29 Feb Public Art at East Brunswick Village

Congratulations to artists Datsun Tran, Robert Hague, Saffron Newey, Al Stark, VEXTA, ELLE & Melanie Young who were commissioned to create new works for the new development of East Brunswick Village. For the past two years ADA have been the driving culture consultants leading place making at EBV and have been dedicated to making art a part of everyday life.

EBV have primarily engaged local artists to commission public art that will stand the test of time. There will be art throughout EBV, in a range of mediums including sculpture, photography, and murals.

Artist Datsun Tran will transform the busy ground floor lobby entrance – the face of the development – into an exciting contemporary environment featuring animals, flora and birds of the area. He draws from his own ongoing creative subject matter, which mainly features animals, but the work is about us, the human story. It’s a story about the two sides to us: competition and community. The determination we have to better ourselves, and our ability to cooperate and form communities, which has seen us flourish.

Five artists, Saffron Newey, Al Stark, VEXTA, Melanie Young and ELLE were recently commissioned to paint wall murals for the residential spaces at EBV, with many responding to the local flora and fauna of the area. 

Artist Saffron Newey painted a wall mural on the first floor of the residential hallways. The focus of her practice has long been painting and in particular the influences of technology on the medium. Central to her PhD and current practice are art history and its representation in an online environment.

Al Stark returned to EBV to create a mural on the second floor. His images reference forms of traditional indigenous and folk art throughout the world and he has incorporated imagery of the local flora and fauna for his design for the residential hallways.

Painter VEXTA is recognized in the street art scene as one of the leading female artists. Integral to Vexta’s practice is bringing art to the people on the streets and as such she has created a mural that references the local birdlife for the residents of the third floor at EBV.

Artist Melanie Young draws upon the native flora of the Merri, the brick/pottery works and the multicultural nature of the Brunswick community for her wall mural on the fourth floor. Young uses pattern as a stylized form of different wild flowers from the Merri creek, in particular Yam daisy, Chocolate lilli and Kangaroo apple

Painter ELLE considers her paintings to be poetry. On the fifth floor and rooftop lobby ELLE has created stories by collaging disparate images of flora and fauna juxtaposed with vibrant colours, revealing purposefully designed messages for the residents of EBV.

For more information of East Brunswick Village, please visit the EBV website.