Newtown area graffiti and street art
Encyclopedia
Since the 1980s, the area around the historic inner Sydney
suburb of Newtown, NSW -- including the suburbs of Newtown, Enmore
, Erskineville, Camperdown
and St Peters
-- has had works of graffiti
and street art
placed on local walls.
These works range across many styles and methods of execution. They include a number of large-scale murals, hand-painted political slogans, hand-painted figurative designs, spray-painted semi-abstract designs, and stylistic developments such as stencil art and poster graffiti (also known as "wheatpasting").
Another example is two slogans painted on the wall of a house on Salisbury Rd in Camperdown
, at the intersection of Kingston Rd. A large hand-painted slogan which read "Madonna: The Devil Incarnate" was accompanied by a smaller slogan which read "iConsume". Both slogans lasted only about two weeks before being painted over.
), Juilee Pryor, and New Zealand-born artist Andrew Aiken.
Among the past and present murals that can be attributed to UAP are:
Juilee Pryor photographed much of the group's mural work and she recently donated digital copies of these photos to the City of Sydney photographic archive. These are available on the Archive website http://photosau.com.au/Cos/scripts/home.asp and can be viewed by going to the "Search" page and entering the search term "Audacity"
and $1000 worth of paint, Aiken and Pryor created the "I have a dream" mural on King St over two nights in August 1991, declaring it a "humanist protest against the sterility of postmodern art".
Twelve months earlier, Aiken had fled the UK after murdering with a hammer a man he had lived with in a London
squat and burying the body of the 40-year-old busker in the cellar. In 1997, after converting to Christianity, Aiken was convinced to give himself up by the leader of the religious group he had joined, the Twelve Tribes community in Picton, New South Wales
. He returned to England, where he was tried and convicted of murder. He served 8 years in prison and, on his release in 2005, joined another Twelve Tribes community in Chilliwack, British Columbia
.
The Council of the City of Sydney administers much of the north Newtown area. In Paragraph 8 of its Aerosol Art and Graffiti Policy the Council ostensibly recognises that these existing large murals are public-domain works worthy of conservation and maintenance, although in practice it has done nothing to prevent murals such as "Idiot Box" from being removed. Moreover, a Council media spokesperson recently stated that its general approach is "... to remove graffiti quickly and consistently to help maintain the appearance of our city while discouraging repeat incidents".
Property owners have stripped and/or painted over a number of the area's most prominent works of "street art" in recent years, while others have been obscured by adjacent construction or destroyed by the demolition of the buildings on which they are painted, as in the case of the wall along Wilford Lane, Enmore, which formed the rear part of the former Blockbuster video store site, which was redeveloped into a large apartment complex.
Many other works are gradually covered over with more recent work by other graffiti artists after a period of weeks or months.
The "I have a dream" (Martin Luther King) mural, painted over two nights in August 1991, is the largest, the most prominent and the longest-surviving of the many large format murals created around Newtown by the team known as Unmitigated Audacity Productions, the core members of which were New Zealand-born Canadian artist Andrew Aiken and his colleague Juilee Prior. They were assisted in this mural by Tony Spanos, who provided a cherry-picker to allow the upper part of the mural to be painted. It commemorates American civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr.. One of the last surviving large-format murals in the area, it displays a large portrait of Dr King, next to a large painted depiction of the Apollo 8
photograph of the Earth from space, and Dr King's quote "I have a dream" in large Gothic lettering, near which is the quotation from Genesis 37:19:
The upper section of the design remains largely unchanged from its original concept. A portion of left-hand-side of the mural was damaged by a 2011 fire that destroyed a temporary ticket booth set up nearby, but it was restored soon after. The lower part of the mural has gone through numerous changes since it was first painted. At the time the mural was created, there was a raised garden bed against the wall of the building and the shrubs planted there partially obscured the bottom section, which initially featured a painted collage of a group of people. The council cleared the vegetation soon after and the lower part of the mural soon began to be defaced, notably with racist graffiti, which Aiken and Pryor quickly painted over, sometimes with anti-racist slogans. Frustrated by criticism of the mural by Marrickville Council's Community Arts Officer of the time, Aiken then over-painted the figures with a quotation from the officer ("Murals are no longer a valid art form") in large white Gothic lettering. He subsequently repainted the entire bottom section with a Newtown "Declaration of Independence" that featured a large blank space and the invitation "Sign here". At some point after this was painted, the council removed the garden bed and the declaration was in turn replaced with the design that is still in place, a large representation of the Aboriginal flag.
The Last Supper mural on King St is located opposite the intersection of Church St. Despite broad community acceptance of the mural and the general respect shown to it, the mural has recently been defaced by vandal taggers who climbed onto the roof of the building it is painted on (and many others in the vicinity) and who spray-painted tags on the top edge of the mural and many other buildings in the vicinity.
The "Africa" mural in King St was originally painted in the early 1990s. This large work occupies the entire side wall of an African restaurant, located between the Newtown Mission and the Commonwealth Bank. The first version was reproduced from an old map printed by the Australian firm Chas. Scally & Co., probably dating from the 1960s. The current version, painted over the original in the early 2000s, reflects the major changes in African political geography in the recent times.
The "Eagle" mural is located in Wilson St, Newtown, on the rear wall of the Newtown Mission. The graphic style and content are very similar to the "Martin Luther King" mural and it is presumed to have been created by Andrew Aiken sometime in the early to mid 1990s. The lengthy Biblical quoatation on the left-hand side of the mural is from the Book of Isaiah
40:28-31.
