The Authentic Eclectic

Street Art is alive and well in Tasmania.

Sort of, but is it art?

By the author, taken on the mean streets of Hobart. Artist Unknown.

Australia, we have an art problem.

Back in my wild techno days I recall a conversation with a fellow techno artiste. His mother was German, a place he had spent some time living.

His words went something like this:

Australians have this very weird attitude to art. In Germany, they would describe what I do as Art made by young people. In Australia, they call it Youth Art.

It took a while for it to sink in what he meant. Institutionalisation and weakening through a process of pigeon-holing. Kind of the “kids table” of the art world.

It’s very important that people don’t confuse this stuff with the “real” art.

Imagine referring to Jean Michel Basquiat or Egon Schiele as Youth Artists. When the above conversation took place, we would have both been older than either Jean Michel or Egon when they died.

The import of what he said struck me 25 years later as I reflected on the “authorised” Street Art wall on the basketball court I walked my dog past every morning.

Some background