Sprinkling Street Art around Sydney
Walking down the streets of Newtown and Enmore, I was thinking about my guest for Something Else on Eastside Radio 89.7FM. Unknowingly, I was making my way, step by step to Plump Gallery in Enmore, and also to my next guest.
As I reached Plump Gallery, the space is now vacant. Only a few months ago it held an amazing exhibition by Primo! Magazine titled “Backyard Play.” I thought back to this radical artwork: vibrant in colours and style and his subject matter was animalistic and visceral but sensitive. It was an artwork done by Aidan Mckenzie also known as “Sprinkles.” Straightaway I called him up wanting to chat with him about his work and street art in Sydney.
Sprinkles, born in New Zealand but raised in Sydney has natural and raw talent. He works are diverse, painting freely on the streets on Sydney to having works hung in galleries, even having his work done on t-shirts. Drawing his conceptual practices of friendship and family he engages audiences on all levels. His intense, wild haired and heavily made up creations ride an evolved relationship between tattoo machines, aerosol cans, distinctive lines and vibrant colours to communicate the bonds we create and break on a daily basis. His artwork portray the many different faces we can find within ourselves, which are complemented by his using animals as metaphors for these ‘faces.’
His work in the international Street Festival “Outpost” 2012 on Cockatoo Island was a huge success creating a well respected name for himself. Inspired from his Chinese and Maori heritage, he creates original and fresh pieces that bring a whole new level of creativity to the art world. Intense colours and striking form draws audience in to a more meaningful message. Experiencing his work in the streets, galleries or even on t-shirts of people passing by, Sprinkles work has a sense familiarity to it.
Check his work out at www.theloop.com.au/sprinkles/portfolio and the exhibition Backyard Play by Primo! Magazine at
To hear this podcast on potato tattoos, making street art fun and making cuteness sinister, go to iTunes, open up the ‘Advanced’ menu bar, select ‘Subscribe to Podcast’ and paste this URL into the dialogue box: http://www.cpod.org.au/feed.php?id=308.
I also mentioned the Sydney Writers Festival (in particular the competition “So You Think You Can Write?”
head on over to it http://www.swf.org.au