. Only a few of these face directly onto King St, and most are located along the side walls of buildings on the corners of King St and the various side streets that lead off from it.
The "South of the Border" mural (created by Unmitigated Audacity Productions) is located on the side wall of a shop on King St, opposite the Union Hotel. This mural was clearly visible for many years but is now obscured by a tree growing in the front yard of the terrace house next door.
This piece of art was created by retired artist, Colin Bebe.
The group of mural images, executed by Matthew Peet and Andrew Aiken in June–July 1995, are painted on the outside of the former Newtown Police Citizens Youth Club on Erskineville Rd. This is presumed to have been a legal project, and like the "Herald" mural in King St, these images were evidently created by painting over projected images. There are numerous panels of pictures and text, including images of the TV characters Sonny Hammond and Skippy, from the 1960s Australian TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
, an image of Mr. Spock
from Star Trek
, a stock image of two laughing European peasant women, and a reproduction of a photograph of 1980s Sydney identity the late Sallie-Anne Huckstepp
. These images were still extant in mid-2007, although the building has been unused for a number of years and was recently damaged by fire and is currently surrounded by a metal hoarding, suggesting that demolition and/or redevelopment may be imminent (cf. the controversial proposal to build a large supermarket complex on this and adjoining lots).
woodcut The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
. The work is credited to artists "DAYS", "DMOTE", "PUDL" and "SNARL", members of the street art collective "Big City Freaks" (BCF), whose initials can be seen on the far right of the Great Wave mural. In October 2009 members of this group rendered a spectacular new mural along the rear wall of the Ausscrap building, facing Wilford St.
" (painted on the side fence), a large flowing design incorporating a mermaid (an interpretation of the owners love of swimming), and a group of aliens. The Fat Albert was done by Rory (Rors/Akira?) and the aliens by Phiber/Phibs, both prominent artists of the area. The portraits of George Harrison
and Jimi Hendrix
on the Liberty St frontage are by graphic artist Jason Moses, who has collaborated with Matthew Peet and who also painted the travel-themed murals on the walls of the Abbey on King backpacker hostel in King St. This property was sold in early 2008 and has undergone extensive renovation during 2010, resulting in the destruction of most of the murals depicted in the photographs shown above.
and John Carlos
sparked a storm of controversy by wearing black gloves and giving the "Black Power
" salute during their medal award ceremony. The third person in the image was Australian athlete Peter Norman
, who died in 2006. This mural became the subject of significant Australian media coverage at the time of Norman's death. For many years, the mural was a landmark for thousands of commuters who passed it daily on Sydney's western rail line. In 2007, RailCorp
erected noise barrier
s near MacDonaldtown Station, which obscured the mural from train travellers. In 2008, Melbourne filmmaker Matt Norman
led a campaign to attempt to force RailCorp to install transparent noise barriers to allow the mural to be seen by commuters.
The "Sydney '04" mural is on the corner of Eve and Coulson St, Erskineville. It was painted in 2004 with the permission of the owner by a team of artists—Australian graffiti artist Dallas (who also created a controversial commissioned mural in Surry Hills http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/12/1039656170123.html) and two others. Their tags, obscured by the car in the photo, are "Days Aus", "Drift NL" (from the Netherlands) and "Webs NZ". The owner added the red 'No War' slogan in 2007 as a protest against the war in Iraq and a kind of tribute to Saunders and Burgess, the peace activists who painted a "No War" slogan the Opera House in 2003. (Thanks to Jack C for photo and background information).
Some of the most stylistically distinctive graffiti art works to appear in the Newtown area in recent times are the striking creations by the artist who signs his work "EMÖS". These highly intricate, semi-abstract bio-mechanical designs, executed by hand with spray paint, are all sited along Phillip Lane, behind Enmore Rd; some are still visible in June 2007, although inevitably they are being progressively covered by the work of other graffiti artists, and the two examples, shown above second from left and centre, haves now been painted over. However, a number of similarly styled works by other artists, shown below, have appeared along Phillip Lane during in recent weeks.
There is a piece of graffiti on or near Bedford Street (next to the rail line), which says "Cut me a line / of poetry, man." It has been claimed that this was actually written by well-known local poet Benito Di Fonzo, and that he scribbled it to impress his then-girlfriend local artist Joanne Patricia Shand (aka Jo Jo Rona). It features in Di Fonzo's poem entitled, Cut Me A Line of Poetry. There is another dedication to her in Erskenville of a wall height mural of her with 2 dogs. Painter unknown. See at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22179952
Much of the graffiti on the wall around the church is brush-painted or spray-painted, and many are politically oriented slogans, although some stencil graffiti has appeared in recent times, and a number of striking large-scale mural works have been painted on walls and fences surrounding the park.
Although most of the graffiti is relatively recent, some examples have survived for many years. One venerable piece of brush-painted graffiti (above, second from left), which can be reliably dated to the mid-1970s and which is still partially visible, is the political slogan, "Is Frazer (sic) controlling your bowels?" -- a reference to controversial 1970s Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
. A photograph of this slogan appeared in a 1976 book on Australian graffiti by photographer Rennie Ellis
.
Other long-lasting pieces of handpainted graffiti on this wall, believed to be from the late 1970s or early 1980s, include the slogans "Patriarchy creates destruction" and "Hands held violently on to words that meant nothing" (above, far left). Another slogan remembered by some residents, was: "broken-hearted disillusioned desperates against meanness and nastiness, greed and stupidity."
