Verneer: A Colourful Alternative - Bronte Mark

Smack bang in Brisbane’s nightlife centre Jugglers Art Space is an Artist Run Initiative (ARI) committed to supporting emerging all different kinds of artists. It was founded to approach the shortage of exhibition, performance and studio spaces available in Brisbane. Walking through the alleyway of Jugglers Art space you are confronted by overwhelming colour from the street art that covers every surface. Jugglers provides a classic inside gallery space, a tunnel and an outside public art area which recently held the exhibition Veneer, Guido Van Helton’s first solo exhibit presenting his stylistic street art in an unconventional gallery setting. The exhibition explores the tension between social housing policies and the freedom within the street art/graffiti community and its place in Queensland’s conservative climate raising important issues regarding urban renewal.  Impressive artworks were displayed on reconstructed remnants of demolished ‘Queenslanders,’ which have symbolic meaning to Helton’s ‘home.’

The Bjelke-Peterson styled government that favoured the out- with- the -old and in- with- the- new approach saw these buildings thoughtlessly discarded as well as Helton’s emotional attachment. His work combines the classic with the contemporary, depicting a colourful alternative to the current state of the arts in Queensland. Veneer challenges the notion that street art and graffiti are detrimental to a city’s identity and references the destruction of Brisbane’s unique architecture in alignment with its stance on the arts and cultural movements such as street art and graffiti.

Guido van Helten, I'm Listening, 2012.

Helton’s style celebrates Queensland’s architectural past and local identities through Helton’s trademark style merged with the textures, shapes and colors of historical Queensland architecture. The connection between his signature female figures and the vernacular constructions is harmoniously executed; the personal associations to childhood, home and beauty are purely stunning. Each artwork utilises fluent colour schemes reflecting graffiti but not focusing on it, this shifts the focus off the image and onto its broader concept. His portraits female models poised with face hidden, set up a flattened space flooded with light and shadow. The intimacy of the figure and the intrusion of the viewer juxtaposed to the urban habitat and architectural constructivism seems to be of great significance in Helton’s work if not to correspond to the Australian people but to signify the beauty of life itself. His massive and loud murals are painted with a distinct style reflecting the graffiti culture of ‘branding’ and ‘trademarks.’ The links to graffiti culture is useful in constructing Helton’s work, the longing graffiti has for recognition goes hand in hand with his professional approach to the art scene introducing street art as a credible medium. Perfectly integrating both the gallery and the street has led to a very successful exhibition, the juxtaposition of street art and traditional Queensland architecture creates new discourses that are topical and conceptually intriguing. Jugglers Art space was the perfect place to host Veneer with its connection to contemporary art and street art depicting a colourful alternative to the current state of the arts in Queensland.