Sydney-based designer, turned-street artist, Shannon Crees explains the relationship between urban art, design and architecture.
February 1st, 2009
In an abandoned underground train tunnel beneath London around 50 street artists gather, busily spraying their designs onto the aged bricks and dumped car bodies. Among them is a lone Aussie, Shannon Crees.
The Banksy Cans Festival was held last year (2008) – the first event invited stencil artists to join the nameless, faceless, yet renowned street artist ‘Banksy’ in a defunct Eurostar tunnel. The second event saw Crees, Australian designer and artist, take up the challenge.
“We were like the renovation crew, the Banksy’s Cans II, and we were all freestyle artists, so we didn’t stencil, we just did it by hand, so it was a whole new look,” she says.
Crees studied and practised as a fashion designer and artist long before taking her art to the streets. “I thought, ‘I’ve done a big painting before, so what’s the difference doing it on a wall?’” she says.
Crees’ optimistic style departs from the often dark and somewhat depressing work of her peers. She takes inspiration from the walls on which she paints.
“Relating it to architecture, I just like working with buildings that are there – I like the older-style crumbling buildings.
“I’m more inspired by bleached out walls and falling down places. A modern place would be like a blank canvas I think – it would be a bit intimidating,” she says.
Crees has also taken to ‘live painting’, creating artworks in front of an audience, working on a project in East London, one at the Sydney Motor Show and other spaces in the UK and Australia.
“I think people appreciate it more when they see it happening.”
Crees will soon be taking part in a project painting electrical boxes as part of Leichhardt Council’s Insight/ Out of Sight competition. She will also being doing a solo show at the Verge Bar, The ArtHouse Hotel 275 Pitt Street Sydney, from 27 April – 24 May 2009.
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Savage Design’s approach to understanding the relationship between design concepts and user experience, particularly with metalwork, transcends traditional boundaries, blending timeless craftsmanship with digital innovation to create enduring elegance in objects, furnishings, and door furniture.
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
Suitable for applications ranging from schools and retail outlets to computer rooms and X-ray suites, Palettone comes in two varieties and a choice of more than fifty colours.
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
When it comes to healthcare projects surface selections, healing begins with a patient’s environment.
As featured in Indesign issue #87, the centre for civic life in Ballarat is a complex project that delivers a community hub, workspaces and an architectural destination.
Indesign Magazine Vol #32 is in newsagents and selected design stores now. Grab a copy today to read about the latest people, products and news in Australian design, to find out what’s happening in international design, and to view the best in global architecture. This issue features a special on the Promosedia chair fair. Check […]
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
The AIA Alta Wellness Haven offers the complete package for health and wellbeing away from the busy city life in Hong Kong and does it through a stellar interior design.
DKO’s Interior Design Director on how to create community and specificity in interior design, and how apartment living is being reconceptualised.