THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA

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1 THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA Report by Luke Cornish 2013 Churchill Fellow To establish an international recognition of Australian stencil art through networking and collaborating with highly successful artists - UK, France, USA I understand that the Churchill Trust may publish this Report, either in hard copy or on the internet or both, and consent to such publication. I indemnify the Churchill Trust against any loss, costs or damages it may suffer arising out of any claim or proceedings made against the Trust in respect of or arising out of the publication of an Report submitted to the Trust and which the Trust places on a website for access over the internet. I also warrant that my Final Report is original and does not infringe the copyright of any person, or contain anything which is, or the incorporation of which into the Final Report is, actionable for defamation, a breach of any privacy law or obligation, breach of confidence, contempt of court, passing-off or contravention of any other private right or of any law Signed Luke Cornish Dated Index Introduction 2 Executive Summary 4 Programme 5 Main body 7 Conclusions 19 Recommendations 19 Useful Links 19 Photographs 19

2 INTRODUCTION The first use of stencils in artistic expression can be seen in prehistoric cave sites, including the works of Indigenous Australians. The advent of modern stencil art can be traced back to the late 1960s, when artists such as John Fekner began spray painting his text on the streets of New York City, and French artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest stencilled silhouettes of a nuclear bomb in the south of France, as a protest against France s nuclear policies. The form evolved in the late 1970s Dutch when artist Hugo Kaagmaan decorated the streets of Amsterdam with his punk inspired stencils, and in the early 1980s, the art of Blek le Rat first being found on the streets of Paris. Stencil art attained prominence in the art world with the immense popularity of Bristol-based stencil artist Banksy in the mid 2000 s. Banksy, whose true identity remains unknown, has achieved huge success unprecedented for a predominantly street-based artist. Stencil art exploded in Australia on the streets in the early 2000 s. The events of 11 September 2001in the United States, and the Australian Government s decision to involve Australia in the war in Iraq created a desire by many to protest and comment. In the days before social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, stencil was a fast, cheap, easily reproducible and public means of delivering the message. The medium of stencil art has evolved since its raw street beginnings, with developments in technology allowing the technique to be pushed to an almost photorealistic aesthetic, and in some cases has been transplanted from a street to a gallery setting. I began making stencil art about a decade ago, first experimenting with political street stencils. After becoming frustrated with the ephemeral nature of street art I began pushing the boundaries of the technique in my studio. My technique developed from initially creating works using single layered stencils, to two, three and on to multiple layers, to incorporating up to 100 separated stencils in my current works. In ten years I have evolved from experimenting with a new medium, to creating art that is held in public and private collections, nationally and internationally. My career highlights to date include being the first streetbased artist to be nominated for the Archibald Prize (2012), having a work acquired by the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (2013) and being awarded a Churchill Fellowship in My project was undertaken between the 14th of July and the 29th of August 2014, when I travelled to the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Romania to liaise and collaborate with artists and galleries with the desired outcome of not only raising my profile and arts practice by gaining practical insights into the art scenes in these countries, but also raising the profile of Australian stencil art internationally. I would like to thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia for providing me with this wonderful opportunity. 2

3 I would also like to thank my fellow artists for their generosity in creating opportunities for me to experience the stencil art in their countries and for providing me with an opportunity to take my art to these places. Figure 1 Winston Churchill - London 3

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Luke Cornish, Artist To establish an international recognition of Australian stencil art through networking and collaborating with highly successful artists - UK, France, USA HIGHLIGHTS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (New York City) Meeting with artist Swoon at the Brooklyn Museum to view her installation Submerged M otherlands Painting in Brooklyn as a part of the Bushwick Collective Witnessing the vibrant street art/graffiti scene of New York City Meeting with many international street artists based in New York City UNITED KINGDOM (London) Meeting with artist D*Face at his East London studio Holding my first international solo exhibition Louder than Words at the Shoreditch Stolen Space gallery Creating street art on Brick Lane Meeting up with international street artists Visiting the Tate Modern FRANCE (Paris) Meeting and collaborating with one of the founders of stencil art, French artist Blek le Rat Creating street art in Paris GERMANY /ROMANIA Meeting with curator Stefan Winterle to discuss the possibility of staging an exhibition at the Colab Gallery, Germany s leading street art gallery Invitation to paint the graffiti wall of fame in Lörrach Painting in an abandoned chemical factory in Bucharest with local stencil artists The major conclusion that I have drawn from the project is that the scale of street art being undertaken on an international level is extremely high, and that there is a widespread understanding of the contribution of Australian art and artists at this level. Through continuing to develop my own arts practice, in mentoring emerging artists and holding workshops I will be able to disseminate the learning that I have gained through the collaborations and experiences of the project. 4