Another significant location in Camperdown Park is the various rear walls and back fences of the buildings at the southern edge of the park that face onto Australia Street. A large continuous mural (above, centre) featuring many pictoral designs and elaborate tags, has been painted along the side wall of the large commercial building that faces the Courthouse Hotel
, and most of the other fences and walls in this area of the park now have murals or decorative tags, although these have changed a number of times in recent years. The two examples above illustrate this—the mural second from right (photographed in March 2007) had been entirely painted over by July 2007 and replaced by the mural shown above, far right. Ladies can still call 1800 Rick Jones.
around Newtown, with dozens of designs appearing on walls in the area during 2005-2006. This development reflects the growing popularity of this style in many international cities, and particularly in Melbourne, Victoria.
For several years (ca. 2006-2011) the most notable location in the Newtown area was the outer wall of the triangular property on the corner of Gladstone St and Phillip St in Enmore. The owners allowed graffiti to be applied as long as it was stencil art and from 2006 onwards dozens of stencil designs of all shapes and sizes were applied, and the collection grew. Artists on this wall included KRAM, Dam! and GlitaGrrl. Ca. 2010 a plaster cast of a television and VCR (with the word "obsolescence" embossed on the screen) was installed on the footpath in front of the wall. The first version was vandalized and was soon replaced. In 2011, the stencil wall was completely over-painted with a large monochrome mural depicting the main entrance hall of the Natural History Museum
in London.
Unlike the conventional painted designs and the recent craze for stencil graffiti, these new works are essentially a form of poster art. Smaller designs are typically monochrome photocopies (some of which may be hand coloured) while others have been printed as self-adhesive stickers which are often affixed to roadside traffic signs.
Several large-format examples have appeared in 2007 such as the 'cartoon' figures pictured below, and the bus design, which was approximately 1 metre in length. Some, such as the octopus design from Gladstone St, appear to have been hand-painted or screen printed onto the backs of commercially printed street posters.
A number of the largest works of street art in the Newtown area have been removed or painted over in recent years. This includes several large murals believed to have been executed by the same artist/s in the early-mid 1990s, and formerly located along or near Erskineville Road.
For many years from the 1970s, a strip of land along both sides of this Erskineville Road extending east from King St, was resumed by the NSW Department of Main Roads as part of a plan to build a large arterial road through the area. This scheme was eventually abandoned after the imposition of Green Bans by the Builders Labourers Federation
, which effectively stopped all work on the planned road, although a number of shops and houses along the street were demolished. This struggle is now commemorated by Green Bans Park, located near the railway on Erskineville Rd, and established on land formerly occupied by buildings that were demolished to make way for the proposed road.
Prominent works of street art and large murals that are no longer extant include:
by American rock band Green Day
. This included large painted images in several locations in Newtown and Surry Hills
and around 80 spray stencils in skate parks around Sydney. The large images depicted the artwork and title of the album, but at least two of the Newtown murals were soon defaced as a protest by locals, who oversprayed the slogan "CA$h Cow", and Sydney City Council, whose policies discourage "graffiti", were reported to be investigating the matter
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of Newtown, NSW -- including the suburbs of Newtown, Enmore
Enmore, New South Wales
Enmore is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Enmore is located 5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Marrickville Council.-History:...
, Erskineville, Camperdown
Camperdown, New South Wales
Camperdown is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Camperdown is located 4 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Inner West region...
and St Peters
St Peters, New South Wales
St Peters is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. St Peters is located 7 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Marrickville Council.-History:...
-- has had works of graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
and street art
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
placed on local walls.
These works range across many styles and methods of execution. They include a number of large-scale murals, hand-painted political slogans, hand-painted figurative designs, spray-painted semi-abstract designs, and stylistic developments such as stencil art and poster graffiti (also known as "wheatpasting").
Locations
"Street art" styles and locations in the greater Newtown area include:- Murals facing onto King St and adjoining streets
- Stencil art around the photographic studio in Gladstone Street, near Newtown Railway Station
- Stencils, slogans and murals in and around the pedestrian tunnel under the railway line, linking Bella St and Bedford St
- Graffiti works in the area between Enmore Rd and the railway line, including Gladstone St, the Wilford St industrial area, Wilford Lane, Phillip Lane and Thurnby Lane
- Murals, stencils and graffiti slogans in and around Camperdown Memorial Rest Park
- Wall art in the vicinity of St Peters Station and Applebee St, near Sydney Park
- the multi-panel spraypaint mural on the rear wall of St Luke's Church, Enmore by Matthew Peet (aka 'Mistery')
Another example is two slogans painted on the wall of a house on Salisbury Rd in Camperdown
Camperdown, New South Wales
Camperdown is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Camperdown is located 4 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Inner West region...
, at the intersection of Kingston Rd. A large hand-painted slogan which read "Madonna: The Devil Incarnate" was accompanied by a smaller slogan which read "iConsume". Both slogans lasted only about two weeks before being painted over.
Artists and attribution
Although several major works are community commissions, or were carried out with permission or at the request of building owners, others are illegal. Another impediment to attribution is the nature of the signatures and identifying 'tags' of the creators.Unmitigated Audacity Productions
Many of the biggest and best-known large-scale murals painted in Newtown in the early 1990s were created by a group of mural artists called "Unmitigated Audacity Productions". This group included Sydney mural artists Matthew Peet (aka "Mistery", a member of hip-hop group BrethrenBrethren (Australian group)
Brethren are one of the longest-serving hip hop crews in Australia, celebrating 20 years in 2009. The group comprises Matthew Peet aka “Mistery” and Claude Rodriguez aka Wizdm....
), Juilee Pryor, and New Zealand-born artist Andrew Aiken.
