Tag / mural

by brandsa2018

Waikerie’s silo art shares the wonder of majestic River Murray

South Australian artist Garry Duncan has been living off his brush since the age of 16. He has spent the past four decades using his work to draw attention around the world to water issues, in particular the Murray Darling Basin and the environment.

Garry has many clients in the corporate sector across Australia and overseas in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

“I have artwork in places as obscure as the Bacardi Rum boardroom in Puerto Rico,” he says.

Therefore, it only seems fitting, that he was one of two artists chosen by a Melbourne based street art consultant to decorate two empty silos owned by grain handling company, Viterra, at Waikerie in the Riverland.

The silo art by Garry features native river creatures such as pelicans, ducks, frogs and rain moths. Photo by Bruce Mouatt.

The SA Government funded project was selected based on community votes and $150,000 was awarded to the project after Waikerie resident and author, Liz Frankel, applied for funding in 2017.

Nature Foundation SA also sponsored the project, which was based on the theme, Healthy River, Healthy Community. The paintings on the silos can be seen from several kilometres away and complements the beauty of the majestic River Murray.

Garry has painted semi-abstract river landscapes and characterised native river creatures such as pelicans, ducks, frogs and rain moths. He used a brush and a roller and did it all freehand, without using graphs to map out his images.

The second artist, Jimmy Dvate from Melbourne, who is well known for his street art, painted a majestic regent parrot, a yabby and the endangered Murray Hardyhead fish.

The artists’ two different styles complement each other.

Melbourne street artist, Jimmy Dvate was also involved in the project and painted this eye-catching regent parrot. Photo by David Sickerdick Photography.

To paint the almost 30m tall silos over a combined period of 16 weeks, the two artists used elevated work platforms. They used nearly 500 litres of paint to complete the works of art, which cover 360 degrees of both silos.

Garry says the silos are the perfect canvas to educate the public about the need to care for the River Murray.

“The river is not a commodity, it is an entity, and that entity is water, sky, the land, the vegetation, all the birds, fish and mammals and the people as well,” he says.

Liz Frankel says the murals, which were completed in March, are already attracting more tourists to Waikerie.

“It is unique because the entire silos are painted all the way around and to my knowledge there is no other silo art project in Australia that has used two artists, it has only been individual artists,” she says.

The Waikerie Silo Art project is unique because the silos are painted all the way around and can be viewed from the land and river.

Garry now lives in the Adelaide Hills with his wife Lou, but the Riverland has been his backdrop since the 1970s. He worked as a sign writer apprentice in Ferntree Gully in Victoria after he left school, but his talent also led to him working on public art murals.

At the age of 18, he moved to Berri in the SA Riverland and set up a sign writing business. Garry also creates sculptures using materials as diverse as glass, timber, steel and stone.

In 1997, he worked with Riverland indigenous artists to complete a mural underneath the Berri Bridge.

After it was damaged by termites in 2017, he was involved in painting a new mural under the bridge and creating a new steel installation based on the Ngurunderi Dreaming Story.

Garry’s iconic art work can also be found on Goolwa’s Hindmarsh Island Bridge, the Brindabella Aerospace Centre at Canberra Airport and on Renmark’s Twenty Third Street Distillery’s Prime 5 Brandy label.

He believes he is fortunate to make a living as an artist who can inform and educate.

Garry Duncan’s Karoonda Shuffle sculptures portray the rhythm of the grain crops grown in the Murray Mallee. Photo by Dave Hartley.

Interested in other silo murals across regional SA? Check out our story on Tumby Bay here!

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by brandsa2018

International mural artists set to bring Port Adelaide streets alive

International artists will descend upon Port Adelaide late next month to transform more of the Port’s blank walls into vibrant works of art.

Three-day festival Wonderwalls Port Adelaide, in conjunction with The Big Picture Fest, will attract world class street artists to transform bland walls throughout the town centre into striking art installations, to be celebrated publicly from March 29–31.

Wonderwalls Port Adelaide, which has been held biennially since 2015, transforming key sites such as the Marine and Harbors building on St Vincent Street, and Harts Mill into colourful attractions. More than 70 artists have taken part in past festivals.

Four visiting international artists Sat One (Rafael Gerlach) of Germany, Peeta (Manuel Di Rita) of Italy, Akue 1 of Russia and husband and wife duo Diva and Phat 1 (Charles and Janine Williams) of New Zealand, will begin painting their creations a few days before the festival on March 25 before finishing a week later on March 31.

If this mural by New Zealand artists Diva and Phat 1 is anything to go by, the 2019 Port Adelaide creation is set to be stunning.

South Australia’s finest street and mural artists Sarah Boese, 10TKL and Dave Court will represent the local creative space.

Organisers say the 2017 event drew more than 20,000 visitors across one weekend.

Fellow SA mural artist Joel Van Moore, better known as Vans the Omega, is Wonderwalls’ creative director and says the festival grows from strength to strength each year, with 2019 shaping up to be more impressive than ever.

“Wonderwalls brings together some of the world’s most highly acclaimed street artists to work alongside Adelaide’s finest and encourages local creatives to exceed in their endeavours,” he says.

A number of events will unfold throughout the festival, including welcome parties, art walks, and photographic tours and workshops. Pirate Life Brewery will also celebrate with music festival, A Day on the Cans, on Saturday March 30.

Onlookers watch artist Smug complete his wall during the 2015 Wonderwalls Festival.

Former Art Gallery of SA director Nick Mitzevich, who now heads up the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, is fond of Wonderwalls and says it has transformed Port Adelaide into a museum without walls.

“Bringing mural artists from around the world to the Port demonstrates that art is no longer about the edifice,” he says.

“Art can be everywhere. This is not a new point to make, in fact, in many ways it’s a reminder of the essential role that art has played for most of history.”

Wonderwalls is run in conjunction with The Big Picture Fest, an independent mural festival run by Joel Van Moore and mainly focused on small-scale festivals and the growing hunger for mural work in regional towns and cities.

The four international artists painting at Wonderwalls will also tour The Big Picture Fest in Franklin, Victoria, from March 22–24. The Big Picture Fest came to Adelaide during the SA Living Artists (SALA) festival last year, as well as Port Pirie on SA’s Yorke Peninsula.