OPEN Turns The Art Gallery Inside Out

In an initiative that transcends the white walls of the conventional gallery space and redefines Sydney’s relationship with art, OPEN is Darling Quarter’s newest public art space, set to launch in association with Art & About 2012 on Friday 21st September.

Presented by Darling Quarter and curated and produced by aMBUSH Gallery, OPEN will surprise and enchant the passersby of Darling Quarter’s Civic Connector with large-scale and vibrant public art exhibitions.

The precinct’s debut exhibition, launching on Friday 21st September and continuing until the 26th October, is OPEN STREET ART, which features internationally renowned Australian artists Anthony Lister (Bris/NY), Beastman (Syd), Shannon Crees (Syd) and Hiroyasu Tsuri/
TWOONE (Melb). Illuminated at night, OPEN STREET ART will be visible 24 hours a day.

Singular in style and leaders in their field, the artists have created a site-specific and culturally reflective body of four works each, sixteen in total, which will hang throughout the exhibition’s duration on purpose built cubes down the length of the Civic Connector.

OPEN STREET ART explores the changing relationship between street artists, their work and their audiences, as the art form continues to grow as the most significant art movement of the last ten years.

Darling Quarter’s Abigail Campion says, “OPEN STREET ART gives visitors a chance to explore the fastest growing and most dynamic art movement in the world and the Australian artists who are leading it. We have some of the most brilliant artists here in Australia and
initiatives like OPEN are a chance to celebrate and support this. Through initiatives like Luminous, Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre,
the Night Owls Film Festival and now OPEN, Darling Quarter is gearing up to become a premier cultural hub in the city, supporting the arts,
partnering with cultural organisations such as aMBUSH Gallery and engaging with the community.”

Bill Dimas and John Wiltshire of aMBUSH Gallery attest to the broader significance of OPEN, saying, “OPEN demonstrates how successful
partnerships between business and the arts can benefit the whole community and the city’s cultural landscape, by providing an open,
direct and inclusive arts communication.”

While each of the artists’ work is a reaction to the space, their approaches are as diverse as their styles. One of the world’s Top
50 Most Collectable Artists, Anthony Lister says of his method, “I approached this painting like I was being attacked by an angry bull.
It’s best to deal with an angry bull head-on and with conviction. It’s worst to run and be hit and have to deal with the horns then.”

Beastman, 2010 Sydney Music, Arts & Culture (SMACS) best artist winner, whose iconic creatures grace walls around the globe, explains
that his OPEN STREET ART work “is a representation of the four material elements of nature: wind, water, fire and earth.”

The only Australian artist to show in Banksy’s Cans Festival 2 2008, Shannon Crees’ work is both bold and feminine, and she seeks to
engage her OPEN STREET ART audience by designing her work “as a seamless, unending plane… every surface an extension of the last and
a precursor to the next.”

Hailing from Japan and based now in Melbourne, Hiroyasu Tsuri, who also works under the name TWOONE, has created a series that is
“an exploration of the concept of a psychological portrait.” His work depicts people not as they look, but as they feel and act, by employing
animals as metaphors for the human condition.

In conjunction with the launch of OPEN STREET ART, Darling Quarter’s biggest tenant, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is
hosting a fundraising barbecue in support of prostate cancer research on Friday 21st September. The barbecue is open to the public, and
will be a great opportunity for Sydney to collectively welcome and celebrate OPEN as Darling Quarter’s newest cultural initiative.

The future of OPEN holds an exciting and diverse program of exhibitions. The pop-up shows will explore a dynamic range of
disciplines, from drawing and painting to photography, embellishing Sydney with beauty and reminding the city of the talent Australia
boasts from its own shores.

The OPEN STREET ART exhibition is presented by the recently developed 5 Green Star rated Darling Quarter precinct, and is produced and curated by award winning Sydney gallery aMBUSH. It is an Associated Event of Art & About Sydney 2012, produced by City
of Sydney.

For more information about Open Street Art visit
www.darlingquarter.com or
www.ambushgallery.com

Open Street Art is an Associated Event of Art & About Sydney 2012
www.artandabout.com.au