Among the past and present murals that can be attributed to UAP are:
- the 'Martin Luther King' mural on King St, painted by Andrew Aiken and Juilee Pryor (with Tony Spanos)
- the "Mona" mural by Andrew Aiken, on Erskineville Rd opposite Newtown Post Office; still extant (2011) but now in a poor state of preservation
- the "South of the Border" mural on King St South, near the Union Hotel
- the Newtown PCYC murals, by Matthew Peet and Andrew Aiken; still extant in late 2011 but the site was recently sold and is scheduled for redevelopment
- the now-erased Miles Davis/John Coltrane mural on Erskineville Rd ("On The Wings of a Song"), painted by Aiken and Peet
- the now-erased "Per Ardua ad Astra" mural, painted on the wall of the house opposite the "On The Wings of a Song" mural, and which was clearly visible from Newtown Railway station
- the "Pieta" mural, by Andrew Aiken, painted on the side of a (currently abandoned) house on Erskineville Road, opposite the BP service station. According to Juilee Pryor, this work was soon defaced with a range of virulent pro-abortion and anti-Christian graffiti; Pryor attributes this reaction to the fact that Aiken's Christianity was well known in the district, and his mural (which depicted a stylised Madonna and child) was assumed to be an anti-abortion message
- the now-erased "Idiot Box" mural at 64 Erskineville Rd, opposite the Imperial Hotel was created by Andrew Aiken.
- the large multi-panel mural on the rear wall of St Luke's Church in Stanmore Rd, Enmore, was painted by a team led by Matthew Peet
- "Deja Vu 1" (1992), was painted on a wall on the corner of Erskineville Rd and Linthorpe St. According to Pryor, it was painted by Aiken " ... in an explosion of rage about the war in Bosnia. The theme is remembrance and the futility of war. On the base of the wall can be seen the words 'Have we already forgotten?'". This mural is no longer extant and the building on which it was painted was subsequently demolished and replaced by an apartment complex.
Juilee Pryor photographed much of the group's mural work and she recently donated digital copies of these photos to the City of Sydney photographic archive. These are available on the Archive website http://photosau.com.au/Cos/scripts/home.asp and can be viewed by going to the "Search" page and entering the search term "Audacity"
Andrew Aiken
Andrew Aiken was the principal artist or a major collaborator on several of the most prominent murals in the Newtown area in the early 1990s. His life was detailed in a 2003 Sydney Morning Herald article by Sean Nicholls. Using a donated cherry pickerCherry picker
A cherry picker , is a type of aerial work platform that consists of a platform or bucket at the end of a hydraulic lifting system.- Design :...
and $1000 worth of paint, Aiken and Pryor created the "I have a dream" mural on King St over two nights in August 1991, declaring it a "humanist protest against the sterility of postmodern art".
Twelve months earlier, Aiken had fled the UK after murdering with a hammer a man he had lived with in a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
squat and burying the body of the 40-year-old busker in the cellar. In 1997, after converting to Christianity, Aiken was convinced to give himself up by the leader of the religious group he had joined, the Twelve Tribes community in Picton, New South Wales
Picton, New South Wales
Picton is a small town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire. The town is located 80 kilometres South-west of Sydney, close to Camden and Campbelltown. It is also the administrative centre of Wollondilly Shire....
. He returned to England, where he was tried and convicted of murder. He served 8 years in prison and, on his release in 2005, joined another Twelve Tribes community in Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
.
Big City Freaks
This street art collective, founded in 1998, includes the artists PUDL, SNARL, SKULL McMURPHY (Troy Edwards), SET and ZEN (aka SKOTE STYLES). This group has executed many spectacular large-format murals and other works in the distinctive "blended" style, combining highly stylised tags and striking graphic elements such as monsters, aliens, robots, skulls and designs sourced from Japanese art. Probably the best-known and currently the longest-surviving example of their collective work is the "Great Wave" mural discussed below. The group has its own website, http://www.bigcityfreaks.com|www.bigcityfreaks.com, where images of many of the group's works can be seen. One of BCF's most recent works is a spectacular large-format mural which was created in late October 2009 on the rear wall of the Ausscrap Building, facing Wilford St, Enmore.Other artists
- the murals on the Abbey on King backpacker hostel, and the portraits of George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix on the Bella St house are by Jason Moses
Preservation
Several of the largest and most prominent Newtown area murals, dating from the early 1990s, are no longer extant.The Council of the City of Sydney administers much of the north Newtown area. In Paragraph 8 of its Aerosol Art and Graffiti Policy the Council ostensibly recognises that these existing large murals are public-domain works worthy of conservation and maintenance, although in practice it has done nothing to prevent murals such as "Idiot Box" from being removed. Moreover, a Council media spokesperson recently stated that its general approach is "... to remove graffiti quickly and consistently to help maintain the appearance of our city while discouraging repeat incidents".
Property owners have stripped and/or painted over a number of the area's most prominent works of "street art" in recent years, while others have been obscured by adjacent construction or destroyed by the demolition of the buildings on which they are painted, as in the case of the wall along Wilford Lane, Enmore, which formed the rear part of the former Blockbuster video store site, which was redeveloped into a large apartment complex.
Many other works are gradually covered over with more recent work by other graffiti artists after a period of weeks or months.
