Wonderwalls of vivid expression
Street artist James Giddy with artist Fieldey working in Victoria Park. Picture: Gerald Moscarda

Something mysterious is happening in Perth’s public spaces. In a matter of days, a car park in Mt Lawley has become an open-air gallery, created by local artists.

One section of wall is adorned with super-sized vintage screen heroes, by Fieldey. Another features Brenton See’s chequerboard montage of elegant creatures and stark geometric shapes. A third is a sea of stylised Australian flora and fauna, created by the bold and colourful hand of Mel McVee.

It’s happening outside the metropolitan area too. Out in the Wheatbelt, towering silos outside Northam have become giant canvases for US artist HENSE’s bright abstract colours and British artist Phlegm’s detailed monochromatic monsters and machines.

This is the start of PUBLIC 2015, creative change organisation Form’s second annual gathering of local, interstate and international artists to create public artworks. In keeping with the “public” theme, the public can watch the artists as they work on walls in Claremont, Fremantle, Leederville, Mt Lawley, Northbridge, Victoria Park and the CBD, and at locations in the Wheatbelt and the Pilbara.

An early taste is available at the PUBLIC Salon exhibition of 100 WA artists currently running in Victoria Park.

In addition to various exhibitions, an international symposium will be part of this celebration of art and ideas to discuss the importance of creativity in public spaces and places. It’s a fantastic opportunity for WA artists to showcase their work, not only to locals, but to an international audience.

For Perth’s Fieldey (known to her friends and family as Haylee Fieldes), the timing couldn’t be better. Best known for her surfboard art, and for her how-to online tutorials, Fieldey’s somewhat surreal, often irreverent graphics are starting to pop up around Perth as she explores new and larger canvases.

Originally from Norfolk Island, Fieldey was 24 when she arrived in Perth to work as a graphic designer in 2007. “When I moved to Perth I took up surfing. I bought my first surfboard, and, just for fun, I decided to paint something on the back of it,” she says. “My brother filmed that process and we put it on YouTube. That was the start of ‘Fieldey’. I did more surfboards, feeling my way and creating a style. I was still working part-time as a designer but over time it became bigger.”

Browsing Fieldey’s surfboards on her website, I’m struck by the disturbing, even nightmarish nature of many of the designs.

“A lot of it comes from the fact that when I first started out painting surfboards, I purposely kept ambiguous about my gender,” she explains. “People always assumed I was a guy because I painted lots of boobs and skulls. Then when they met me in person they’d be a bit nonplussed. A lot of female surfboard artists are expected to paint, like, frangipanis and ‘girly’ things. I love to take something horrible or vulgar and make it beautiful. I once painted a skate deck with a full digestive system with teratoma tumours...it’s disgusting but it’s also quite pretty.”

While surfboard art is something of a niche market, Fieldey’s designs have a cult following. “My style is a cross between tattoo art and surfer art. It’s often quite vulgar and funny. I’m really interested in Renaissance religious painting as well and religion features quite heavily in my work,” she reflects. “People hadn’t seen that kind of thing on surfboards before, which made it popular.”

When I meet Fieldey, she’s painting the wall of The Good Store in Victoria Park, having completed the mural next to Fresh Provisions in Mt Lawley just days previously. Even though this is only her sixth wall, she seems very comfortable perched on a step-ladder as she wields her spray can, markers and brushes.

“I want to take what I do with surfboards and apply it to walls,” she remarks. “I often use humour to talk about objectification of women ...to kind of soften the blow. I’m also interested in ideas of fame. I’ve done a range about famous people who’ve died young — the Mt Lawley wall is an example. I think that’s about the way we, as a society, idolise youth, looks and talent and how that can be incredibly destructive.”

The shark that now surges from the wall of The Good Store, accompanied by a mermaid, represents a departure from those ideas, however. “I wanted to go back to the fun and characters from my surfboard art,” explains Fieldey. “The work is called Jumping the Shark. I’m making a joke about the expression ‘jumping the shark’ with my art,” she says.

This expression, which has its origins in TV series Happy Days, is worth googling. “In my piece I thought I’d do a mermaid riding a shark. She’s got four arms, she’s holding a riding crop and she’s giving a thumbs up. It’s ridiculous… and fun! I’m taking something masculine and... gruesome and turning it on its head.”

PUBLIC runs from April 10-19.The PUBLIC Salon is on now at 101 Albany Highway, Victoria Park. Details: form.net.au

The West Australian

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