Stage 1 is dry. Stage 2 gets taped, brushed and rolled in July.
After 12 months of site visits, sketching, meetings and great conversations with the locals, the cherry pickers move in. Word has it the locals were betting on what the lettering would say in the end. Side note: corrugated iron is rather tricky to paint on.
We asked Georgia what the team’s go-to music for painting was. Her response: “We went through just about every genre - when the speaker would cut out, we were definitely at the mercy of 2am radio DJs! It was a hard mix to balance, as we were painting well into the night but needed something with a bit of pace to keep us moving too. The main vibe is a kind of neo-soul, r&b mix, with a lot of talking over the top.”
Georgia’s inspiration of late: “Before this project started I went on a trip to Paris, Copenhagen, and completed a project in Delhi, so it's been a really interesting time of being inspired by very different eras and styles of architecture, art and music. I really loved Palais de Tokyo and Brancusi's studio in Paris, as well as the rap/hip hop coming out of France right now. That's then combined with a lot of simplified but precise design in Denmark, anti-style graffiti in Europe, and India's just full on aesthetic – things like the structures in Jantar Mantar combined with a real 'get it done' approach to creating literally anything. It's a really interesting way to work by constantly seeing varied places juxtaposed against each other so quickly.”
He made the shot.
After 200L of primers and paint, 16 rolls of tape, 2 spray guns, 11 rollers, 12 dead brushes and 16 blocks of chocolate, it’s game over for stage 1 of the project.
Georgia is currently finishing works for her first solo exhibition in Melbourne. ‘A Measure of All Things’ opens 31 May at Backwoods Gallery. She’ll be back at KGV working on something special for the courts in July. See more of Georgia’s epic work.
Georgia Hill’s I’m Here, I’m Ready at KGV Recreation Centre is part of Art & About Sydney, our yearlong calendar of temporary public art projects in less usual spaces.
Published 21 May 2019, updated 25 June 2024
