Meggs – Art / Aerosol / Design

Timelapse of the ‘Only the Brave’ live paint battle, courtesy of MTV:

On Thurs the 16th, I was at the Sydney ‘Diesel - Only the Brave’ launch party for a live painting ‘art battle’ with Ben Frost & Numskull. Was a good night of pressure arting, drinking and shenanigans. Thanks to the crew at Worlds end studio, Diesel, StupidKrap, MTV and all the Sydney massive who made it a fun (but tiring) long weekend!

The completed artworks are currently being auctioned on Ebay here:
StupidKrap Ebay shop!
Proceeds for the auction go to the charity: http://skateistan.org/
Theres also a video of the live paints here on YouTube.
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‘Out of sight, Out of mind’, originally uploaded by –Meggs–.

Images of the Crime & Charity artwork set now uploaded to my Flickr.
Click here to see the full set.

Live Skype panorama, originally uploaded by –Meggs–.

Nice panoramam shot of live paint, skype hook-up for crime 7 Charity opening, Culver city (LA). Thanks to alex at nice for the dope photo.

As i couldn’t attend the LA opening, Evan & Freddi helped to set up a live skype cross from the gallery to the everfresh studio where i did a live paint via webcam. Was a cool experience and thanks again to the crew who hung out here drinking beers, the girls at the gallery and Alex for taking some sweet pics below. LA > Melbourne reprasent!
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Pics from the gallery and opening of Crime & Charity at Cerasoli Gallery, Culver City (LA), CA.
Thanks to Freddi and Evan for doing the show, all who came on the night and the local crew who hung out for the live skype painting here at Everfresh, Melbourne.
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And some wise words from one of the OG masters:

“THE DSKYZER”

I’ve got to admit that reading this book tonight I was moved to tears. For so long I tried to block all these years out of my consciousness. There were so many unbelievable happy memory’s mixed in with out of proportion tragedy and loss. So many young creative people who lost their way and their outlet to make sense of it all and find belonging and community.

Making the decision to turn my back on graffiti back then was one of the most difficult adjustments I’ve ever had to make. It was a pretty extreme lifestyle that only those at the core of the scene could ever fully understand. It was completely lawless and detached from the regular 9-5 existence that the majority of society labored so hard to uphold. To walk away meant turning the volume of life down from level 110 to a quiet twilight whisper.

By the age of 18 it was mainly the prospect of jail that spelled the end of artistic expression for most, without the life affirming and self worth building side effects of active graffiti writing and creative expression, a large number increasingly turned to drugs to fill the void that had begun to grow within their hearts and souls after retirement. It was so sad to see so many close friends and people I loved either start to fade, look for even more destructive outlets or in the worst situations die by their own hands or by misadventure related to substance abuse. It really darkened my view of the world for a very long time; there were many times there where I even tried to exit the frame. Lucky for me I somehow made it out the other side.

It still fuckin’ drives me crazy that the law makers cant see what a valuable alternative this culture is and that they don’t realise the transformative powers it can potentially have on a young peoples lives? I personally learnt far more about myself and my abilities through my involvement in this culture than I ever did in school, to the point were I could actually use my experiences as a template to be applied to other challenges and learning curves. It’s helped me to understand process and how to apply myself over prolonged periods to achieve positive outcomes in everyday tasks and bigger personal challenges that I encounter in my day-to-day existence.

Maybe all schools should adopt community painting projects for every year of study and every student to participate in, how crazy would that be. We could start to play a part again in how our community’s look and feel, and all have some sort of personal involvement and personal pride in our neighborhoods. We are tribal people and we need to belong yeah, as things are now it’s like most of us have no connection or ties that bond us to our immediate environments. It’s no wonder so many people are out of fuckin order. Oh well I guess there’s no profit to be made in a happy, cohesive and functional society? Keep’em all acting like animals and we can turn the misery into an industry yeah, capitalist society, got to love it ha-ha. Anyway I’m getting way of track here, so all I meant to say was thanks guys for making the effort to put this all together, it’s an important book in more ways than you can imagine, trust me. Bless.

DSKYZER USA CREW

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In 2007 Australia’s Victorian State Government passed the ‘Graffiti Prevention Act’. This legislation extended the government’s zero tolerance approach to Graffiti and provided police new authority to search any person, vehicle or object they suspect to possess a Graffiti implement, within close proximity of public transport.
Ironically, this legislation was passed while Tourism Victoria was using Graffiti and street art to promote Melbourne Tourism on television and web advertisements. Melbourne’s laneway’s are a big drawcard for tourism and it is undeniable that the diverse artwork is part of the city’s broader cultural appeal.

Graffiti and street art will never disappear. Despite the State Government’s negativity, there are well documented social contributions and benefits provided by many artists, cultural tourism being one. Unfortunately these are only recognised when it is conveniently leveraged for commercial gain.

‘Crime & Charity’ depicts the frustration Megg’s feels in the face of this hypocrisy. The characters depicted in his artwork are hybrids of guilt and innocence, both frustrated and persecuted for being part of a culture that is simultaneously celebrated and condemned.
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‘Right to Remain Silent’
Mixed media on canvas, 48×48” (1200×1200mm), P. 05/2009

GUSTAV MAGAZINE
Feature, Issue 12 - Switzerland

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KING BROWN MAGAZINE
Feature, Issue 5 - Australia