Emmanuel Moore and John Kaye braved the brutal summer heat to paint this scorcher in the Brisbane suburb of Grange. One for the people.
The two artists have been painting together for over a decade now, starting as kids doing graffiti and grateful to be still painting together, even as their individual artistic practices have continued to evolve.
“This wall was us doing our own paintings for our own reasons, on the same spot, and trying to bring them together to make a stronger combination of two people’s work on one space.” –John Kaye explains.
Emmanuel Moore further breaks it down for us:
“The concept for this painting was pretty much created while we were at the wall. I had ideas leading up to it but there wasn’t anything set in stone. All I knew was that I wanted to do a self-portrait / still life. John was doing the same, he marked up a few ideas before sticking with one idea after an elderly man came over and mentioned that he hoped it wasn’t going to be graffiti. John then scrapped any lettering he had planned and stuck solely to figurative objects.”
“The days were really hot and there was smoke in the air from bushfires burning close to Brisbane which made the air dusty and dry. The wall is in full sun from midday onwards, it is almost black in colour, there is a tar road behind us, and dirt below us. It was an intense environment to be in. Our allies were the shade around the corner and an Esky with ice and water.”
“John finished up his piece first and moved into the carpark underneath the building to start on a new piece while I pushed through another day to finish on mine. There were a lot of positive comments from the people passing by, giving us beeps and stopping to comment on it. It’s nice to have Brisbane showing a lot of love towards this kind of thing. I hope the mural has a positive impact on the area and its people. Thanks to Kelly for the wall.” –Emmanuel Moore
Follow @killjohnkaye and @emmanuel_moore on Instagram
Action photographs by Markus Ravik – @markusravik on IG
As told to Luke Shirlaw of Artillery Projects. Follow him on Instagram, and subscribe to Artillery’s ‘The Drop’ for exclusive email interviews.