Emerald May - June 2014

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Things may have seemed quiet in the studio for the past month, but Sauce has been anything but quiet. Last month, he toured Central Queensland with thanks to Anglicare CQ and spent the past month flat out like a lizard drinking. Anglicare celebrated thirty years of service this year, and we realised that Sauce has been working with the organisation for the past decade. 

 

For this trip, the Anglicare CQ team from Emerald kept him busy with countless workshops for the young people of Emerald and he painted a few murals too. The locals of Emerald also keen to have their walls painted and Sauce managed to smash a few commissions too. 

 

It wasn’t all work and no play. Hayley (the most effective and efficient Youth Worker this side of the Black Stump), was generous enough to take Sauce to Fairburn Dam for the day where he indulged in some wake boarding! The Emerald and CQ crew are always a pleasure to work with, and Sauce is already planning to head back out again. Next stop: Barcaldine. 


As you can see, Sauce has loads of pictures from his trip away. Too many for one blog post! To see the action unfold, follow us on Instagram!

 

Ten One Twenty

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Last week, Sauce headed off to Cairns to take care of some family things and while he was up there, he scouted around to find a good wall. Which was perfect timing, as Ten One Twenty, a gelato and coffee shop was opening at Edge Hill, Cairns and they were on the look out for an aerosol artist. No gig is without challenges, and Sauce tells me it was so hot, his shirt was dripping with sweat (Gross!). It was also difficult to source enough paint with all the different colours, but Sauce, fuelled with coffee and gelato battled on and created a sunset themed 3D graffiti piece. Maybe next time, we’ll make a proper holiday out of it.  

Back in Black

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It’s not everyday that Sauce is given permission to paint whatever he wants on a wall. In fact, most of his work is subject to a design brief and a rigorous consultation phase. So when his mate from Redland City suggested it was time to refresh an old piece, it was only a matter of time before the task was completed. Since it wasn’t a professional job, Sauce indulged in a few rums and kicked back with the boys in between painting. The results speak for themselves. 



Birthday Bash 2014

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My good mate Kosie1 and I started a tradition a few years back, where we start the year with a join-up. Both of us celebrate birthdays in January, so it’s a great excuse to take some time out and catch up for a paint and a beer (although, this time it was a coffee, as we started painting at 7 am and we both had to work in the afternoon!). Style wise, we did difference pieces with a shared colour scheme. It was cool to paint with a mate and not have to think about anything except for the piece.


The Sauce Studio says NO to the Pop-Up Paradigm

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We’ve all heard of them, and probably even been to one. You might haven even spoken about it with your friends and organised a night out at the latest and trendiest pop-up restaurant/gallery. The premise sounds fine, and all of those who visit usually have a rad time. BUT…

 

What does the ‘pop-up’ say about the state of business for the creative industries?  Our main contention with this temporary concept, it the lack of longevity given to dedicated professional artists. As makers and creators of quality art, it is disheartening to think artwork is popularly accepted as nothing more than a space filler and light entertainment. Art has a tangible effect on those who consume and enjoy it and for professional artists, art is more than pretty and palatable pictures at some trendy warehouse, it’s an income and a culture. By making art fit into the paradigm of the pop-up shop, it limits and constrains artists and art.

 

“But wait a minute.” I hear you say. “What about the flexibility and providing a platform for emerging artists?” Sure, there are some positives about the pop-up, otherwise it wouldn’t be popular. What we don’t appreciate at The Sauce Studio is how these pop-ups usually come together. In our experience, it is less about curating quality and more about who is friends with whom and who is cooler than whom. And, if an artist does get the opportunity to showcase their talent, more often than not they’re exploited and expected to work for free, which is not cool. Not cool at all. Just ask any mirco-business owner or emerging artist how many hours they put into their work, and how much profit they actually make. For sustainability and longevity, emerging artists need a hand up, not a hand out.  As far as flexibility is concerned, this is a false assumption. Again, in our experience at The Sauce Studio this has not been the case, especially in relation to the types of art shown in the pop-up environment. The pop-up paradigm is really more about the cool kids wanting to label and control their own expectations of what art is and can be. Trust us, the number of times we’ve been rejected or excluded from these types of events is ridiculous.  

 

Long story short, pop-up shops and galleries are devaluing art, reinforcing mainstream trends and are based on high school clique. Which is why we decided to open The Sauce Studio. At The Sauce Studio, we don’t rely on grants, funding or donations from the public, we’re an established business with overheads and mortgage payments, just like evey other business owner.  


Capalaba Jam

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Last Sunday, I was part of an eight namer on the back of a factory wall in Capalaba. I really enjoyed painting some good old fashioned graff and it was great to see some many different lads from numerous crews all painting alongside each other. 

