techniques and their styles.
What materials have you used?
For this job it’s predominantly been aerosol. I was really keen to get paintbrushes out because for my Windows on William print I used silkscreen and paint. That was me and Patrick (Doherty) working on that one. I was keen to get that same kind of raw energy and the gestural quality with this but the paint doesn’t seem to have taken hold so we’ve gone strong blocks of colours. And I think that it’ll work well, considering the train line is there, and that’s the audience we’re after.
What’s been your favourite part?
The process is always interesting. The sketch up for all the pieces is great. I get really excited about how these boys work and operate. The sketch up is the most exciting part, how the structure of the letters is going to be. The fill then brings it all together.
Can you briefly describe the overall aesthetic?
We didn’t go with so much a theme as colours with this wall, just to have that innocent approach to it all.
What’s the reaction been like and how do you think this will promote graffiti?
We’ve had a lot of good feedback from a lot of the commuters that have been using the footpath. I think the guys who are on the wall are at a level where the quality and the craftsmanship can show the general public that it’s not all about bad tags and bad style, which is part of culture as well. But that’s what people typically associate with graffiti. But this (gestures at wall) is the stuff that people just love to see. And this is what we like to produce.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
