The Thousands

I don’t want to talk about The Institution, because it’s tricky, and because Bethany had an actual meltdown over it and I don’t want to subject myself to anything similar. She spoke in tongues. Joseph Allen Shea and Marty Routledge don’t want to talk about it either. Rather, they want to show you things. Things from outside of The Institution.

With all of their curatorial powers, they’ve harnessed artists whose forms are self established – outside of the repressing, conventional institute – be they self-taught, subconscious or born from previous work in commercial art, graffiti or skateboarding.

Self Est. runs over four days, and lends itself to a series of installments. This one focuses on letterforms. Opening on Thursday with an exhibition at kind of – gallery, featuring global graffiti legends DMOTE (New York), HORFÉ (Paris) and ROID (London) – whose current work is off its head. Perth’s Ben Barretto and San Fran’s Jeff Canham take up residence in the current Gallery A.S. space for an exhibition on Friday night, and then on Saturday they’re joined by Fred Forsyth (UK director of Topsafe and Crack & Shine) and Australian public art expert Cameron Macauliffe. By Saturday arvo ROID, HORFÉ and Jeff Canham will have started painting a wall on the corner of Kippax and Lt Riley streets, where the BBQ and Beers Finale will go down. On Sunday, they’ll finish the wall with sober hands.