As the city continues to shift, refresh and transform, the little things matter more and more. The vacant and damaged spaces that encouraged more bold and brazen interventions are now less prominent (some of our favourite spots around the city face imminent revitalisation). The necessary contrasts of our urban surroundings are increasingly supplied by the small, unexpected things, clashing with the washed concrete structures and shiny facades that continue to stretch and grow. (Do I sound like a broken record?) Those little details that make a city lived in and alive can raise so many ideas, from the explicit to the subtle, the pointed to the more amorphous and undefined. Yet in each case, their mere presence serves to explore what it means to be part of and have a voice within a larger conglomeration. They provide a sense of the human and authentic (with just a touch of dissent, of course) and signs of contrast and contestation amidst the monolithic towers of progress (both literal and metaphoric), .
This second volume of Street Treats features a host of artists and threaded themes, from the traditional, yet entirely timely ACAB/1312 element, to graffiti’s unerring ability to speak of ugliness and beauty concurrently, or in the case of Teeth Like Screwdrivers’ ‘buff bluff’, the inherent potential in the blocks of grey paint that cover graffiti. Levi Hawken’s concrete sculptures have echoed the physical make up of the cityscape while speaking of his graffiti and skateboarding roots, and notably the Black Lives Matter movement. Vesil’s graffiti continues to be a highlight, diverse and well-placed, with an assortment of accompanying characters and accoutrements raising the spectre of playful nostalgia. Anonymous scribes contest election billboards and the future of human utility (I think…), or more hopefully, remind us that ‘love is rife’. Stickers and paste-ups continue to have a rising presence in the city, with acerbic, humorous and intriguing additions to urban walls and fixtures. In the case of FOLT’s skull cut-outs, it is as much the absence as the presence that is striking as these popular sculptural pieces are removed. Cosmik Debris’ paste-ups suggest the molecular science behind all things and the scale of being, while Dr Suits blurs the line between art and advertising, without anything to sell. This collection revels in the details of the city, details that many overlook. Yet, when you start to look closely, there are always surprises, always discussions, and always alternatives…
For the latest entry in our photo essay series, we reached out to Befaaany, a Christchurch photographer whose work showcases the urban and concrete landscapes of the city. After being impressed with her striking pictures on Instagram, we knew she would be a perfect fit. Befaaany’s response was a beautiful collection of black and white images that run the gamut of urban expression, small stickers, bold graffiti, abstract paintings produced in perilous environments and the ephemera of a eradicated presence. In compiling these photographs, Befaaany is able to highlight the issue of street art’s gentrification and mainstream popularity, a process that has in many ways clouded our recognition of street art’s subversive and disruptive potential…
Local street artists are constantly finding new ways to create art in a city filled with council-funded installations from international artists. These have included challenging gentrification of graffiti directly, blurring the lines of ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ street art, disguising their art into the city, and leaning into the temporary nature of their art form. – Befaaany
Follow Befaaany on Instagram to see more of her amazing work…
And that’s half of 2020 gone already. Although lets be honest, this year has seen a fair amount of activity, some shitty, but others important and long overdue. This month’s collection acknowledges these struggles, as well as looking to the past, the future and art as a gateway to explore and consider more than our immediate preoccupations. From Askew One’s haunting risograph print with MK Press and Fiksate, to our tribute to graffiti legend Jungle and the countless voices he inspired as a rebellious actor in the local urban landscape, here are our favourite things from the month of June…
Askew One x MK Press x Fiksate collab
Askew One signs his MK Press x Fiksate collab risograph prints. (Photo credit: Elliot O’Donnell)
The month started on a high with the release of Askew One’s limited edition print as part of the MK Press/Fiksate artist collab risograph print series. Following Dr Suits’ initial release, Askew’s striking red and black abstraction continued the popularity of the concept, selling out in just hours. The work embraces and explores the qualities of risograph printing, while continuing his digital studies drawn from urban environments. The result is a twisting, jagged image filled with a sense of terror and dread due to the blood-like tone. Setting a benchmark for the series, you wouldn’t really expect anything less from Aotearoa’s finest, would you?
Graffiti jam for the New Brighton Outdoor Art Festival
YSEK’s rhino character from the New Brighton Outdoor Art Festival traditional graffiti wall.
