Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Passage - A Walking Exhibition



Catch innovative window installations and designs as Curtin University Fashion Merchandising students work with retailers on Beaufort Street as part of a new community project kicked off by the Beaufort Street Network.

The Beaufort Street Network is a new community organisation for people who love the unique vibrancy, lifestyle and retail nature of the strip– and are committed to making it even better.

Working to the theme “Passage: a walking exhibition”, nine groups of Curtin students have been asked to work with retailers to develop innovative window displays – which show both creative flair but also includes the retail store’s particular products.

This is a great initiative which provides a practical and hands on opportunity for students to learn about display merchandising and project management, while also bringing together retailers and developing a sense of community.

The community project will be kicked off at a special evening launch on the Street on Thursday evening, 23rd October at Billie and Rose from 6pm and end at Headturners hairdressers where the winner for best overall window display will be announced at 9:30.

The walking exhibition will run for two weeks until Wednesday 5th of November.

The stores participating in the project include: Planet Video; Libertine; Behind the Monkey; Ruck Rover; Test tube; Headturners; Ware; Baker and Shuhandler; and Billie and Rose.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Irony Of The Lightbulb Series By Fred Suicide

As featured in the West Weekend magazine, Behind the Monkey is delighted to display a mix of Fred’s smaller Toy Art Sculptures.

About the Series

The light bulb – invented by Humphrey Davy (although some say Thomas Edison) has, through mass world consumption, become a recycling issue in itself.
Fred finds he can breathe a new life into light bulbs that have suicided on the rubbish heap using lego men that have suffered long and hard in the playroom……..such a bright idea!



About The Artist

FRED SUICIDE
perth – western australia

(born in Sydney; raised in Lebanon, Fred Suicide left Tripoli to study abroad at the age of 18 and after living in Sweden and California, settled in Perth six years ago.)

Fred has been experimenting with the amazing art form of transforming and sculpturing used and discarded toys after switching career paths from engineering a few years back. He has no formal art training but has adapted the skills learnt over the years while studying engineering to create his artworks.

Fred’s toys reflect Australia’s recycling culture. He has spent hours at the tip, at garage sales and can often be found in an op-shop on the fringes of Perth looking for pieces of Lego and other toys that have been rejected by past owners. In a dedicated quest to reuse and re-invent he will often go to the lengths of mixing his own epoxy from discarded glues – or melting down the wax from cheese wheels – using springs from watches, a head from a dinosaur with the hair from a Barbie………so wonderfully weird they play with your head!

Singing in the shower!



In store now! This cool little shower radio was featured in The West Australian Magazine this weekend. It's the Lexon Rubber Radio - water resistant, AM or FM tuning for $99.00

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Chaos & Drama

Selected pics from the Chaos & Drama Book & Exhibition Launch on 19th September featuring the work of photographer Seng Mah.

Photographs by Brett Dorron and David Savage









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Exhibition running until 12th October 2008 in the Cracked Gallery.


THE 2008 STORY - CHAPTER 7 - "CHAOS AND DRAMA''

"Monkey's don't live in Greece" sighed Keeper.
"So". said the Monkey
"Seng Mah tells me that Greece is a place where nothing is as it seems".

“I, THE MONKEY, want to go there - expose myself to an environment which is wonderfully and richly unfamiliar".

Keeper thought to herself that she exposed herself each day to an environment which was also wonderfully and richly unfamiliar - try working in a store with a Monkey!

"Talk about Chaos and Drama" she muttered out loud.

"That's what I'm talking about Keeper - Chaos and Drama - Seng's photographic exhibition and exploration of the rich, chaotic tapestry of Greek life. Photographs that are less about the external landscape of Greece and more about his internal feelings of isolation and loneliness while traveling solo and how he reacted to these travel experiences. Seng has a way of revealing the unexpected in his images and it looks so different............"

"the individual stories, characters and landscapes that he has drawn out in these images show the powerful emotions that emerge from traveling around Athens, Crete and the Cycladic Islands - it reveals a different side to this land - and - I, THE MONKEY –

-want to experience it too......"

(……and I, the Keeper will enjoy a drink on opening night – see attached invitation and I’m about to RSVP now to Seng! Phew!)