Interview: Luke Cornish aka E.L.K.

I interviewed Melbourne stencil artist Luke Cornish, known as E.L.K. in the street art world, at Westsyde Connection last week. The self-taught artist was overwhelmed at being named a finalist in the Archibald Prize earlier this month. He was stunned at how the achievement had changed the rules for street artists; proof the art establishment is paying even closer attention to what they do.

Why did you choose Father Bob Maguire as the subject of your Archibald portrait?

I don't know if I chose him or he chose me in some cosmic sense. Basically he's just a cool old guy.

Did you know him beforehand?

A little bit. But we've grown pretty close now.

Have you been approached by galleries or art collectors since becoming shortlisted?

I've got a manager now so he deals with all that. I'd been back and forward with him for a while but I think when I got into the finals it kind of spurred him into getting the ball rolling.

Do you call yourself a stencil artist or street artist?

Stencil art has its roots in street art and I do street art sometimes but not solely, so I can't really refer to myself as a street artist because I'm hanging work with Ben Quilty. But anything outside of the street context is not street art. I've always referred to myself as a stencil artist.

How did you get into stencilling?

Boredom. Needing a hobby. Mum always said growing up "you need a hobby''. It wasn't until I got to like 23 that I was like "fuck I actually do need a hobby". Drinking alcohol is not a hobby. You waste your 20s getting smashed every weekend and you hit a point where you need to start living your life.

How many layers are there in the portrait?

There's about 30 layers. There's three sections with 10 layers in each section.

Is it your most complex artwork?

Not at all. I actually dumbed it down a little bit. Some of the hyper-real work I've been doing, if I'd entered that it just would've got looked over. Because I've pushed the technique so far that you don't look at it and go "oh that's a stencil, it has its roots firmly in street art''. So scaling it back to look more like stencil art but still a really good stencil. Because some of the work I do is using 40-50 colours with 70-80 layers. This is just straight-up grey scale. I guess that doesn't sound like saying "I'm so good I needed to be a little bit shitter to get into the Archibalds". I don't mean it to sound like that.

What will happen if you win?

Game on. First thing I'm going to do is have a holiday. Get away for a few weeks. Cause it's taking a pretty big emotional toll, the anxiety. You can't just go "oh cool I've been nominated for an Archibald" and forget about it. I haven't slept for two fucking weeks. I think what adds to that pressure is being a serious contender. If I was just in that'd be really cool. But the fact that they're touting me to win the whole thing puts added pressure. It's all good but it's very overwhelming. Career-wise it just opens doors. It gives me the freedom to choose anything I want to do.

Is this experience making it harder to work in street?

Street art's a hobby for me. Street art's something I do because I love doing it. Art's something I do because I love doing it. But street art that I do in the street I rarely put my name to because it's not about getting famous it's just about the love of doing it. But the work I do in galleries is very much about success, commercial success. I've never had any interest in being famous.

Is there less choice in being famous now?

Well it's not going to be like fucking Lady Gaga or someone like that, it's not going to be that level of fame, cause I can still drop off the radar and produce my work. So that's exactly what I intend to do. I guess there's different sorts of fame. There's Big Brother contestant fame. But there's fame for success which has a lot more respect attached to it.

The Archibald Prize winner is announced at noon today.

You might like:

■ Luke Cornish named Archibald Prize finalist

Fukt does live IKEA stencil

Sydney stencil artist Fukt got a new piece up in Camperdown on Saturday. I visited Mallett Lane and asked him what the fukt he was doing there. He wouldn't reveal what the stencil was as he painted. I liked that. I found that his artistic intentions were rooted in love for people; his audience.

Take a look below at some of the materials Fukt works with and how the stencil ended up.

 

You might also like:

■ White collar puppets
■ Michelangelo's David
■ McDonald's stencil 
■ Street art of 2011
■ Laneway art
■ Iwo Jima McDonald's stencil

Aboriginal poster art in Sydney

Feeling kinda Sad today. Got this heaviness in my heart because I'm a White guy with a digital camera made by working-class people in Thailand. I use it to prove that being Creative is more than just a hobby, that I have artistic integrity. Middle-class guilt is heavy Dude. I just want to feel happy about living under a Welfare State. I believe the annual tax confessions I pay money for absolve me of Guilt.

Do you reckon the NT Intervention is working? I don't have an answer to this. I have few Answers. I have lots of love though. Sometimes I cry to Myself. I'm a social outcast living Vicariously through illegal art made by other social outcasts/inmates.

For $1 a day you can make a Deference.

You might like:

■ Lana Del Rey: Born to Cancel
■ Happy Australia Day!
■ Jumbo and Zap posters

Fukt stencil: White collar puppets

Fukt is one of Sydney's most prolific stencil artists. In his work he layers satirical subjects like bums and war heroes in rich detail. This "White Collar Puppet" was in Chippendale in Sydney's inner west.

