Unauthorised sculpture or urban-art installations in public places are the opposite of the monumental official place-making sculptures. These are sculptures that you have to looking for to find. They are small rather than giant, they are discreet rather than obvious. They don’t reflect the official government position like this small version of Greenpeace’s melting tennis ball to remind people that must we are living in a #ClimateCrisis. (A large 1.5 metre version of this was temporarily installed in Federation Square during the Australian Open in 2019.)
The fake brick wall, crystal cave in a brick or the clock on grill is all about placement. The surprise of discovery that something that could only be described as art is part of an old brick wall in the city or has been installed on the grill of a bricked up window.
Up on a wall in Presgrave Place is a cast version of Jayeff’s eye with a smile. It is simply a bit of fun that is close to being a high-end version of a tag. The tiny work of Tinky and Gigi are more likely to be seen in exhibition or at a festival but a couple have been seen on the streets. Presgrave Place is the place to go if you do want to see some street art sculpture.
Jayeff 
Tinky 
Gigi
Will Coles, Discarded and others are still glueing their cast works around the city, Junkie Projects is still nailing them up but it were these cast faces by an anonymous artist in Hosier Lane that were the best street sculpture that I’ve seen in a long time. While other cast objects can survive a layer or ten of aerosol paint the cast faces incorporated that eventuality into their image (see my blog post).
Unknown 
Discarded 
In the city I saw another one of Drasko’s mock classical low relief works that add modern tech.
For more about street art sculptures see my earlier posts:
street art sculpture in the Whitechapel Area
10 Great Street Installation 2014
Black Mark 
May 20th, 2020 at 12:14 PM
I enjoy how street sculpture plays and interacts with the urban environment and that it cannot be erased by layers of spray paint that are added over time.
May 20th, 2020 at 12:19 PM
Yes, indeed. Have you been inspired to do some street sculpture? Or maybe I’ve seen it already and you don’t want to say too much.
December 29th, 2020 at 11:43 AM
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