Juilee Pryor
Street Art in Sydney in the 1990's ...
This three story high uncommissioned mural was created with Andrew Aiken over one weekend in August 1991. It has survived all attempts to remove it and has become the iconic heart of the thriving inner city of Newtown in Sydney.
This was the wall before the mural was painted. Billboards had been approved for it and that news was enough for us to claim the space for our artwork.
This was shot just after the mural had been completed and just as the first rays of morning light hit it. That is Andrew and Tony Spanos in the frame.
Andrew and myself right at the moment we had declared the mural done. Magic.
We started painting this at 7 pm on a Friday night in the middle of busy Newtown. We planned to hide in plain sight and it worked well for us. It took us two nights and one day to complete it.
We used double ladders and triple extension poles but even so to get right up to the top of the three story high wall we needed a cherry pick on the last night. That was supplied to us by the fabulous Tony Spanos and this photograph was shot from the platform of it.
After repeated tagging on the original base of the mural a large Aboriginal flag was painted there and that has lasted all of these years since.
This is a detail from the very first bit of street art we did on a wall not far from where I was living.
The light shineth and the darkness comprended it not. This uncommissioned mural was about 20 metres long and took us about 5 or 6 hours to complete.
This artwork survived for about four years and then it was destroyed in order that an Artist Co-op could be built there.
A detail from a two story high uncommissioned mural celebrating the south end of King Street Newtown.
This shot was taken just after Andrew had finished the final bit of painting.
This uncommissioned mural is still in existence nearly 20 years after it was first painted.
A random bit of pre street art street art. This is located over in Bondi and has also survived twenty years on the streets.
The only way to represent light is through the use of relative darkness.... Claude Monet.
A very early work which is now sadly long gone.
Sometimes we would be asked to do paintings for people ... the people in this house asked us to make the wall 'go away' and we did that with this lovely dappled rain-forest wall. This has also survived for more than twenty years.
Painted in 1991 as a protest about the Bosnian War. That is Tony Spanos standing in front of it.
A closer view in black and white of the Deja Vu protest mural.
A longer view of the mural with the old tram sheds in the background.
Some random word play on the side of the Deja Vu mural.
A small prelude to a later bigger Map of Africa on this site.
The original Map of Africa mural. This is sadly no longer in existence.
This was a much loved mural but no longer exists in this form.
Being awesome can be tiring work.
Done by Andrew in the early 90's and still in existence even though it's very battered now.
Another uncommissioned mural based on a Classical work by Da Vinci ... no longer in existence.
This was painted on the inside door of my rented home ...!
A much loved tribute to Miles Davis. Sadly no longer in existence. That's me on the hood of Tony's roller.
A much loved tribute to Miles Davis but sadly no longer in existence.
The legendary Tony Spanos who was the owner of the Graffiti Hall of Fame in Alexandria in Sydney.
A hot pink graff and doof fire tender that was part of the Graffiti Hall of Fame.
Another large whole terrace painting based on a classical painting.