The delayed and reconfigured NBOAF signed off with a traditional graffiti jam wall, with a number of local talents transforming a wall in the middle of New Brighton Mall. The green and magenta colour scheme tied the various pieces together, while individual styles and characters by YSEK and Dove ensured variety as well. The wall was intended to represent and celebrate traditional graffiti art, and as such was always going to draw criticism from some corners. The online discussion about the wall’s appearance was interesting to say the least, highlighting the ongoing and deeply held misconceptions and prejudices around graffiti, even when produced legally…
Jungle Tribute
A Jungle tribute sticker on Summit Road, February 2020.
When local graffiti legend Jungle passed away in March of 2019, Christchurch’s graffiti culture spoke by painting tributes across the city’s walls. I had discussed with Ikarus the idea of a larger written tribute that explored Jungle’s legacy, however, by the time we got to sit down with an eye on the one-year anniversary, lock down struck. In addition, what started as an interview with Ikarus, developed into a multi-generational project, stretching the process out. However, by June, the lengthy tribute was finally online. Hearing stories of Jungle’s influence, it was quickly apparent how consistent his impression was, a man who the city’s graffiti culture was indebted to, but also a character who influenced people by his charismatic personality…
Black Lives Matter Protest Posters
June’s issue of Art Beat included an A4 risograph poster from the Posters for BLM archive. Pictured is Roydon Misseldine’s poster.
The latest issue of Art Beat, the visual arts newspaper edited by Dr Warren Feeney, featured an insert of A4 posters drawn from the shared archive Posters for BLM (@posters_for_blm). The three variations, by Stephen Powers, Sara Froese and local designer Roydon Misseldine, were risograph printed by MK Press and included inside the free paper. Importantly, the posters ensure visibility to the cause and serve as a reminder of the potential to raise a voice about oppressive systemic issues. While a small gesture, it attempts to continue this vital narrative. More posters are available for free download (for non-commercial use) from the archive, with a link in their Instagram bio.
Porta x FOLT Skull Collab
The FOLT x Porta skull collab in Cathedral Square.
The collection of FOLT skull cut-outs continues to grow around the city (although many have disappeared as well, seemingly too attractive to collectors), and this subtle variation by Porta is a personal favourite. Porta’s recent investigation of pixelated video game aesthetics is utilised here, but with an understated approach, the granite colouring giving a bare concrete appearance that only reveals the highlights, shadows and blocky shapes upon closer inspection.
And that was June 2020, for me at least, let us know what you enjoyed over the month in the comments…
While Watch This Space was founded on the concept of mapping out Ōtautahi’s street art, and our online map has been primarily populated with commissioned murals, we have always understood and celebrated the importance, urgency, poignancy, rebelliousness, hilarity and, basically, goodness of guerrilla graffiti and street art. In a time where urban art faces an identity crisis, the power of bypassing permission and making or installing art in the streets, from an elegant tag to a pasted pop-culture riff, is necessary and energising. As a reflection of this belief, welcome to Street Treats, a new recurring series that tries to capture the authentic spirit of urban art by collecting our favourite works of guerrilla art and presenting them to you.
The events around the world in recent weeks have rendered an environment of energy, of action and of hope for change, sentiments that graffiti and street art have also sought historically. Striking images of graffiti-covered walls and monuments have served as iconic backdrops of a time of social revolution, but also a reminder that writing on walls, artistically or not, is a way to attack the structures of our social contracts and the injustice they often protect. The images in Street Treats – Vol 1 are not exclusively political, but they do share the rebellious motivation of bypassing consent and altering the urban environment in which they have been placed. In each case, someone has chosen to bypass authority, to subvert and surprise, to add a voice to the street, as a secretive whisper or a defiant yell. Either way, it pays to listen…
While the US has been the epicentre for the BLM and anti-brutality protests erupting in the wake of constant tragedies of black lives lost at the hands of police (George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Rayshad Brooks and countless others), the social movement demanding change has spread across the globe, and weeks before the BLM hikoi on June 21, messages were spray painted around the city. In these cases, aesthetics were second to the urgency of the message…
All Power to th[e] People on Colombo Street. In some ways the misspelling further highlights the emotional undercurrent.
This small paste-up by Bols in Rawhiti Domain in New Brighton, featuring the surly profile of 1980s wrestler Bad News Brown, is a reminder of the widespread stereotypes of people of colour, something that continues to feed into the daily experience for many, either as the target of such perceptions, or those influenced by such presentations.
