Alterations, Disturbances & Rips is a collage exhibition Featuring artists KAREEM RIZK, MAURO PALMIERI, JOEL LAMBETH, DANILO BRANDAO and HILARY FAYE. A number of names we have not yet featured here, but by the looks of the preview images on the aMBUSH site here, it looks to be a quality show of work.

Opening night Thursday 15 December, 6-9pm
Exhibition continues to Sunday 18 December, daily from 12-4pm

aMBUSH Gallery and L4NE FOUR at The Galeries present Rainbow City Gaze by Anthony Lister – an ambitious large scale 3 dimensional public art installation on exhibition from 24 November in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

Anthony Lister explains that the installation “is about raining colour down on the public. Nothing makes me sadder than grey city days. I feel it’s important for colour to be all around. I like to think of myself as a leprechaun giving the rainbow dream to the people”.

This is the second public art exhibition at L4NE FOUR – Sydney’s brand new lane way art project curated by aMBUSH Gallery.

On exhibition for eight weeks from Thursday 24 November, 2011.

L4NE FOUR at The Galeries
500 George Street, Sydney (Pitt St entrance)

Three large scale paintings done by the following artists in groups of two. Beastman-Phibs / Jumbo-Numskull / Max Berry-Mark Alsweiler.

“aMBUSH Gallery is very proud to partner with The Galeries in the activation and launch of a new lane way art project, Lane Four, in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

Kickstarting our programming is Sydney’s best in a unique collaboration between the artists BEASTMAN & PHIBS, JUMBO & NUMSKULL and MAX BERRY & MARK ALSWEILER responding with three large scale collaborative one-off original artworks, displayed at Lane Four at The Galeries, 500 George Street (Pitt St entrance) from October 13 to November 11.”

“In its third volume, Without Walls will be adding a further five artists to its powerhouse alumni, as they take aMBUSH by storm, in its long awaited return to Sydney’s gallery circuit. Described as wall less, law-less art, Without Walls is a collective which breaks down the ideal of art purely ‘hanging’ and destroys this conception by reformatting local artists works into limited edition t-shirts. This interactive approach brings the artworks beyond the walls of the gallery, and giving it a limitless birth directly onto the streets of Sydney.”

Artists: Mark Alsweiler / Sprinkles / Alex Lehours / Mia Oatley / Elle Green

More info at the Without Walls website and at aMBUSH.

Firstly, for our readers who aren’t aware of your work, tell us where you’re from and what you’ve been painting lately.
I’m from Melbourne, have been stencilling since 2001, but really got into putting up posters with the guys from Everfresh since 2004. Over the years iv’e covered a few subjects but what im know for is female portrait.

Alot of artists from the original street art era either stopped using stencils or changed their style, whereas you have always been on the same road. Was this a conscious decision?
Yeah plenty of my friends & peers progressed into more traditional graffiti or stopped all altogether. I tried my hand at it but knew I should stick with what im good at. I’m all about making a good strong image as quickly as possible. Using paste ups meant I could put up a dozen of huge works in one night rather then one that could take hours to get right if hand painting it.

Why have you always chosen the female face to work with?
I think the female face’s work great on the street when they are starting to decay. There is something about that contrast of beauty and decay or how fragile beauty can be.

In your last show at Backwoods Gallery we noticed you styled and shot your own models for the hero images. What was that process like?
It was great to actually work from my own source imagery. I drafted up a series of looks based on the stages of grief (shock, denial ect) and then once I had convinced Kirsten (the model) of what I was doing I got a photographer friend, Tony Mott to shoot it and also a make up artist (Hannah Marshall). They really didn’t know how it was going to look in the end, so I was using up quite a few favours to make it happen and honestly I only had a concept of stencils over the bill posters but was not sure if it would work out or just look like rubbish.

What have you got planned for the 12×12 show?
I have continued what I was doing in my Backwoods show but smaller. Trying to get the look of decaying images like you find on the street.

Do you have any plans or projects coming up you can tell us about?
Yeah i’m pretty much have my calendar full until Feb next year.
I’m part of a few group shows in the states, one in San Fran with an all Australian line up and then Miami as part of Art Basil and early next year there is talk of heading over to Hawaii for the Pow Wow event.

Firstly, for our readers who aren’t aware of your work, tell us where you’re from and what you’ve been painting lately.
I’m from Sydney originally, born in Mona Vale and have lived on the Gold Coast for the past 20 or so years.
I’ve been making works for this amazing show called 12 x 12, you may have heard of it through the online grapevine.