King Street north and environs
The first mural that visitors will encounter when driving or walking south along King St from the city is the "Herald" mural in northern King St. This large mural is an enlarged reproduction of the top section of the front page of the Friday 10 July 1992 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, as can be clearly seen in the accompanying image.The "I have a dream" (Martin Luther King) mural, painted over two nights in August 1991, is the largest, the most prominent and the longest-surviving of the many large format murals created around Newtown by the team known as Unmitigated Audacity Productions, the core members of which were New Zealand-born Canadian artist Andrew Aiken and his colleague Juilee Prior. They were assisted in this mural by Tony Spanos, who provided a cherry-picker to allow the upper part of the mural to be painted. It commemorates American civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr.. One of the last surviving large-format murals in the area, it displays a large portrait of Dr King, next to a large painted depiction of the Apollo 8
Apollo 8
Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
photograph of the Earth from space, and Dr King's quote "I have a dream" in large Gothic lettering, near which is the quotation from Genesis 37:19:
- "Behold the dreamer cometh; Come now therefore and let us slay him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams"
The upper section of the design remains largely unchanged from its original concept. A portion of left-hand-side of the mural was damaged by a 2011 fire that destroyed a temporary ticket booth set up nearby, but it was restored soon after. The lower part of the mural has gone through numerous changes since it was first painted. At the time the mural was created, there was a raised garden bed against the wall of the building and the shrubs planted there partially obscured the bottom section, which initially featured a painted collage of a group of people. The council cleared the vegetation soon after and the lower part of the mural soon began to be defaced, notably with racist graffiti, which Aiken and Pryor quickly painted over, sometimes with anti-racist slogans. Frustrated by criticism of the mural by Marrickville Council's Community Arts Officer of the time, Aiken then over-painted the figures with a quotation from the officer ("Murals are no longer a valid art form") in large white Gothic lettering. He subsequently repainted the entire bottom section with a Newtown "Declaration of Independence" that featured a large blank space and the invitation "Sign here". At some point after this was painted, the council removed the garden bed and the declaration was in turn replaced with the design that is still in place, a large representation of the Aboriginal flag.
The Last Supper mural on King St is located opposite the intersection of Church St. Despite broad community acceptance of the mural and the general respect shown to it, the mural has recently been defaced by vandal taggers who climbed onto the roof of the building it is painted on (and many others in the vicinity) and who spray-painted tags on the top edge of the mural and many other buildings in the vicinity.
The "Africa" mural in King St was originally painted in the early 1990s. This large work occupies the entire side wall of an African restaurant, located between the Newtown Mission and the Commonwealth Bank. The first version was reproduced from an old map printed by the Australian firm Chas. Scally & Co., probably dating from the 1960s. The current version, painted over the original in the early 2000s, reflects the major changes in African political geography in the recent times.
The "Eagle" mural is located in Wilson St, Newtown, on the rear wall of the Newtown Mission. The graphic style and content are very similar to the "Martin Luther King" mural and it is presumed to have been created by Andrew Aiken sometime in the early to mid 1990s. The lengthy Biblical quoatation on the left-hand side of the mural is from the Book of Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
40:28-31.
King Street south
There are many prominent murals and "wall art" works to be found along the southern end of King St, between Newtown Station and St Peter's Station/Sydney ParkSydney Park
Sydney Park is a large recreational area in the inner-city area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The parkland is located in the suburb of St Peters, sitting along the borders of Alexandria, Newtown and Erskineville....
. Only a few of these face directly onto King St, and most are located along the side walls of buildings on the corners of King St and the various side streets that lead off from it.
The "South of the Border" mural (created by Unmitigated Audacity Productions) is located on the side wall of a shop on King St, opposite the Union Hotel. This mural was clearly visible for many years but is now obscured by a tree growing in the front yard of the terrace house next door.
Enmore Road
The major mural along Enmore Road is the "Jungle" mural painted on the side of the medical practice on the corner of Bailey St and Enmore Rd, next to the Caltex petrol station. It depicts various African wild animals rampaging around the intersection of King St and Enmore Rd.This piece of art was created by retired artist, Colin Bebe.
Erskineville Road
Below - the mural artworks on the former Newtown Police Citizens & Youth Club, cnr Erskineville Rd and Angel StThe group of mural images, executed by Matthew Peet and Andrew Aiken in June–July 1995, are painted on the outside of the former Newtown Police Citizens Youth Club on Erskineville Rd. This is presumed to have been a legal project, and like the "Herald" mural in King St, these images were evidently created by painting over projected images. There are numerous panels of pictures and text, including images of the TV characters Sonny Hammond and Skippy, from the 1960s Australian TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is an Australian television series for children created by John McCallum, produced from 1966–1968, telling the adventures of a young boy and his intelligent pet kangaroo, in the Waratah National Park in Duffys Forest, near Sydney, New South Wales.Ninety-one 30-minute...
, an image of Mr. Spock
Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
from Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, a stock image of two laughing European peasant women, and a reproduction of a photograph of 1980s Sydney identity the late Sallie-Anne Huckstepp
Sallie-Anne Huckstepp
Sallie-Anne Huckstepp was an Australian prostitute and heroin addict who became a writer and whistleblower.-Life:Huckstepp was born Sallie-Anne Krivoshow and attended Dover Heights High School in Sydney. She left school at the age of seventeen and married Bryan Huckstepp...
. These images were still extant in mid-2007, although the building has been unused for a number of years and was recently damaged by fire and is currently surrounded by a metal hoarding, suggesting that demolition and/or redevelopment may be imminent (cf. the controversial proposal to build a large supermarket complex on this and adjoining lots).
The "Great Wave" mural
One of the most spectacular Newtown murals is the "Great Wave" mural, painted on the side of a house located at the corner of Munni St and Gowrie St in south Newtown. Created in 2000, it features a striking combination of elaborate 3D style abstract pieces and pictorial images on a Japanese theme, including a huge image of a breaking wave rendered in the style of the famous HokusaiHokusai
was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting...
woodcut The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
, also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. An example of ukiyo-e art, it was published sometime between 1830 and 1833 as the first in Hokusai's series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji , and is his most famous work...