Bols’ Basketcase basketball singlet in North New Brighton delves into the nostalgia of popular culture. Drawing on the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club (The Brain, The Athlete, The Princess, The Criminal and The Basketcase as a starting five), it uses the retired jersey tradition to speak of growing up.
Blink and you might miss Porta’s well-dressed gentleman taking in his surroundings in New Brighton. Tucked away and displaying the retro stylings Porta does so well, it is playful and yet strangely poignant.
Dr Suits’ collage paste-up in New Brighton was one of many made by the artist during lock down. Expanding upon the smaller stickers produced at the same time, these large paste-ups become installations to take in from distance and close up, with striking effects and intricate details, including the layering effects of the collage approach.
The paste-ups are already beginning to influence the next evolution of Dr Suits’ studio work, this work becoming a print series, combining a digital image of the work with hand-filled elements.
Fellow Fiksate artist Jen_Heads’ love head continues a rich vein of expression the artist developed during lock down. This piece, spreading love to the neighbourhood of North New Brighton, was joined by a equally pink OLIVE tag.
This colourful Jen_Head evokes a kaleidoscopic pattern, with multiple eyes to see all. Located on New Regent Street, the paste-up is kept company by Jeremy Sauzier’s shadow figures and one of Teeth Like Screwdrivers’ ubiquitous pencils….
Speaking of which, Teeth Like Screwdrivers’ ‘fake buff’ pencil slap in the central city takes the recurring icon in anew direction.
Vez’s spoons are equally as recognisable, the collage pieces display an almost absurdist sense of humour with an inviting inclusivity, and are often collabs with other artists.
While Vez constructs new images from various media, the re-contextualised paste-ups by a secretive artist found across the city draw on the existing image from different sources in juxaposition with the surrounding environment to make their statement.
These Hot Lunch posters combine a lo-fi aesthetic and mysteriousness with a dirty joke, and its great.
You just do you.
FOLT’s angular skull cut-outs have populated the city in recent months, new incarnations popping up in unexpected locations.
The skulls include collaborations, like this one with Bols installed near the Christchurch Art Gallery.
FOLT’s slaps are proliferated even more widely, and here in Cathedrl Junction, the subtlety of placement shows FOLT’s slap game operating at boss level.
While not quite as subtle, this LOOK sticker pretty much speaks for the streets…
This DETOR slap in New Brighton also plays off our reading of signs.
This snake, (I suspect by Zig) has a free flowing feel, yet an undeniable certainty and confidence, while the line of Woe tags is a nice accompaniment.
SAER and SCUM left their mark in New Brighton during the lockdown, a reminder of the streets’ potential as a playground, and further evidence of SAER killing it everywhere.
PESTO and DEMP with the colourful/monotone contrast in the central city
I’ve enjoyed these SKEEZEY SKEEZER hands around the central city, a bit chaotic and yet so refined.
A Philly Wicked?
Tags are beautiful. EISOE, [unknown], WAYSER in the central city…
… and GASP RFC.
Lyttelton is always a go-to destination for slaps…
Both new and old.
A few small Dotmasters stickers have appeared around Christchurch as well, echoing the larger stencil in Lyttelton, and flying the Anarchy flag.
This Meadow Death brandalism sticker reminds of one of the most effective potential of post-graffiti street art – attacking the heart of branding culture…
…Much like the potential of altering our surrounding environment through subversion and our almost inbuilt understanding of semiotics.
If you have some treasures to share, email them to hello@watchthisspace or message us via our social media (@watchthisspacechch) and we can include them in future Street Treats volumes…
And if your work is featured but not credited the way it should be, get in touch and let us know!
