International street artists Sainer and Bezt of Etam Cru (Poland), Askew One and Elliot Francis Stewart (NZ) will headline a stellar line-up of local, national and international artists who will transform Port Adelaide into a giant, interactive canvas as part of the Wonderwalls festival in January.
Presented by Renewal SA and The Hours, together with City of Port Adelaide Enfield and Ironlak, Wonderwalls the free three day street art festival will run from 23-25 January with large scale murals, artist talks and entertainment.
Member for Port Adelaide Susan Close said the festival will bring a unique and interactive arts experience to the Port.
“Wonderwalls is bringing the world’s most highly acclaimed street artists to work alongside Adelaide’s finest and we expect some of the murals to be the largest ever seen in Australia”, she said.
“The festival kicks off on Friday night with an official launch party at the recently upgraded Flour Shed at Hart’s Mill.
“The event is free and includes live mural painting, guest DJ’s and food trucks will be there for people who wish to purchase dinner.
“This will be the first opportunity for people to experience the impressive internal upgrades to the Flour Shed, which provides a unique facility at the Hart’s Mill precinct,” Ms Close said.
On Saturday, budding photographers can bring their cameras and join the free Canon photo tour to learn professional tips on how to capture the creation of the large scale murals amongst Port Adelaide’s festival atmosphere, followed by a laneway street party on Saturday night which will feature food and drink offerings from local traders Mayfair Bakery and the Red Lime Shack.
Artist talks, panel discussions and a walking tour with Verb Syndicate, are presented across the weekend as the large scale works take shape.
The Hours is an art collective made up of some of Australia’s most distinctive contemporary street artists focused on presenting a wide range of art based creative projects, exhibitions and ideas to the public through collaborating with forward thinking cities, brands, galleries and institutions.
Renewal SA is working with the community to create a ‘living port’ that celebrates a maritime past whilst embracing the future. The aim is to have more people living, working, investing and spending time in the Port.
For the full festival program and more information visit: www.wonderwallsfestival.com
Artist biographies
Etam Cru
Etam Cru is the artist duo Bezt and Sainer. They both graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź and work today as freelancers expressing themselves between murals, canvases and graphic design with a focus on illustrations and portraits. Etam Cru enjoys depict real objects and human figures in unexpected contexts. In doing so, the artist duo invites the viewer to their very own world of imagination, where meaning is never strictly defined.
Askew
With a strong self-taught background in graffiti, graphic design and video-making, Askew is considered to be one of the leading figures of graffiti and urban contemporary art from the Pacific region. The end result of his urban contemporary works is the product of his innovative process, which uses his skills in photography, graphic design, graffiti and traditional painting. By capturing his audience with visually complex and pleasing paintings, he is able to bring a greater story to the viewers’ attention.
Elliot Francis Stewart
Born in 1982, Elliot Francis Stewart is the third youngest of nine children and grew up in the Eastern Auckland suburb of Pakuranga. Initially garnering a reputation for his often offbeat cartoon-based graffiti, Elliot became part of TMD (The Most Dedicated) in 2001 and quickly established himself as the foremost talent in character based work in aerosol. His early shows featured at The Gully Lounge in St.Kevin’s Arcade and Disrupt Gallery, allowed him to showcase elaborate and influential illustrative works often created on found objects in common house paint and ballpoint pen. Elliot currently lives in Auckland and works as an artist and freelance illustrator.