Urban art expression

By Kath Gannaway
THE Urban Expressions exhibition at the Upper Yarra Arts Centre in Warburton will culminate with a workshop for aspiring local artists.
Workshop participants can draw inspiration from the exhibition, which features a selection of highlights of this year’s Melbourne and Sydney Stencil Festivals.
Urban Expressions includes works by well-known Australian artists HaHa, Ghostpatrol, Ralf Kempken, Numskull and others, and a number of works from artists from France, the United States, Germany, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom.
The works reflect a new class of stencil art, as can be seen especially around Melbourne’s inner city suburbs of Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood.
Stencil art often involves intensive and exhausting hours of stencil-cutting, as in French artist Fremantle’s work.
Intricate designs of train and power lines at Paris’ famous station Gare du Nord and an abandoned factory also indicate that the roots of stencil work are to be found in graffiti and show the artist’s playground.
Urban Expressions is on show until 10 December.
The workshop on December 9 and 10 will be conducted by Melbourne graffiti artists.
Phone Upper Yarra Arts Centre on 5966 5160 to book for the workshop.