We're thrilled to collaborate with Simon Beuve on a second project in South Melbourne - incorporating art into the fitness experience of residents provides the opportunity to immerse themselves whilst offline, as part of their regular routine.
What do you see? With a mural called Rorschach Test, there is no wrong answer.
Simon a French-Australian artist originally from Normandy. He discovered graffiti in 2000 and moved to Paris to immerse himself in the French urban art scene. Today he lives and works in Melbourne, creating murals and studio paintings.
His work has moved from the street onto canvas through agestural, abstract style that explores city life and its effect on the peopleliving it. He looks for the overlooked details and layers of the urbanlandscape, including marks that others might dismiss as mistakes, and turnsthem into paintings, collages and assemblages.
Time is central to Simon’s process. In the studio, he setsstrict limits that force quick decisions and raw, physical responses. Itmirrors painting on the street, where work is often made under pressure. He haspainted at festivals including Frankston Street Art Festival and Melbourne CitySlam and has exhibited in Melbourne since his first solo show in 2015. If youhave visited Local: Box Hill, you will find his work there too.
Rorschach Test explores painting as an instinctive expression of human energy. Bold gestures, layered marks and abstract forms suggest movement, connection and what Simon calls “the timeless act of leavinga trace within the landscape”.
The title borrows from psychology. In 1921, Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach published a test using ten symmetrical inkblots. People were asked what they saw in each card. A mural with that name puts thesame question to everyone who walks past.
You will find the mural at Local: South Melbourne. [Addexact location, size and medium.]
Murals are part of Melbourne’s visual character. Having onewhere you live brings some of that street energy home and creates an easy conversation starter: ask a neighbour what they see and you will probably get a different answer. The mural is one of nine works in the South Melbourne ArtSeries at Local: South Melbourne, a build-to-rent community at 245 Normanby Road.
See more at simonbeuve.com or on Instagram at@flaber.gasted.
Book a tour of Local: South Melbourne and see what you see in it.
