Mini Graff
Encyclopedia
Mini Graff is a New Zealand
born, Sydney
-based street artist
who works in and around the city's urban fringe. The streets and inhabitants of the area provide the content and impetus for her work.
Mini Graff stencils and prints images on to a variety of media (walls, boards, vinyl, paper, rarely canvas) which strongly relate to the given environment and community, transforming an anonymous repetitive urban landscape into a unique and personal aesthetic experience. Parody, humor and social commentary are common themes in Graff's work - notions that are translated into experiments with scale in public space - from discrete interventions to large scale installations.
Graff has participated in several public art projects including Sydney Art and About, plus coordinated and presented numerous printmaking workshops to various audience groups including high school students, tertiary institutions and public art galleries. Graffs' recent Suburban Roadhouse series explores concepts of trademark and ownership in public/domestic space.
Mini Graff is featured in the video for Deepchild's song Blackness of the Sea.
Depending on the nature and exposure of the site, Mini Graff also pre-prints onto paper, stickers and wallpaper, and hangs them in the place of painted stencils.
Mini Graff's recent work has expanded into exploring colour and abstract patterns using brightly coloured adhesive vinyl strips to draw pedestrians' attention to common street structures. Her work demonstrates how a simple treatment applied to an object rendered invisible by familiarity, such as a sign post, can return it to our awareness.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
born, Sydney
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...
-based street artist
Street artist
A street artist is someone who creates and/or sells their art or craft in public for the pleasure of passers-by.Some people use the term 'street artist' more broadly and also refer to people involved in busking, such as musicians who sing and/or play instruments, acrobats, jugglers, living statues,...
who works in and around the city's urban fringe. The streets and inhabitants of the area provide the content and impetus for her work.
Mini Graff stencils and prints images on to a variety of media (walls, boards, vinyl, paper, rarely canvas) which strongly relate to the given environment and community, transforming an anonymous repetitive urban landscape into a unique and personal aesthetic experience. Parody, humor and social commentary are common themes in Graff's work - notions that are translated into experiments with scale in public space - from discrete interventions to large scale installations.
Graff has participated in several public art projects including Sydney Art and About, plus coordinated and presented numerous printmaking workshops to various audience groups including high school students, tertiary institutions and public art galleries. Graffs' recent Suburban Roadhouse series explores concepts of trademark and ownership in public/domestic space.
Mini Graff is featured in the video for Deepchild's song Blackness of the Sea.
Techniques
Mini Graff's primary medium is handcut stencils transferred with aerosol paint or daubed with sponges. Her installations range from single colour, single stencil works to multiple stencils and colours incorporating 3D elements such as handcut butterflies, plastic figures of people and model houses.Depending on the nature and exposure of the site, Mini Graff also pre-prints onto paper, stickers and wallpaper, and hangs them in the place of painted stencils.
Mini Graff's recent work has expanded into exploring colour and abstract patterns using brightly coloured adhesive vinyl strips to draw pedestrians' attention to common street structures. Her work demonstrates how a simple treatment applied to an object rendered invisible by familiarity, such as a sign post, can return it to our awareness.
Exhibitions
- Brunswick Street Gallery Works on Paper 2010, May 2010, Melbourne, Australia
- Ikea Home Project, July-August 2009
- MAY's Retrospective 2009, Redfern, Australia, March-April 2009
- GRRRLS, February 2008, aMbush Gallery, St Peters, Australia
- Urban Skins, August 2007, Pinnacles Gallery, Thuringowa, Australia
- extra cheeese, Gallery FortyFour, Sydney, Australia
- Mays at MTV Gallery, September 2007, Sydney, Australia
- Doppelganger Mix, Darlinghurst, Australia
- Sydney Art and About, October 2006, Sydney, Australia
- Building Sites Taking Shape, September 2006, Maitland, Australia
- Stencil Festival, August 2006, Melbourne/Sydney, Australia
- Post-it: An Exquisite Corpse, June 2006, Peloton Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Mays Retrospective Exhibition, May 2006, Mays Gallery, St Peters, Australia
- Manly Arts Festival, September 2005, Manly, Australia
- Sydney Design 05, August 2005, Sydney, Australia
- StreetWorks (Forever), July 2005, Sydney, Australia
- Sydney Esquisse 05, April 2005, Sydney, Australia
- Cut and Spray - An Exhibition of Stencil Art, April 2005, Volume Art Space, Newcastle, Australia
- Box Street II, September 2005, Darlinghurst, Australia
- Box Street I, September 2003, Darlinghurst, Australia
Residencies
- Megalo Print Studio, February-March 2010, Megalo, Australia
- Hill End Press, Haefligers Cottage, April 2010, Hill End, Australia