The alleys and laneways of Melbourne’s central business district are festooned with street art and graffiti thanks in part to the creation of free spaces within the city. Add to this the fact that art on walls is legal with the building owners permission and you have an environment where art can flourish and not surprisingly this has attracted some of the best artists around.
A consequence of free walls is that the art can be very ephemeral. Artists can freely overpaint work so creating a constantly changing gallery of work. On the plus side artists are freely able to respond to what is happening in the world around them so at the time of our visit there was a number of murals making reference to the bushfires on Australia’s east coast.
In this post we will look at the art in the well known laneways close to Flinders Lane.
Hozier Lane
Perhaps the best known and certainly the most popular laneway for visitors wanting to see what the street art scene is all about. It can get very busy so if you want some space to view the work then get there early. As you enter the laneway from Flinders Street there are a number of murals featuring Koalas and the effect on wildlife of the recent bushfires.
There is hardly a square centimetre of wall uncovered in places making the whole scene a riot of colour.
Adnate is an Australian street artist well known for portraiture and here on Hozier Lane you can see a a rather grand example of his work.
Higson Lane
Higson Lane is just a short walk from Hozier Lane and here the walls are less densely painted. Street artists are sometimes known for their political observations and there is a good example here.
Much of the art here is by Lushsux.
Baby Yoda features again, this time with Elton John.
AC/DC Lane/Duckboard Place
The next laneway along Flinders Lane is AC/DC Lane named after the Australian rock band and is a series of murals dedicated to the world of rock and roll. Indeed the famous Melbourne music venue The Cherry Bar was once located here before it moved to its new home on Little Collins Street. what better way to start than with this mural of Jimi Hendrix
Lushsux has a mural here dedicated to Malcolm Young, the rhythm guitarist with AC/DC who died in 2017.
As you turn the corner at the bottom of AC/DC lane it becomes Duckboard Place. On the wall to the left is this large mural by Finton McGee.
A stencil by Banksy still survives faro his visit here in 2003, sorry not ny best photograph.
Outback based artist John Murray has temporarily relocated to Melbourne and he has a couple of pieces on Duckboard Place including this of Elvis!
Just around the corner is this collaboration with Kasper.