March 2020 will be a month that won’t be forgotten in a hurry. There were a number of things happening, from art-related shows and projects, to the anniversary of the Christchurch Terror Attacks (and the perpetrator’s guilty plea), all with the hovering threat of the Covid-19 pandemic spreading around the globe. Then, in the final few days of the month, the country, along with much of the world, was sent into lock down. Social distancing became the catch-cry, and with it, social events and occasions were postponed, cancelled or digitised (Houseparty anyone? No, maybe Zoom?) With such an overbearing event casting a long shadow, in the coming years it may prove hard to remember anything else from this month, but we thought it was best to reflect on the things that still excited us and share that goodness, from projects that brought communities together, to small moments caught unexpectedly, this was March 2020…
Halves on an Exhibition – Harry King and Reece Brooker
Snake by A Tribe Called Haz / Harry King from the exhibition Halves in an Exhibition? at Outsiders
March started with a sense of normality (despite what was happening around the world), when Friday nights meant you could go out and socialise. On March 6th, we headed down to Outsiders, the St Asaph Street skate store that for one night became host to Halves on an Exhibition?, a show by A Tribe Called Haz (Harry King) and Reece Brooker. King’s acidic and surreal style has developed over the last year, and his pop-up shows have an endearing anarchic and anti-traditional energy to match his work. Some of this newer body of work depicted seemingly post-apocalyptic landscapes that combined low-brow with decadence, devoid of presence and looking like the vacant scene of some horrific act, while others illustrated the clear influence of tattoo and skate culture with simple imagery. King’s art is proudly chaotic and laced with humour, but also shows an increasingly refined technical approach, his handling of line and watercolour notable in its confidence. Brooker was a new name for us. An arborist, his work added a different sense of materiality; painting circular panels cut from trees to frame his motley, at times fantastical characters.
Welcome to Ōrua Paeroa
The Welcome to Orua Paeroa mural produced by the Fiksate Crew, the first event of the New Brighton Outdoor Arts Festival (Photo credit: Gavin Fantastic)
The day after Halves on an Exhibition, the Fiksate (Dr Suits, Jen_Heads, Porta and Bols) crew joined forces with the organisers of the New Brighton Outdoor Art Festival and members of the local community to produce a massive mural welcoming people to New Brighton. The graphic mural, with a bright segmented colour palette against a black background, drew on the Maori name for the area; Ōrua Paeroa (the name covering both the New Brighton and Travis Wetlands areas and referring to the place where the Easterly winds and the ocean meet), recognising the history of the suburb beyond its European call-back. The mural acted as a paint-by-numbers affair, the huge letters gridded out and people invited to paint sections. The result is an impressively bold addition to the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, while it was supposed to signal the upcoming NBOAF, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the rest of the programme postponed indefinitely.
Urban Nipple
An Urban Nipple sticker outside Te Puna o Waiwhetu – The Christchurch Art Gallery
One of my favourite things about urban art and particularly smaller urban additions, such as stickers, is the ability to make you double take and look closer. Those small interventions that make you think you recognise something, asking yourself, surely that isn’t… is it? In doing so we are surprised and made more aware of our environment, often left with an urge to investigate, or at least a nagging wonder about what we just saw and who might have been behind it. I had that experience in early March, casually strolling past Te Puna o Waiwhetu – The Christchurch Art Gallery on Montreal Street. As I passed the Bunker and Jess Johnson and Simon Ward’s video arcade game inspired piece, a small circular sticker caught my eye. I did the double take as I passed, then stopped, back tracking. I was right, it was a nipple, an urban nipple on the lamppost. The sticker is one of a number of interventions under the Urban Nipple project (Instagram: @UrbanNIPPLE), intended to encourage the return of the banned nipple into our shared lives through humorous interactions, getting people to think about sexism and discrimination.
FOLT Skull Collabs
One of the FOLT x Bols collab skull cut-outs
I first started noticing FOLT stickers a few months ago, from the handwritten tags and deconstructed skateboards to the block printed, angular graphic versions, and they have been a personal favourite since. Recently, that sticker profile has expanded to sculptural installations, with an array of wooden skull cut outs appearing around the city. In March, the skulls were fixed to various sites, inviting people to hunt out the various incarnations. The skulls include both exclusive FOLT productions and several collaborations, including with local artists Bols and Jen_Heads. Hopefully we can see more in the future, because if the attention of the lady while I was photographing one was anything to go by, they are intriguing additions to our cityscape…
TOGO – Toy Stories
The cover of TOGOs Toy Stories publication
On a personal level, my month was made by the arrival of TOGO’s Toy Stories publication on door step. I was lucky enough to get a copy of the limited run, and I am glad I didn’t miss out. It is a beautiful thing, the understated cover concealing the funny anecdotes and intimate photographs inside. It is full of humour and importantly exhortations and revelations, celebrating graffiti’s compulsive rebellion. A combination of specific stories of memorable nights and close-shaves, mantra-like prose detailing the realities of graffiti life and photographs of urban space from the creases (a sense of the embrace of the perihperies permeates the grainy images), Toy Stories jumped the pile of books I have been meaning to read and has already been digested…
These were some of our favourite things from March 2020, what made your list? Let us know in the comments…
