City walls have stories to tell

Street art is about people connecting with their communities, artist Ross Liew explains to Lydia Jenkin. He now plans to share the messages behind the paint

Here's a revealing little urban city walk you can do. Start at the Upper Queen St end of Cross St. As you walk along, check out the walls and alleys. You'll see ducks and bears, warriors and birds. This otherwise unassuming central city street is covered in art. As you reach Mercury Lane, more will appear. Then head up the hill, back towards Karangahape Rd, cross over to Pitt St and keep an eye out for the works that surround the various shop walls near the Methodist Church.

Walk a little further down Pitt St, turn into Poynton Tce, and your eyes will once again be delighted by flower-based designs. Look across the top of Myers Park, and you'll see a drab grey wall transformed. Continue round the terrace and look up at the playful figures and fruit on the rear side of a K Rd shop, and then wander through the bottom archway of St Kevins Arcade stairwell and find a surreal scene leading you back up through the arcade.

You don't have to go to a gallery to see some of Auckland's best art. The dark, drab walls of these inner-city haunts have been transformed in recent years by dedicated street artists, and their work has brightened all sorts of other suburban buildings too.

But who are these artists, where do they come from, and what is their work about?

It's these questions that prompted fellow street artist Ross Liew, aka TrustMe, a member of the Cut Collective, to create the new web series If These Walls Could Talk which starts screening on nzherald.co.nz from Monday.

"I wanted to create a link between the physical space where people encounter street art or murals, and the stories about the people who made them, or about that particular art work."

What would the walls say, if they could indeed talk?

"As artists, being part of that community, that's something you take for granted - you know who that artist is and maybe even what it was about, but if you're just a random passerby, you don't have any of that knowledge. And I think an important aspect of street art, is that it can mean something to the community, and the community can have an affinity with it."

The whole culture of street art has changed in the past decade. Artists paint where they've been given permission or work has been commissioned, and if the rules are stretched sometimes, the artists mostly have a strong sense that they're contributing something to their community, and a consideration for how their work will affect that community. Particularly if it's a wall that's 50m wide - as the work has been legitimised and praised, it's given greater scope and ambition to the works. Now they can cover huge buildings.

"There's a very interesting conversation that goes right back to the question of who owns public space. But it shouldn't just be up to corporate entities or councils. It should be possible for the community to reflect and express itself. But you can't be thinking, 'I'm going to paint that wall and I don't care what anyone thinks', it should be, 'I'm going to paint that wall, because I'm interested in the dialogue that might create, or making people consider something, or simply making them smile, or enjoy a space'.

"It doesn't have to please everyone, because ultimately, it's temporary, but there should always be some care and consideration."

Like whether to use any explicit or violent imagery or language, whether the work seems celebratory, confrontational, or curious; it's location near schools or churches. Most of the artists seem to veer towards generally uplifting works - there's a lot of colour, animals, surreal figures, and references to New Zealand or the Pacific. Of course there are shades of darkness, and they can be thought provoking, but generally speaking, they aim to delight the eye and mind.

The artists come from many different backgrounds - the world of graffiti, art school, anyone looking for a way to share their art that doesn't involve a formal exhibition, though many of them also exhibit in galleries.

Liew started out by gluing his drawings to walls, and has explored many different techniques and mediums - spray paint, screen printing, stickers, wood blocks, and now he enjoys painting words and phrases. He's also a father, has been a high school art teacher, and is an integral part of the street art scene, organising local street art festivals, and exhibitions as part of Artweek. He's clearly very passionate about the community, which is something his chosen web series subjects share.

"They're really dedicated, passionate, they're compelled to do it, and are really good at what they do. It's not just a whimsical thing. There's a lot of purpose and a lot of thought involved. And all of them would consider what they do a practice, not a hobby. They take it seriously."

That passion is something he hopes people see in the web series, whether they're keen street art aficionados, high school art students, or simply curious about the art in their community.

THE ARTISTS

Elliot Francis Stewart:
Very highly regarded painter; typically figurative work; draws on his life, and people in it; very personal, intimate, occasionally melancholic, vulnerable. (His work features on the cover.)

AskewOne:
Graffiti background; does figurative work using portraiture with abstracted pattern-making elements; vibrant colours; interested in the identity of Auckland as a Pacific city; his exhibition practice employs some similar themes.

Benjamin Work:
Graffiti background; half-Tongan artist whose work specifically addresses his own identity; uses traditional Tongan motifs with a contemporary spin; very stylised figurative work.

Mica Still:
All about animals; playful, energetic, bold, colourful work; her exhibition work is similar, but more personalised, more adult, even somewhat explicit.

BMD:
A pair of artists who work together painting mostly huge walls; playful, uplifting; with a lot of character; surreal figurative work; dreamy, occasionally friendly monster-type imagery.