Aurora Campbell is a mural artist and illustrator. Using fine intricate line work to capture organic forms, Aurora’s work is bold, raw and vibrant. Her concepts are conceived from observational sketches, creating a site-specific and evocative outcome. A passionate and avid drawer, Aurora takes any opportunity to put lines down – sketching in nature, going to life drawing classes or capturing people in public spaces. Currently living in her hometown of Brisbane, she has spent the last 11 years practising in Melbourne, teaching life drawing, painting murals, and exhibiting regularly.
Initially a disgruntled tradesman, Jarad hung up the hammer some years ago to answer the call of the paint slinging, brush-dipping, salacious and often maniacal nomad that rang ceaselessly from within. Now slightly less disgruntled, and possibly (perhaps impossibly) more salacious, he earns a living as a muralist, travelling Australia in his humble caravan – ‘the vanborghini’. Most of Jarad’s mural work can be found throughout regional Queensland, NSW, and Tasmania, with oil paintings in private collections internationally. Depicting mainly portraits and still-lifes on a large scale, Jarad’s work focuses mainly on representational painting and realism inspired by a background in historical European art studies & practice.
Shmick is a Painter & Muralist from the Gold Coast, Australia. Constantly pushing his own boundaries and experimenting with different styles of design, he is best known for his large scale murals. Spanning a range of mediums including aerosol, acrylic, ink & digital, his style has really come into its own. Inspired by the coastline, rainforest, native animals and stunning surrounds, Shmick’s portfolio largely consists of dreamscape compositions, expressionism, while incorporating a delicate balance of surrealism and realism.
JB (Diz) has been drawing & painting since childhood but it was his introduction to Graffiti art in the late 80’s that compelled Diz towards the visual arts & his love for creating. JB works in all mediums but his preferences are oils on canvas, and spray paint. His style varies from bold ‘POP’ & design to subtle surrealism, realism & fine art. Diz has been involved in numerous productions ranging from printed magazines & company branding to large scale murals, gallery exhibitions & nightclub decor. JB is self taught but has also studied Design & a Masters in Contemporary Art.
Sky Parra is an emerging portrait and figuration painter based in Meanjin (Brisbane). Interested in the humanising materiality of paint, her fleshy works explore the emotive narratives of exchange and empathy. Investigating themes of truth and ontology, Parra’s practice loosely constitutes a site for existential inquiry, jockeying the ineffable human experience in a bid to record the passing of time and uncover the facets of our personal relationships. Working predominantly on a large scale, Parra uses a gestural impasto application to render naturalistic depictions of her subjects.
How communities perceive, talk about and interact with artificial intelligence (AI) – understanding its benefits and potential risks – has never been more important. Misinformed or exaggerated debate not only affects public confidence, but can ultimately impact on ways AI is developed, adopted and regulated.
Visualising AI – Science Meets Street Art Co-Lab recognises that for AI to be truly effective as a transformative technology, intended to augment and extend human potential, it must be developed with everyone in the loop.
In collaboration with Queensland AI Hub (and support of its founding partner, the University of Queensland), Vast Yonder is excited to launch this globally unique sub-program of the 2021 Brisbane Street Art Festival – evolving a concept originally conceived by STEM+ TV/Online Presenter, Lee Constable.
Designed to canvass authentic public discourse around creation and use of AI, the novel legacy project pairs Queensland’s leading AI experts with up-and-coming street artists, culminating in four legacy murals across Greater Brisbane.
AI Expert – Associate Professor Felipe Gonzalez (QUT) Felipeis an aeronautical engineer with a passion for innovation in the fields of aerial robotics and automation. He combines the power of AI and drones to better understand and safeguard precious environments… from the Great Barrier Reef to Antarctica.
AI Expert – Professor Scott Chapman (University of Queensland) Scott is an expert at putting big data to work in the field of crop simulation modelling and genetics – leading teams to combine AI and other technologies (drone data, remote sensing from satellites, IoT sensors and image processing) to predict and adapt grain crops across Australia. Ultimately, his work aims to help farmers by synchronising crop growth and development to extremely variable climates.
AI Expert – Professor Janet Wiles (University of Queensland) Janet specialises in human-robot interactions, language technologies, bio-inspired computation, visualisation and AI, complex systems modelling in biology and neuroscience, human memory, language, and cognition.
AI Expert – Dr Sally Shrapnel (University of Queensland) Sally is an interdisciplinary scientist working at the interface of causality and machine learning. The former GP is currently the lead on an international COVID-19 related study, using AI to predict kidney injury.
As part of this year’s festival, QMF and BSAF are thrilled to present a live canvas portrait painting in Queen Street Mall. Visual artists will weave together original portraits of three unique Brisbane identities – Kitch, Anisa and Michelle. They each bring a sense of culture, activism and respect to all things Brisbane, and have individually contributed to the forthcoming City Symphony mobile app. This new and immersive music and audio tour soundtracks on-foot exploration of the Brisbane CBD, responding to your geographic location. Download from your favourite app store and listen to their contributions when City Symphony launches in May!
For the second year in a row, BSAF will be partnering with Brisbane BMW to deliver the BSAF Art Cars – where two local artists will have their designs showcased on a BMW M3 and an M4 Coupé. 2021 sees internationally renowned artists Sofles and Tori-Jay Mordey’s designs proudly displayed on the cars that will be driven around Brisbane throughout the festival.
BMW has a history of art cars and BSAF 2020’s art car was designed in collaboration with Spectator Jonze to bring the 2 Series to life. This year in partnership with Brisbane BMW we have curated two ‘BMW Inspired’ Art Cars with the 2021 M3 being wrapped in original Sofles artwork and the 2021 BMW M4 being wrapped in an original Tori-Jay Mordey artwork.
BMW has a history of working with artists through a series of works, first introduced in 1975 by French driver, Hervé Poulain, who invited the artist, Alexander Calder, to design and paint the very first BMW art car. The car was used to race in the 1975 24 hours Le Mans endurance race.
You can view these artworks at events throughout the festival program as the cars will be driving around the city and on display at various locations.
A hard-working silly-bugger. His illustrations have been used to brand countless bands, bars and beers. From the full branding of restaurants and bars, to gig posters, apparel design and every form of illustrative branding. He’s the Head Illustrator and Co-Founder of Snake Eyes Studios in Newtown, the studio is within the compounds of the Young Henrys beer brewery (it’s amazing). They listen to Slayer and drink a lot of coffee. He has an obsession with skulls, monsters, Dad- jokes, red meat and stuff with eyeballs. He also loves swearing. He toasts his sandwiches. He prefers chunky markers to biros. And he’s always down for silly-business.