. The work is credited to artists "DAYS", "DMOTE", "PUDL" and "SNARL", members of the street art collective "Big City Freaks" (BCF), whose initials can be seen on the far right of the Great Wave mural. In October 2009 members of this group rendered a spectacular new mural along the rear wall of the Ausscrap building, facing Wilford St.
Trafalgar St
The two story terrace located at the corner of Trafalgar St and Liberty St in Newtown was another prominent Newtown street art site. The work was commissioned over time during the mid to late 90s to give street artists a prominent wall for their work and to brighten an otherwise grey point in the urban landscape. The street-side walls of this house were adorned with a number of images including 1970s cartoon character "Fat AlbertFat Albert
Fat Albert may refer to:* Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, a cartoon show* Fat Albert , a 1973 comedy album by Bill Cosby* Fat Albert , a 2004 live-action film...
" (painted on the side fence), a large flowing design incorporating a mermaid (an interpretation of the owners love of swimming), and a group of aliens. The Fat Albert was done by Rory (Rors/Akira?) and the aliens by Phiber/Phibs, both prominent artists of the area. The portraits of George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
on the Liberty St frontage are by graphic artist Jason Moses, who has collaborated with Matthew Peet and who also painted the travel-themed murals on the walls of the Abbey on King backpacker hostel in King St. This property was sold in early 2008 and has undergone extensive renovation during 2010, resulting in the destruction of most of the murals depicted in the photographs shown above.
Other large murals
The "Three Proud People" mural faces the railway adjacent to Macdonaldtown railway station. Created ca. 2000, this mural is a reproduction of the famous photo taken at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, when African-American athletes Tommie SmithTommie Smith
Tommie Smith is an African American former track & field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith won the 200-meter dash finals in 19.83 seconds – the first time the 20 second barrier was broken...
and John Carlos
John Carlos
John Wesley Carlos is a Cuban American former track and field athlete and professional football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics and his black power salute on the podium with Tommie Smith caused much political controversy...
sparked a storm of controversy by wearing black gloves and giving the "Black Power
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
" salute during their medal award ceremony. The third person in the image was Australian athlete Peter Norman
Peter Norman
Peter George Norman was an Australian track athlete best known for winning the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. His time of 20.06 seconds still stands as the Australian 200m record. He was a five-time Australian 200m champion...
, who died in 2006. This mural became the subject of significant Australian media coverage at the time of Norman's death. For many years, the mural was a landmark for thousands of commuters who passed it daily on Sydney's western rail line. In 2007, RailCorp
Rail Corporation New South Wales
Rail Corporation New South Wales is a statutory authority of the New South Wales government. RailCorp owns, operates and maintains the Sydney suburban and interurban rail network which is marketed under the CityRail brand; in addition to operating rural passenger services under the CountryLink...
erected noise barrier
Noise barrier
A noise barrier is an exterior structure designed to protect sensitive land uses from noise pollution...
s near MacDonaldtown Station, which obscured the mural from train travellers. In 2008, Melbourne filmmaker Matt Norman
Matt Norman
Matthew Travis "Matt" Norman is an actor turned filmmaker, best known for his acting work on Australian TV Shows Blue Heelers, Neighbours and Stingers, U.S telemovies Moby-Dick, Silver Strand and Ghost Rider....
led a campaign to attempt to force RailCorp to install transparent noise barriers to allow the mural to be seen by commuters.
The "Sydney '04" mural is on the corner of Eve and Coulson St, Erskineville. It was painted in 2004 with the permission of the owner by a team of artists—Australian graffiti artist Dallas (who also created a controversial commissioned mural in Surry Hills http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/12/1039656170123.html) and two others. Their tags, obscured by the car in the photo, are "Days Aus", "Drift NL" (from the Netherlands) and "Webs NZ". The owner added the red 'No War' slogan in 2007 as a protest against the war in Iraq and a kind of tribute to Saunders and Burgess, the peace activists who painted a "No War" slogan the Opera House in 2003. (Thanks to Jack C for photo and background information).
Enmore laneways
One of the most popular areas for graffiti and wall art is the industrial area near the Silo Apartments, bounded by Station St, Enmore Rd, Phillip St and the railway. Many striking graffiti works can be seen on the various factory and warehouse walls along Gladstone St, Wilford St, Wilford Lane, Thurnby Lane and Phillip Lane.Some of the most stylistically distinctive graffiti art works to appear in the Newtown area in recent times are the striking creations by the artist who signs his work "EMÖS". These highly intricate, semi-abstract bio-mechanical designs, executed by hand with spray paint, are all sited along Phillip Lane, behind Enmore Rd; some are still visible in June 2007, although inevitably they are being progressively covered by the work of other graffiti artists, and the two examples, shown above second from left and centre, haves now been painted over. However, a number of similarly styled works by other artists, shown below, have appeared along Phillip Lane during in recent weeks.