5 PROGRAMME USA New York City Work activity: Painting with the Bushwick Collective, Bushwick, Brooklyn. Street art, NYC. Publicity: BSA.com (Brooklyn street art) Collaborations and meetings: Swoon, Li-hill, Damien Mitchell, Icy and Sot, Ian Strange, Bushwick Collective, Kristin Mciver ENGLAND London Work activity: Solo Exhibition at StolenSpace Gallery, Shoreditch, London Creation of street art, Brick Lane Publicity: Interviews and write ups - VNA, Rooms, and Hi Fructose magazines, Invurt.com, complex.com, thatgooddubai.com, artsy.net Collaborations and meetings: D*Face, Eelus and Ben Slow (London-based street artists), Pure Evil Gallery, Fifthwall TV, Ben Frost (Australian artists based in Canada, currently showing in London) FRANCE Paris Work activity: Street art, Paris. Collaborations and meetings: Blek le Rat, Ben Spizz (owner le Lavo//Matik arts urbains gallery) GERMANY Weil am Rhein Work activity: Mural work, graffiti hall of fame, Lörrach Publicity: Graffiti unter der Autobahn 2 Collaborations and meetings: Stefan Winterle (curator, Colab Gallery) 5

6 ROMANIA Work activity: Mural work, Bucharest Publicity: Stencil.Ro.com Collaborations: Ortaku (Romanian stencil artist) 6

7 MAIN BODY Figure 2 Bushwick Collective - Brooklyn, New York NEW YORK The first leg of the project was spent in New York City (NYC), where I stayed in an apartment in Williamsburg. Upon invitation from Joseph Ficalora, the curator of The Bushwick Collective (an outdoor street art gallery of artists from all over the world located on the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and Troutman Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY) I painted my first mural of the trip. The mural is of an Australian soldier, and while not really fitting with the landscape, it has been a recurring theme in my work for a number of years, and I feel it is representative of Australian stencil art. This was a very satisfying experience, painting in the the Big Apple with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, amongst the work of so many other artists from around the world that I greatly admire and am inspired by. 7

8 Two significant contacts made through this were with ICY and SOT, Iranian street artists currently residing in New York. This contact further exposed Australian stencil art to a wider field of international artists. The next highlight of my stay in NYC was meeting with the street artist Swoon at the Brooklyn Museum. I viewed her latest installation piece Submerged Motherlands in the Museum. Swoon is a street artist who specialises in life-size wheat paste prints and paper cutouts of human figures. She has been creating street art internationally since This meeting was important in creating a significant contact enabling the exchange of ideas and possible future collaboration. Figure 3 ''Submerged Motherlands"- Swoon 8

9 Figure 4 ''Submerged Motherlands" - Swoon LONDON The second leg of the trip was London which was timed to coincide with the opening of my first international, solo exhibition Louder than Words at Stolen Space Gallery in Shoreditch. The exhibition ran from 7-31 August. Stolen Space Gallery, London s foremost contemporary art gallery, is owned by renowned English street artist D*face. Stolen Space was previously the Outside Institute, London s first contemporary art gallery to focus on street art. D*face is a highly successful street artist with a high profile in the international street art scene. His work regularly sells in some of London s most significant auction houses, such as Sothebys. My meeting with him established a valuable contact in the United Kingdom and resulted in invitations for me to return and collaborate in the future. Other activity in London included creating street art in Brick Lane, which was documented in a short video made by Fifthwall TV, a London-based production company, and published on the Internet. Interviews conducted with me about my artwork were published in VNA, Rooms and Hi Fructose magazines at the time. 9