A massive shout out to Kosie for doing all the hard yards with organising the gig and colour scheme. With so many walls being painted over and shut down, it’s a rare moment to have free range and paint something intrinsically motivated as opposed to a brief. It was even better to see all the lads out, as I’m sure that between us all there is a century of experience. 

I can’t wait to do it all again soon.

RAW: Byron Bay Encompass

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Save the date folks! We’re going to be at ENCOMPASS! Show your support by booking a ticket for the princely sum of $16.65 and get yourself to The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay on the 13th of November from 7 pm.  Make sure you wear your party pants and are ready to boogie the night away. There will be all different types of artists so make a night of it and bring all your friends. See you there!


Clean Up Our Streets

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The Weekend Edition of Daily News (July 20-21 2013) heralded the beginning of a campaign aimed at attacking vandals in the Tweed Shire. The Clean Up Our Streets is a Daily News initiative which shows a complete disregard for Hip Hop culture, and was poorly researched. As a professional Mural and Aerosol Artist, with over a decade of experience, Sauce is getting tired of the vilification and slander which the media constantly propagates. Below is a media release and our letter of complaint to the paper which outlines some of The Sauce Studio’s objections to this portrayal of graffiti. 

 

                                                                     Media Release 22/07/2013.

The weekend edition (July 20th-21st 2013) of the Daily News made scandalous claims about graffiti and vandalism in the Tweed Shire by highlighting several different ‘hot spots’ where graffiti style vandalism occurs. The article announced a new campaign called ‘Clean Up Our Streets’, however local artist Sauce, says the article is nothing more than “scaremongering and inflammatory’. 

 

Sauce, who has over a decade of professional mural and aerosol art experience explained how articles such as this seek to marginalize youth culture and denigrate the Hip Hop movement. “I’ve spent over a decade advocating the need for recognition of aerosol art as a legitimate art form and articles such as this do nothing except whip people into a frenzy. It doesn’t look at the real issues. This is a multi-faceted topic and ultimately, aerosol artists still don’t have places to paint and the local council doesn’t have money for public art for the next two budgets.”

 

Earlier this year, Sauce opened an art studio in the heart of the Murwillumbah CBD where the public can experience the different forms of aerosol art. The aim of the studio is to reinforce the positive value aerosol art and to introduce new people to the art form.   

 

 

 

Sauce’s work can be seen @ /

 

 

Ainslie Rose

Communications and Arts Development Manager

The Sauce Studio

Shop 4/15 CNR of Proudfoots LN & Commercial RD

Murwillumbah

02 6672 1929

Letter of Compaint                    
To Whom it May Concern,
                      Please allow my to introduce myself. My name is Ainslie and I am the Communications and Arts Development Manager at The Sauce Studio. The Sauce Studio is the workshop and retail space of professional mural artist, Sauce. Sauce has over a decade of professional experience in creating public art and murals and his work can be seen all over the East Coast of Australia.

I am writing this letter in regards to the “Clean Up Our Streets” campaign as shown in the Saturday 20th July edition of the Daily News. I would like to voice my concerns about the inflammatory language used in the article and unnecessary marginalization of aerosol art and Hip Hop culture. While I understand the need to discourage unwanted vandalism and unwanted and un-commissioned graffiti the manner in which the article suggests the issue is approached in nothing short of cheap and scandalous. As stated previously, Sauce is a professional mural artist with over a decade of experience, and in March this year we open The Sauce Studio in the heart of the Murwillumbah CBD. We felt there was a need to further inform the public about the benefits of aerosol art and hip hop culture. We also sought to stimulate the increase of professional public murals in the Tweed and Northern Rivers area as when they are executed with cultural sensitivity they can be a simple and cost effective method of graffiti prevention. 

The article in the Saturday’s edition of the Daily News is poorly researched as The Sauce Studio was not contacted for comment. Not only have we contacted this publication about the opening night, the image shown on page 7 titled ‘Under the Murwillumbah Bridge’ is less than 50 metres from the studio door. It is this lack of research which ignored the facts does not seek to portray this issue as a multi facetted subject. 
Further to this, the article does not mention the absolute lack of funding from council to assist with this issue. Both myself and Sauce have approached Tweed Shire Council to attempt the broaden their cultural awareness of this topic and enquire about the budget for public art programs. So far we have been informed there is no budget for such events for the next two years. If this article was well researched, this information would be brought to light, and the truth about public art, murals and aerosol art would be available to the public. 

I urge the Daily News to contact myself or Sauce at the Sauce Studio as it is clear there is no cultural sensitivity nor ability to research such a complex issue.
Ainslie Rose