Star Wars – Watch This Space

May is notable for a few things: the final fling before winter really kicks in and a celebration of a galaxy far far away. With fewer large-scale projects, this is a perfect time to explore the things that are a little bit smaller, a little more understated or in the case of one of our entries, focused on the audio rather than the visual. From bright blooms and beats to darker images, scary monsters and anime heroes, here are some of our highlights for the month of May…

Local Elements – Learning Curves EP

Local rapper and producer Local Elements released Learning Curves, his first solo EP, on May 22nd, a four track effort with the artist also producing the majority of the songs. The result of hard work and hustle, the EP’s title refers to the literal learning curves of the task, but the final result is a funky piece of head-nodding hip hop with a distinctly local flavour. Stream Learning Curves on Spotify and via Local Elements’ website…

Bright Blooms

As the days get a bit colder and the nights a bit longer, I’m thankful for the small, but bright, blooms appearing throughout the city. Ōtautahi’s urban gardener Bloom has been planting the small wooden blocks adorned with her stylised flowers across the city, often in unassuming places, places where a spot of colour and joy is most definitely needed. Keep your eyes out for Bloom’s Urban Gardener project as part of the 2023 Boosted Ōtautahi campaign – support her fundraising effort here…

Dark Ballad

If Bloom’s flowers add life and colour to the darker months, the intense images of Dark Ballad are a perfect fit with the greyer skies – moody, graphic imagery that is equally alluring and unsettling. The artist’s collection of paste-ups in stark black and white are a striking contrast from the colourful walls on which they are found…

Ikarus, Dcypher and Captain Kris in New Brighton

New Brighton is a true graffiti art hot spot, with a selection of legal walls constantly refreshed with slick pieces and productions. One of the most impressive is this latest collaboration between the DTR crew’s Ikarus and Dcypher and Ōtautahi ex-pat Captain Kris – the formers’ pieces either side of the latter’s Goku character – a winning combination. Teeming with crackling energy, this Dragonball Z themed production is yet another reason to head out to the beach for some wall walking…

May the Fourth be with you…

May the Fourth is, of course, synonymous with Star Wars and here in Ōtautahi, May the Fourth means the likelihood of some fresh paste-ups by resident vintage toy enthusiast Mark Catley… This year to celebrate the galaxy that George Lucas built, Catley added some nasty looking creatures to the central city streets, including a Rancor on Hereford Street…

These were our highlights – what caught your eye? Let us know in the comments – or send your pictures to hello@watchthisspace.org.nz

The concept behind the Street Treats series is to reflect the diverse expressions on the walls of the city beyond the large scale permissioned murals, reaching into the traditions of urban art culture’s roots as a subversive, rebellious and independent art movement. Of course, it gets tiresome to use terms like rebellious for an artistic culture that is thoroughly mainstream now, but it is important to remember the potential of these types of expressions as both visual messages and tactical invasions of our heavily designed environments. Commentators (often those attempting to defend the ‘art world’ by dismissing street art, as if they are actually in competition) can often charge street art with a vacuity, and as such a lack of conceptual heft and valid commentary. However, the point is as much about the manner of expression as the content – the act is the message. There are of course exceptions, explicitly political messages that favour bludgeoning bluntness over sophisticated subtlety. The reason for such a decision is another aspect of street art’s aesthetic – the audience must be commandeered – they are not arriving inside a white cube with an idea they will be confronted, but instead engaged in their daily activities, necessitating an immediacy. Of course, in this type of situation, even a lack of message can impact a viewer, by simply adding an air of uncertainty and inquisitiveness to a stroll through a city. To that end, the selections in this volume run from wide-ranging political commentaries to nostalgic popular culture references, and importantly, the intervention into our surrounding environments, making use of the spaces and fixtures that we often take for granted, revealing the potential for transformation…

Bols’ retro stencil reminds to keep an eye out…

While this Monty Python referencing stencil by an unknown artist in Lyttelton suggests the obscene consumption of our time.

Andrew J Steel’s dog character blends into the brickwork

The circular forms on these concrete blocks make for perfect Jen Heads

And ‘Buff Bluff’ pencils by Teeth Like Screwdrivers

Whose stickers are increasingly using clever colour camouflage and techniques to get ever higher

Bols’ retro wrestling paste ups draw on the awful stereotypes we often don’t understand in our youth, from a Samoan man playing an evil, silent Yokozuna…

Mark Catley’s Star Wars paste ups play on our nostalgia, but also remind us that the world is constantly changing around us…

And speaking of Star Wars, it can come in handy to explain the real world.

Catley’s poor girl seems a fitting contrast with this comment on a certain political figure.

While Covid-19 runs rampant, it isn’t clear if this is a critique of masks or a celebration of the team of 5 million mentality…

Bexie Lady’s female figures celebrate body positivity and empowerment…

While Cape of Storms’ retro paste ups play on our past and social norms.

The Slap City crew has been active recently, highlighting the impact of collective action.

An illustration by an unknown artist presents a stream of consciousness of disparate ideas.

Snail Gang and Yikes perfectly play off each other

Teeth Like Screwdrivers’ gnomes bring mythology and history to unexpected places, creating moments of connection

Good to see an old favourite back in the city…

Which led to revisiting some of TOGO’s legacy and the explorative quality…

SADER’s piece in Hereford Street pulls out a whole heap of tricks.

Ikarus YSEK and Dcypher bring the golden goodness

And are filled with intriguing spaces that reveal the unseen.

Don’t forget to share your own pictures from the streets by tagging us in your social media posts with #watchthisspace or #streettreats…