PASTEUP

Fight / flight

Every year on March 4, I publicly display an artwork to honour the memory of an old friend, an unusually intelligent and empathic human being who constantly inspired me to confront my fears and think freely. Birds fighting in mid-air often look like they're dancing, and I felt like this image perfectly summarised the trade-off between fear and freedom - or between the fight and the flight. The piece went up in Racecourse Rd in Ascot Vale, Melbourne, and also featured in the 2014 end of year exhibition for the Short Drawing Course at the Victorian College of the Arts.

ARTWORK

Digital ink

The birds were hand-illustrated in Photoshop using a tablet. They were then printed as two pieces, together measuring 2.25m2.

EXECUTION

Outside

I pasted the birds up on the Citylink Bridge on Racecourse Rd in North Melbourne, Australia. Racecourse Rd is a 2-way 3-lane road that sees solid motor traffic 24/7; it also carries a tramline and intersects the Capital City bike trail, both of which carry people in and out of the center of town daily.

EXECUTION

Inside

The birds also featured as part of the end of year exhibition for the Short Drawing Course at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2014. For the show, I added pencil detail to the birds’ wings.