Sculptor Will Coles, 1972-20??

Will Coles was an artist intensely misunderstood by his audience not because it had trouble understanding him, but because there is more to love than 140 characters. His pop sculptures - plaster remote controls, mobile phones, televisions - made him well-known in the street art ecosphere. For years they littered cities and were a means of "breaking swizzle" from the restrictions that being an emerging gallery artist imposed.

Applauded within the Sydney street art hierarchy for enthusiastic vandalism of public space, Coles built up a devoted following - some may call it cult - of educated left-leaning art groupies and professional protesters who disliked "fine art" but enjoyed satiric, subversive and accessible jibes at consumerism.

Having once declined to be interviewed by Acid Midget, it has been difficult for this blog to "understand the man" that Coles had inside of him. It was easier to track his professional ascension after he achieved mid-level fame while exhibiting at the Outpost Project (pictured) in Sydney last year.

Although the DIY method was a staple of his long but short career, Coles trained at no less than three art schools - Ravensbourne College of Art, Wimbledon School of Art and Glasgow School of Art - after growing up in Suffolk in the UK. He brought a solid understanding of classical sculpture to his work, citing Michelangelo and Rodin as inspirations, while also employing conceptual and Postmodern techniques in his studio pieces.

Yet the mystery remains - why was Will Coles misunderstood? Perhaps we will never know.

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■ Outpost Project is over :(

■ May Lane street art

■ Will Coles plaque 

■ More May Lane art

■ Will Coles phone sculpture

■ Will Coles is anti-art/capitalism/life

More from the Outpost Project

This is an Anthony Lister sculpture of a partially naked Batman roped up to an H-beam. There is no subliminal message here - it is a direct juxtaposition of Batman's heroic iconography with that of a helpless little bitch.

I met Ben Frost yesterday. I saw him, I said hi. We smoked menthol cigarettes in the rain. We talked about street art and San Francisco and his Pastemodernism project (pictured).

Frost was hanging with Vexta. She's a cool lady. We spoke about New York and her beautiful mural on Cockatoo Island (pictured). If only these moments would last a longer.

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Outpost Project is Over :(

Outpost Project is over :(

I'm a little sad that the Outpost Project is finished already. I was hoping it would last foreverandever.

But all things end. What were the highlights for you? I liked Pastemodernism. I liked the outdoor DJ.

Most of all, I liked being part of a community where my skin colour and taxable income were lesser factors in who befriended me on Facebook while the festival was on.

And the good news is, some of the exhibits will remain on Cockatoo Island during the summer.

We can go back for more.

May Lane street art pt. III

Here is the third and final part of Acid Midget's May Lane Street Art Project series.

Today's music selection is 'Wait in the Dark' by Memory Tapes, from his new album Player Piano.

  Wait In The Dark by Memory Tapes 

This mixed media piece stares you in the face as you walk around. There are plenty of 'commissioned' pieces like this throughout the lane and a number of well-known artists have had their work hosted there.

Why are so many murals sombre? Is it because artists use distraught characters for emotive effect? No, I didn't think so.

The lady stencil reminds me of 2026. But as I often get names wrong, I'll save myself the hassle and say this was by Konsumterra.

You can do so much with found objects. This looks like a waving diabetic reindeer.

A crying Mongol.

If you see a cartoon pasted up in Sydney you can bet Jumbo or Zap did it. Looks like Zap did this one.

There was more to this piece than an iPhone lens can capture. I didn't want to stand at a sharp angle to squeeze it in. You wouldn't be able to read it. The irony is now you can't read the whole thing anyway.

Note to self: "Omar, you're a dick."

'Broken Memories' by Will Coles. He also did the next few sculptures.

'Dumb'.

A Postmodern cast of a newspaper stack and, top-left, a can which states "Asahi beer - my plemium bantazy."

You don't even know it, but each day you pack your child's lunch box with a 'soul-less' juice box. Then you get a few grey hairs and a divorce - and the kid is drinking motherf***ing Hahn Super Dry.

Just saying.

That brings these virtual tours of May Lane - one of Sydney's main street art and graffiti hubs - to a close.

Not everything I find on the streets gets blogged, so check out the Facebook page to see the extra bits.

Can we hold hands now?

Fin.

