#terhor

Swampdonkey bite up the top?

This week’s podcast is an interview with Sydney street artists, Resan and TerHor, whose work you can see on a corner near you. Or, if you’re into legality, check out Resan’s work at the CHROWN JEWELS on September 6.

Collaboration between TerHor, OX King and Resan. Photo by janie d.

When you cross comedy with art, you might end up with Banksy – the world’s most famous street artist, who brought the scene to the mainstream with his film ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’.  He’s quite hard to find though, so Mug and Kettle settled for two up-and-coming street artists who call Sydney home, Resan and TerHor. Relax, they know their art and their Crimes Act – with fines and even jail time a possible consequence of their artistic ambitions.

“You can go to jail for just painting one wall.”

Resan and TerHor – not their real names for legal and artistic purposes – take us into a scene dominated by competition between artists. TerHor explains this goes well beyond their talents in putting paint on a wall, but to the different schools of street art: paste-ups, stickers and painters doing more than the traditional letter-work that still retains the title of ‘graffiti’.

Artwork by TerHor

  The biggest faux pas in the street art world? Painting, stickering or pasting over someone else’s piece… which is more difficult than you’d think given how some artist’s choose to protect their works.

“What’s a trolley pole?”

Obviously with any originally underground art-form, the term ‘sell out’ is thrown around a lot. TerHor suffered this after his first solo show. Resan is yet to do a solo show (don’t worry though, it’s coming) but has already started moving toward more conventional forms of painting. He’s formally trained, having studied at COFA, and it’s interesting that he would use his real name were he to exhibit these more traditional works.

Neither of them will wear an OBEY t-shirt, and you should find out why as the street art world is just as interesting as the art it produces.  On that, check out their art too! Find TerHor’s work here, and Resan’s work here.