There is a piece of graffiti on or near Bedford Street (next to the rail line), which says "Cut me a line / of poetry, man." It has been claimed that this was actually written by well-known local poet Benito Di Fonzo, and that he scribbled it to impress his then-girlfriend local artist Joanne Patricia Shand (aka Jo Jo Rona). It features in Di Fonzo's poem entitled, Cut Me A Line of Poetry. There is another dedication to her in Erskenville of a wall height mural of her with 2 dogs. Painter unknown. See at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22179952
Camperdown Memorial Rest Park
One of the key locations for political and personal graffiti in the Newtown area is the long sandstone wall surrounding St Stephen's Church in Newtown. By the 1940s the cemetery was overgrown. In 1946 local girl Joan Norma Ginn was murdered and her body dumped in the cemetery, where it remained for several days before being found. This prompted action by the local council, which resulted in all but 4 acres (16,000 m2) being cleared and resumed as public space. An Act of Parliament in 1948 established the Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, under control of the local council. As a result, most of the gravestones were taken up and placed around the inside of the sandstone wall, although the graves were not disturbed and the depressions that mark their locations are still discernible.Much of the graffiti on the wall around the church is brush-painted or spray-painted, and many are politically oriented slogans, although some stencil graffiti has appeared in recent times, and a number of striking large-scale mural works have been painted on walls and fences surrounding the park.
Although most of the graffiti is relatively recent, some examples have survived for many years. One venerable piece of brush-painted graffiti (above, second from left), which can be reliably dated to the mid-1970s and which is still partially visible, is the political slogan, "Is Frazer (sic) controlling your bowels?" -- a reference to controversial 1970s Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
. A photograph of this slogan appeared in a 1976 book on Australian graffiti by photographer Rennie Ellis
Rennie Ellis
Reynolds Mark "Rennie" Ellis was an Australian social and social documentary photographer who also worked, at various stages of his life, as an advertising copywriter, seaman, lecturer, and television presenter...
.
Other long-lasting pieces of handpainted graffiti on this wall, believed to be from the late 1970s or early 1980s, include the slogans "Patriarchy creates destruction" and "Hands held violently on to words that meant nothing" (above, far left). Another slogan remembered by some residents, was: "broken-hearted disillusioned desperates against meanness and nastiness, greed and stupidity."
Another significant location in Camperdown Park is the various rear walls and back fences of the buildings at the southern edge of the park that face onto Australia Street. A large continuous mural (above, centre) featuring many pictoral designs and elaborate tags, has been painted along the side wall of the large commercial building that faces the Courthouse Hotel
Courthouse Hotel
Courthouse Hotel. formerly the Courthouse Kempinski, and prior to the hotel,Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court is a luxury 5-star hotel in London, England. It is located on 19-21 Great Marlborough Street, in Soho.-History:...
, and most of the other fences and walls in this area of the park now have murals or decorative tags, although these have changed a number of times in recent years. The two examples above illustrate this—the mural second from right (photographed in March 2007) had been entirely painted over by July 2007 and replaced by the mural shown above, far right. Ladies can still call 1800 Rick Jones.
Stencil graffiti
In the last few years there has been a rapid proliferation of stencil graffitiStencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti makes use of a paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.The process of stenciling...
around Newtown, with dozens of designs appearing on walls in the area during 2005-2006. This development reflects the growing popularity of this style in many international cities, and particularly in Melbourne, Victoria.
For several years (ca. 2006-2011) the most notable location in the Newtown area was the outer wall of the triangular property on the corner of Gladstone St and Phillip St in Enmore. The owners allowed graffiti to be applied as long as it was stencil art and from 2006 onwards dozens of stencil designs of all shapes and sizes were applied, and the collection grew. Artists on this wall included KRAM, Dam! and GlitaGrrl. Ca. 2010 a plaster cast of a television and VCR (with the word "obsolescence" embossed on the screen) was installed on the footpath in front of the wall. The first version was vandalized and was soon replaced. In 2011, the stencil wall was completely over-painted with a large monochrome mural depicting the main entrance hall of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London.
Poster or 'Paste Up'/'Wheatpaste' graffiti
Since the mid-2000s innumerable examples of this new form of graphic street art have appeared in the Newtown area. Many small poster and sticker type graffiti graphics have been placed in various locations over the last few years, but these larger works — similar in scope to the many large poster graffiti works that have appeared in Melbourne in recent years — are a relatively recent development in Newtown.Unlike the conventional painted designs and the recent craze for stencil graffiti, these new works are essentially a form of poster art. Smaller designs are typically monochrome photocopies (some of which may be hand coloured) while others have been printed as self-adhesive stickers which are often affixed to roadside traffic signs.
Several large-format examples have appeared in 2007 such as the 'cartoon' figures pictured below, and the bus design, which was approximately 1 metre in length. Some, such as the octopus design from Gladstone St, appear to have been hand-painted or screen printed onto the backs of commercially printed street posters.
Other media
Several novel street art developments have recently appeared in the Newtown area.- yarn bombingYarn bombingYarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarnstorming, guerrilla knitting, or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk.-Method and motivation:...
involves the creation of pieces of multi-coloured knitted fabrics, which are wrapped around objects such as trees and poles and stitched into place to create a colourful "sleeve". Around Newtown, this medium has typically taken the form of multi-coloured knitted piece which are stitched around the steel support poles of local road signs.
- the plaster graffiti style uses objects cast in plaster of paris or a similar material, which are often glued into place on a footpath or against a wall. Around Newtown, many of these objects appear to have been created by the same artist/s as a commentary on consumer culture. They have often been in the form of familiar items such as televisions and TV remote controls, and feature inscribed single-word slogans such as "fear" or "hate". These largest of these objects are the installations on King St and on the corner of Gladstone St, Enmore; both are full-scale replicas of a medium-size CRT television mounted on top of a replica VCR. The King St object (now defaced by marker tags) is inscribed with the slogan "life is fleeting" and the Gladstone St object with the word "obsolescence". Other plaster graffiti objects (such as those pictured above in May St, St Peters) are partial representations of human-like faces, which appear to be based on medieval gargoyles.