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May Lane street art pt. I

May Lane street art pt. II

Sculptor Will Coles' new plaque

(Bourke St, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Sydney sculptor Will Coles recently got up in Fred Miller Park, a strange site street artists like to bomb. I don't understand why because there is only grass, swings and little pedestrian traffic.

The plaque commemorates Coles' gluing of it to the wall, which is funny considering it doesn't look like a remote control. But he has celebrated the act of expression. He is not selling a brand or instructing anyone to do something.

Coles has worked on top of the pointy 'Squiggle Man' drawings which are all over Bourke St. Those were first published on Acid Midget in 2009 during the pre-Exit Through North Korea era.

Mysterious Street Art Tart doesn't look at the plaque. She prefers Coles' sculptures on a conceptual level, so ignores them. She believes the physical state of his ideas are 'restricted by variables of human error' and 'sold short in their interpretation'.

She also likes cupcakes.

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NEWTOWN: Will Coles phone sculpture

(King Street, Newtown, Sydney)

I waited outside the clothing store red-faced. I wasn't angry. I was angry. Yes, I was angry. Carlos was inside browsing for outfits for the party.

He made me wait for everything. Daily. The sleepyhead makes me wait until noon every Saturday 2 get breakfast at Cafe C. Trouble is, I don't even like the place - but he loves it. Then he spends more time flirting with the waiters than talking 2 me.

He also makes me give head first. Then when we 'pound', as an Italian friend calls it, I have to wait for him to come. That routinely takes 45 minutes. Chafing.

Dis outfit will be sexxi, Carlos said in the store. He held a magenta tank top against his torso.
Well hurry. The party starts in two hours and I still haven't ironed a shirt, I said.
Don worry poo poo. I'll be quick.

I hate when he calls me poo poo. I threw my backhand in the air, spun and walked out without speaking.

Watching punks and fags and bums walk King Street calmed me.

My eyes meandered over to a Will Coles sculpture glued against a sandstone wall. Seeing his work surprises me and I took an involuntarily shortsharp breath. The only time I've done that was when I saw Daniel Johns smoking outside an empty cafe in Darlinghurst on Christmas Eve, 2008.

Carlos made me tired. He made me feel powerless. I was used to it though, like when your parents get angry on cue after you drop a glass on the floor, or they catch you pissing in the backyard.

But I felt a change coming on. I was sick of the comfort this relationship gave me. It was time to get out.

Know how I know? Each time Carlos says he loves me I feel nothing.

Electronic device sculptures are hella anti-art/capitalism/life *UPDATED*

Hosier Lane, Melbourne

If you saw a mobile phone on the road you'd pick it up right?

If you see one look hard - it could be a sculpture with a message of dissent on it.

Found this Nokia 8250 sculpture on a Hosier Lane windowsill. It says "FUK ART" on it.

Confused whether this is a good thing - you know, the irony - or if it's a dishevelled artist trying to 'break the mould' of street art and graffiti?

City Road, Chippendale

These next two pics were submitted by a reader. 

This one is near the Seymour Centre.

Wondering if retro electronics are going to make a comeback, like the Casio LCD watch did.

It'd be so progressive to consolidate 90s technology with the present and make a street art blog with a Nokia 5110.

 Castlereagh Street, Sydney


Are these sculptures a critique of society's growing dependence on electronics?

Maybe they're making us lazy. Maybe we're providing cloud computing and consumer electronics corporations too much personal data.

Do I need to see Gmail ads about street art prints as I'm typing emails about street art? 

**UPDATE**:

Tom Byrne wrote in to let me know Will Coles is the sculptor. Apparently he had a TV sculpture stolen from Wilshire Street, Surry Hills. Tom found this inscription where the TV stood:

slinkachu

(Wandsworth Bridge, London)

In this installation a little bro is struggling to "get it up".

His kite is "gravity's bitch" and the slight hunch with which he stands suggests he's a bit fed up.

"Fuck this kite, mang,'' he says.

"I'm gonna go to Maria's house and face my infidelities. I've been a little bit bad."

Then the wind begins to pick up.

This was shot further back from the installation.

Created by Slinkachu, this shows not all street art needs to be subversive, cynical or "bomb" for effect.

Makes you realise so much goes unnoticed in the streets.

Via Little People.