Do you think where you live has an effect on your work?
Yeah, it’s kind of hot up here so most of the time i’m drawing in boxers and no top, which means I draw lots of sexy old people because I feel sexy myself. Apart from that I spend a lot of time travelling with work so I get to see other peoples amazing stuff every now and then which is perfect, that way i’m not too influenced style wise, but inspired enough to keep pushing my pen and brush around the page.

You predominantly use biro and watercolour. Why have you chosen these tools?
To be honest it wasn’t intentional, it was just something that happened over time. I messed around with watercolour, indian inks, acrylics and whatever else for a really long time but I kept coming back to biro for something unique, or so I thought. I did a series of 4 big biro drawings a few years back and had them framed, I liked how they made me feel and my wife liked the look of them so I settled on that style for a while until the rest faded out and that was pretty much all I did. It’s just recently that i’ve added watercolour via this little triangular pattern because all the blue was slowly making me depressed. I really like that biro is so unforgiving, it’s such an accomplishment when a piece doesn’t go astray. Actually it’s a bit of a nice-nightmare sometimes.

Are you formally trained?
I did a diploma of graphic design about 12 years ago which I dropped out of 2 months prior to completing. I was falling asleep in class all the time so I gave it the flick. I had started a new job which was kind of the dream job at the time so that took my energy. I randomly do freelance graphics jobs and I have graphic artists working with me at my day job, so my experience with graphic design has still been really helpful.

So, we heard something about your dog chewing on your 12×12 artworks. What happened there?
Yes, his name is Olly and he’s rad. But this one day, after 5 months of drawing nights (I was two pieces from being finished) Olly noticed that someone had left the spare room door open. I had the 10 finished pieces out on the bed so I could keep checking them out and staying motivated to finish the set, and he thought it would be fun to hop up on the bed, have a play, do some ripping and tearing, some puncturing with his doggy teeth, creasing every piece with his little doggy feet and just generally having a good time. I couldn’t believe he’d done it and I was fucking gobsmacked, all I could do was have a long shower in the dark until I was calm enough to go and get some chocolate. Life goes on hey, really what can you do, worrying is poisonous you know.

Maybe you’re dog could sign them and it could be a collabo? Collabrador?
Oh man, haha, that’s amazing! He’s a Spoodle which is a Cocker Spaniel crossed with a Poodle. I found out yesterday from my sister that there is a type of dog called a Golden Doodle. You can have a lot of fun with that one, “i’ll be there in a second, my Golden Doodle is doing a piss on your car”, “I’m going to take my Golden Doodle for a run”, “my Golden Doodle got out yesterday and it chased an old lady down the road”. Really you could just keep on going with that.

Do your portraits have stories behind them?
I’ll try and keep this simple. Life is fragile and I always feel like i’m going to die before i’m old or ready, I know it’s silly but it’s how I feel because i’ve been close before and it’s not that awesome. Because of that dire feeling that hangs around the back of my head I have this overwhelming appreciation and respect for the elderly and I try and keep my level of seriousness to a manageable volume. So, you’ll notice that all the portraits for 12 x 12 are of the elderly, these people have made it through. Whether they are homeless, eclectic, kooky, asleep a lot, a little disgruntled or whatever, they’ve survived, enduring the test of time and the turns that come with each day. The colourful watercolour is youth, enjoyment, lightheartedness, optimism, pranks, jokes and that kind of shit, old people do that stuff but you don’t always notice it. Hopefully I get to be an old funny guy one day, i’ll try my best to get there.

Do you have any plans or projects coming up you can tell us about?
I’ve started working on a solo show for Retrospect Gallery, hopefully I can get that done in the next 6 or 7 months. I’m also working on a whole different project that involves the old and awesome crap I find every day at the tip but that’s going to be a longer term thing. Make some nice pictures at night, try and stay healthy, I can’t ask for much more than that.

More info on Troy here. Check out the 12 x 12 website for more opening night and exhibition details.

This time around, the show will only be stopping in Sydney (as opposed to the usual Melbourne opening), at aMBUSH Gallery Friday 22 July.

The other interesting aspect of this 12×12 is that ALL artworks will also be available to purchase from an online catalogue launching at 12pm Saturday 23 July.

Stay tuned for some exclusive interviews with some of the 12×12 artists…

More info here.
A preview of Meggs’ piece for the show here.