10 This activity also provided me with an opportunity to meet and network with local street artists and gallerists. Figure 5 London exhibition flier 10

11 Fig.6 Brick lane, London Fig.7 D*Face 11

12 Fig.8 Brick lane, London FRANCE My time in France was significant and allowed me to collaborate with Blek le Rat, widely regarded as the godfather of stencil art. I was invited to spend time with him in his home. It was inspirational to be mentored by an artist of such high regard. Blek has a strong interest in the Australian stencil art scene and has previously held an exhibition of his work in Melbourne. While in Paris I met with Ben Spizz, owner of Le Lavo//Matik Arts Urbains, a Gallery located on the Left Bank specializing in urban cultures, stencil and graffiti art. This contact has been important in engaging with the art scene in Paris, and future collaboration is planned with a proposal by the Gallery to exhibit my artistic works. Other activity to raise the profile of Australian stencil art undertaken in Paris included my paintings of stencils in the public domain. 12

13 Figure 9 with Blek le Rat GERMANY/ROMANIA The opportunity arose to travel to Weil am Rhein in Germany to stay with Stefan Winterle, the curator of the Colab Gallery (and amazing stencil artist in his own right). The Colab Gallery is Germany s leading street art gallery, fostering a stable of Europe s foremost urban artists. During this visit I created several works for sale through the Colab Gallery, and discussed plans for a future exhibition. While in Germany I painted a large mural at the graffiti hall of fame in Lorrach. This mural has been documented by German author Kai Hendrik Schlusche for the upcoming second edition of his book Graffiti unter der Autobahn. In Romania I was invited to paint a mural at a night spot in Bucharest, however due to the 13

14 controversial nature of my intended subject (Communist poet Adrian Paunescu), the mural was not painted at this site. Fortunately I had met with local stencil artists and bloggers who arranged for me to undertake the work at an abandoned chemicals factory on the outskirts of Bucharest. The mural gained exposure through the stencil Romania website, stencil.ro. Figure 10 Mural in Lörrach, Germany 14

15 Figure 11 Graffiti hall of fame, Lörrach 15

16 Figure 12 Colab Gallery, Weil am Rhein, Germany Figure 13 Adrian Paunescu mural, Bucharest 16

17 Figure 14 With Romanian street artist Ortaku (left) 17

18 Figure 15 Abandoned chemical factory, Bucharest. 18

19 CONCLUSIONS This opportunity to work with international artists overseas confirms my belief that the standard of Australian stencil art is world class. However, a better appreciation by Australians of this art form and more funding opportunities that support street art are needed to fully realize the potential and to allow better engagement at the international level. Through the support of the Fellowship, I have taken my own art to this international stage and have given it a physical presence in these countries, successfully raising the profile of Australian stencil art. RECOMMENDATIONS To maintain an Australian presence internationally I would encourage all Australian stencils artists to travel overseas to share their work with the world. I will endeavour to raise the profile of Australian stencil art internationally by continuing to develop relationships with artists and gallery owners overseas, encouraging a greater appreciation of Australian art by the international audience. USEFUL LINKS PHOTOGRAPHS Figure 1- Winston Churchill statue, London Figure 2- Bushwick Collective, Brooklyn, New York Figure 3- ''Submerged Motherlands" by Swoon, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York Figure 4- ''Submerged Motherlands" by Swoon, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York Figure 5- London exhibition flier Figure 6- "Churchill with gas mask, Brick lane, London Figure 7- with D*face, London Figure 8- Brick lane, London Figure 9- with Blek le rat, France Figure 10- Mural in Lörrach, Germany Figure 11- Graffiti hall of fame, Lörrach Figure 12- Colab Gallery, Weil am Rhein, Germany Figure 13- Adrian Paunescu mural, Bucharest Figure 14- With Romanian street artist Ortaku (left) Figure 15 Abandoned chemical factory, Bucharest 19