The first Brisbane Street Art Festival (BSAF) kicked off this month (6-18 February) and hosted more than 50 artists at several free events across the city.
The festival is a passion project headed by Jungle Love’s Lincoln Savage and artist/ curator David Don. They combined their knowledge of events and their networks within the public arts scene to bring local artists and businesses together to collaborate in a live setting.
Click here for photos from the festival.
Some of the most internationally, sought-after muralists come from Brisbane, so it's about time our city hosted such a festival to celebrate its talent. I had the chance to catch quite a few of the 25 events on the BSAF schedule, but the best part about a festival of this kind is that pieces will now be there for anyone to visit and admire as they please.
Image © Jann Angara
The festival started at the carpark of spray paint store Crush City, where Skels, Space and Empos sprayed a combined piece on detachable canvases. Punters sat around the carpark and enjoyed the tunes and the company as the canvases came together.
Just down the road at the back of Lucky Duck Cafe, muralist The Zookeeper was busily working on his social commentary piece. The detail in his jelly fish and man piece had fans and locals watching in awe, taking snaps and giving props to the artist as the details and colours unravelled against the overcast background.
Image © Jann Angara
The following day, popular brunch spot Little Clive extended their opening hours for some beers, burgers and botanicals as self-confessed ‘plant lover’, Bubsy worked on his two-toned piece that complemented the cafe’s signature style.
Image © Jann Angara
Wednesday night saw one of BSAF’s more packed and collaborative events. A ‘Street Wear X Street Art’ fashion parade was held at the street-art-themed Kerbside, while artists Bohdi and Shiroi Usagi each worked on a live piece.
Image © Jann Angara
The parade was hosted by Interlaced Media and showcased more than ten designers and brands with entry by donation going to Brisbane Youth Service. Kerbside was packed with bloggers, photographers and creatives who all enjoyed each element of the show between cocktails. It was a mix of beautiful people celebrating among beautiful surroundings.
Image © Jann Angara
Legendary muralists Drapl and Treazy had already completed their epic, evolutional piece at the Red Hill Skate Arena. The classic venue played host for a second time during the festival when another moving canvas – an ice-cream bus – was painted by Ekaer.
Image © Jann Angara
The final Sunday of the festival saw one of the most awaited artists: Sofles brave heatstroke to put his signature on the back of The Brightside. As he wore his make-shift cardboard hat to protect his neck from the midday sun, punters also came out in the scorching sun to be graced by one of their favourite artists. A volunteer was even overheard saying that she wanted to keep the cardboard hat and ask him to sign it.
Image © Jann Angara
The colours in the Sofles piece against the black wall and the blue skies was enough to make everyone forget the temperature as they slowly saw the letters of his name magically appear on the piece.
Meanwhile, a last-minute addition to the BSAF line-up saw internationally recognised, hometown hero Lister, successfully paint an Australiana-themed wall on Kelvin Grove Rd. It was a nice, surprise addition to the festival that had fans and locals sitting across the road all afternoon to watch his piece unfold.
Image © Jann Angara
It was also probably the most controversial piece of the festival due to Lister’s continuous love/ hate relationship with the Brisbane City Council. Nevertheless the first BSAF would not have been complete without a wall by this influential artist.
Click here for more photos.
The festival finale of epic proportions (literally) was started last Thursday at Trafalgar Lane. A massive piece by Guido will forever change the view at the iconic location next to the Gabba.
Image © Jann Angara
The artist – who just finished a 30-metre mural in a small town in regional Victoria – will be spending the rest of the week on his cherry picker completing the wall.
For full list of locations of all pieces click here.
