When the sun sets he emerges on the streets, cap pulled low over his face, bucket and mop in his hand. He gets to work, dipping the mop in water and pushing it across the grimy cobblestones. At first, he seems some kind of throwback to the past – a street sweeper, perhaps, who has fallen through time to modern day Melbourne.
Except, as the minutes go by, shapes begin to emerge from his brush: a giraffe, then two; a tiger, another, and a boat behind them all. It’s not long before people are stopping to gaze at the watery world of Noah and his ark – and the Taiwanese artist, known as the Splash Baron.
Street art doesn’t get much clearer than this. It’s public, it’s global, it’s transient, and it has an element of anonymity about it all. Set in the very centre of Melbourne CBD, both art and artist will be gone with the sun; their presence captured only by the crowd.
And, now, by at least one other.
For Lou Chamberlin, street art is a passion she has been photographing since 2005. Earlier this month she released Street Art: Melbourne – a book showcasing, as the title suggests, the work of street artists across Melbourne over the past eight years.
Naturally, this means a lot of her photos are dedicated to the paintings enlivening Melbourne’s inner city walls. Not simply graffiti tags – names and signatures commonly seen scrawled across buildings – but more complex creations. Some are abstract, some are incredibly realistic. Many are powerfully emotive, as art often is.
But street art is not only a matter of paint. Street Art: Melbourne showcases a collection of different mediums, including yarn bombing, paste-ups, stencils, salvaged material and – as fleeting as it may be – water.
According to Chamberlin, street art is “a way of beautifying the city in a temporary manner”.
“It’s much more democratic than the art in galleries – it’s public and it’s free,” she says.
It doesn’t have to be political, but it’s often global, as artists from across the world come to leave their mark in the streets, for a short time at least.
In fact, part of the inspiration for Street Art: Melbourne came from Rio de Janeiro. Chamberlin travelled to document the street art there, where she says “the walls of the city sing”, and decided to do the same for Melbourne.
She says her book is about raising awareness of an art form central to Melbourne culture; one constantly changing and not always appreciated by its viewers.
“It’s about the response,” Chamberlin says.
“Sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes it makes you laugh, sometimes it raises questions, or gives an emotional response.”
The bottom line is; it doesn’t have to be understood to be admired. Street Art: Melbourne certainly provides an opportunity for readers to do so.
Displaying the work of over one hundred artists, Chamberlin’s book is a photographic collaboration of an art movement that has escaped the galleries and infiltrated the streets of Melbourne.
And the handy city map she provides, showing where to look for this art, tempts readers to do some exploring of their own.
Street Art: Melbourne, RRP $39.95, available for purchase here, or all good bookstores.