Here, Fukt has stencilled a wind-up worker whose cogs have stopped turning. Does this make you want to leave your corporate job and become a free-thinker?

I want to be someone who makes a difference, who reaches people with art. Someone who isn't afraid to put paints on buildings owned by people who are part of the 1 per cent.

People who believe that democracy is about reaching consensus, rather than "cleansing the earth of unemployed people".

I want to be someone who lives life with expression.

You might like:

■ Sydney street art
■ McDonald's fat stencil
■ Best we forget
■ Iwo Jima McDonald's sign

Luke Cornish named Archibald Prize finalist

Melbourne stencil artist Luke Cornish, aka E.L.K., is a finalist in this year's Archibald Prize.

Cornish is the first street art finalist in the history of the prestigious prize.

His finely detailed portrait, Father Bob, features Melbourne's Father Bob Maguire. The creation of the portrait was documented in the shortlisted Tropfest 2012 film Me We:



Cornish's achievement further raises the profile of street art and highlights its growing acceptance within the conservative art establishment.
  
Cornish was previously awarded the Australian Stencil Art prize for 2010.

See all the finalists here.

Kony 2012 adopts street art for campaign

Who is Joseph Kony? Did he make that viral video about saving Ugandan children from becoming soldiers and prostitutes, or the guy who flipped the beef patty that went into my Big Mac last night?

With 77 million views, who gives a shit.

Kony 2012 is an American war campaign that began on the internet on March 5. It comprises students and Facebook vagrants who aim to arrest Ugandan warlord and LRA leader Joseph Kony sometime this year.

In the video, Invisible Children founder and narrator Jason Russell says that humans are "Facebook stalkers" and look at each others profiles "without actually commenting" so they can be "aggressively jealous" of each other without appearing "pathetic" in front of a "live televised audience".

Interestingly, the campaign will come to a head during "cover the night" on April 20. On that night, Kony campaign members will hit the streets and paste posters and stick stickers all over the world world to publicise the movement. They will do this until dawn.

It's sort of disappointing that graffiti and street art are used for mass-marketing campaigns like this.

Remember when a street artist helped US President Barack Obama get elected in 2008? And when it got Banksy shortlisted for an Oscar?

I thought street art would always be our thing, a place where we could be different from hipsters/DJs/the creative elite. Street art is that 'edgy thing' I describe to my white collar friends myself in the mirror to sound intellectual. Now my mom/mum/birth vehicle has a copy of Wall and Piece on her coffee table.

Can't believe how mainstream street art is now. F-ck you Kony.

Images: 1, 2

You might like:

■ Lana Del Rey: Born to Cancel
■ Hipster Poster Advertisements
■ That Mazda CX-7 Commercial  

Graffiti artist Deadboy does interview, wears Gay Pride mask

This interview with derided Toronto stencil artist Deadboy got me thinking. See, that's the problem. We should consume street art the way we consume each other's Facebook news feeds. With blind hunger.

Deadboy, wearing a silver-coloured skull mask used to reach the angsty age 12-18 middle-class suburbia demographic, explains to his interviewer that the reason he got into stencilling was because UK artist Banksy inspired him.

Banksy is the Martha Stewart of the street art world. And stencilling is the graffiti equivalent of Tea Party politics. According to one reliable source, Deadboy began his stencilling career after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop. Yes, I know.

Look, Deadboy is obviously a talented bro with an agenda against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. He went to the Cardinal Carter Arts Academy and realised that to make it as an artist he had to be discovered. To be discovered he has to be cool. To be cool he has to become part of a buzz movement, which is temporarily street art. So he put on a Gay Pride mask, or something, and stencilled a wall during daylight for this video while talking about how other artists are hating on him.

And now he's being written about by some loser Australian blogger - with a name equivalent to that f-cked up mask - who criticises other bros for their actual/minor/negligible successes.

Ah, what do I know. Watch the f-cking video.

You might like:

■ Meggs and Beastman videos
■ Anthony Lister Bogan Paradise
■ German hotties Herakut

Street art in Newtown, Sydney

OK so now Sydney Mardi Gras is over we can all get our lives back on track. Did you have a good time? I was chasing dragonflies.

I've previously published street art located along this stone wall facing Camperdown Memorial Rest Park. It's been raining a lot in Sydney and that gave these photos a soft blue hue.

This roller graffiti is (obviously) by Trap. In the background is the spire of St Stephen's Church.

Haven't seen these around, but possible that 'Anza' pasted it up. This was around the corner from the park.

My research shows that one in every one people who visits the park smokes weed there. They usually travel in groups.

This one looks like Scribbla.

You might like:

■ Newtown Street Art
■ Newtown Perspex Etching
■ Slug Graffiti
■ Newtown Street Art and Posters