Works no longer extant
Below: four vanished Newtown murals -- "Idiot Box", Erskineville Rd (photographed November 2006), a Jimi Hendrix portrait in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park (photographed July 2005) and a colourful Mayan-inspired mural (same location and date) and a mural in Goddard Lane (off King St) photgraphed in Jan. 2007.A number of the largest works of street art in the Newtown area have been removed or painted over in recent years. This includes several large murals believed to have been executed by the same artist/s in the early-mid 1990s, and formerly located along or near Erskineville Road.
For many years from the 1970s, a strip of land along both sides of this Erskineville Road extending east from King St, was resumed by the NSW Department of Main Roads as part of a plan to build a large arterial road through the area. This scheme was eventually abandoned after the imposition of Green Bans by the Builders Labourers Federation
Builders Labourers Federation
The Builders Labourers Federation is an Australian trade union organisation which existed from 1911 until 1972, and from 1976 until 1986, when it was permanently deregistered in various Australian States by the federal Labor government and some state governments of the time. This occurred in the...
, which effectively stopped all work on the planned road, although a number of shops and houses along the street were demolished. This struggle is now commemorated by Green Bans Park, located near the railway on Erskineville Rd, and established on land formerly occupied by buildings that were demolished to make way for the proposed road.
Prominent works of street art and large murals that are no longer extant include:
- The well-known and much-loved "Idiot Box" mural by Andrew Aiken was located on the side wall of a large terrace house at 64 Erskineville Road, opposite the renowned Imperial HotelImperial HotelImperial Hotel, Ltd. is a company that operates hotels in Japan. Its flagship hotel, the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo , and its headquarters are located in the Chiyoda Ward of Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace, Hibiya Park, and Ginza.The Imperial Hotel group includes five hotels throughout Japan.-List of...
. It featured a surrealistic portrait of the TV character Marcia Brady from The Brady BunchThe Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
, brandishing an automatic pistol, and painted as if she is bursting through the shattering glass of a TV screen. The TV itself is painted in a trompe l'oeil effect, apparently breaking through the brick wall of the house on which the mural is painted. The power switch and power cord and plug of the TV were applied objects made from plastic. Regrettably, this remarkable mural, which had been in place since 1993, was removed by the new owners of the property in November/December 2006.
- the Felix the CatFelix the CatFelix the Cat is a cartoon character created in the silent film era. His black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combine to make Felix one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history...
and "Cat in the Hat" murals.; These images were painted on the sides of two houses near the intersection of Erskineville Road and Wilson St. These houses originally faced onto a council carpark that had been opened up by the demolition of the terrace that originally stood there. These murals were obscured by the construction of a large block of apartments on the site in the late 1990s. An image of the "Cat In The Hat" mural, taken by Ben Apfelbaum in 1990, can be viewed here
- the Miles Davis mural "On the wings of a song" by Andrew Aiken and Matthew Peet, was painted on the side of a house adjacent to the Mrs Mollie Swift Reserve on Erskineville Road. It depicted jazz musicians Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
and John ColtraneJohn ColtraneJohn William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
with a rainbow and music notes flowing out from the bells of their instruments. This mural was erased/painted over in the early 2000s.
- a mural dedicated to John ColtraneJohn ColtraneJohn William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, similar in style to the "Wings" mural but much smaller in size, was painted on the wall a now-defunct laundry business located on the corner of King St and Egan St. This mural (thought to be by Unmitigated Audacity Productions) was removed ca. 2002.
- a figurative mural in Goddard Lane (off King St near the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts) which features distinctive depictions of a spray-can, a cat and a fish (probably by Phibs); this mural was painted over with a new design in Feb. 2008
Commercialisation
In mid-2009 artists associated with Sydney company Mr Perso & Detch were paid to carry out a so-called "guerilla" graffiti campaign on behalf of Warner Music to promote the album 21st Century Breakdown21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the band's second rock opera, following American Idiot, and their first album to be produced by Butch Vig. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006...
by American rock band Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
. This included large painted images in several locations in Newtown and Surry Hills
Surry Hills, New South Wales
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is located immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
and around 80 spray stencils in skate parks around Sydney. The large images depicted the artwork and title of the album, but at least two of the Newtown murals were soon defaced as a protest by locals, who oversprayed the slogan "CA$h Cow", and Sydney City Council, whose policies discourage "graffiti", were reported to be investigating the matter
See also
- Newtown, NSW
- GraffitiGraffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
- Types of graffiti
- List of graffiti artists
- :Category:Graffiti artists
- Graffiti terminologyGraffiti terminologyA number of words and phrases have come to describe different styles and aspects of graffiti. Like other jargon and colloquialisms, some phrases vary in different cities and countries...
- Zoo YorkZoo YorkZoo York is a style and social philosophy inspired by the New York City graffiti art subculture of the 1970s. Its name originates from a subway tunnel running underneath the area of the Central Park Zoo...
- Freedom TunnelFreedom TunnelThe Freedom Tunnel is the name given to the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. It got its name because the graffiti artist Chris "Freedom" Pape used the tunnel walls to create some of his most notable artwork...
(Manhattan) - Spray paint artSpray paint artSpray paint art is an art form using spray paint, traditionally on posterboard, but can be done on any non-porous material, such as wood, metal, glass, ceramic or plastic...
- 12oz Prophet - an online graffiti-related magazine
- Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under PressureMarc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under PressureMarc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is a video game released on February 14, 2006. It was developed by The Collective, Inc. and published by Atari under license by Marc Ecko...