There’s something exciting happening in Adelaide!

Starting this month, a new apartment building will be constructed on Flinders Street, and is projected to be complete by June 2014.

The Flinders Street Building - Canvas for Stefan Bruneder's Creation

You may be wondering why we’re talking to you about some new apartment building when we’re not in the business of apartments or building – we’re an art gallery, after all, and while we do perform installations, they’re not quite on this scale.

Well, we’re excited because the company building the apartments is doing something very special with the project, and it involves one of our artists, Stefan Bruneder.

^{'John Barleycorn' by Stefan Bruneder is a very popular piece - how many icons can you recognise?}

If you’ve truly had your ear to the ground in the Adelaide art scene recently, you may have heard a call go out for artists who were interested in painting ceilings, foyer wall panels and a mural – and we don’t mean with a rollerusing a bucket of ‘Misty Ecru’. Guavalime Property Solutions is the company who issued the call to arms (or paintbrushes), and they received over 70 submissions for their competition, ‘ARTIn The Heart’.

The biggest piece of art they offered to commission is over 8 storeys high – a massive 21 by 7.5m wall of art, all dedicated to a single piece by a single artist (and with a reward of $10,000).
Guess which local artist took out this huge prize: our very own Stefan Bruneder, with a piece themed around ‘gathering, sharing, [and] shelter’.

Stefan Bruneder's 'Art in the Heart' Creation

Adelaide has been very slowly coming around to the concept of art on our streets, intended for the public’s enjoyment and thought. Stefan’s piece will be taking that one step further with this giant of a mural, referencing both folk and street art and reaching out to the pedestrians with the patterns and symbols contained within his design.

^{Those who live within the Norwood suburb may have an easier time recognising some of these characters.}

Known for his colourful, full pieces, Stefan has worked on large pieces before – although perhaps not quite in this scale –and has a deft hand when it comes to inserting cultural icons into a piece, creating a finished work that is both a piece of art and a question. His pieces ask the viewer to connect the characters portrayed within and come to their own conclusions as to how they fit together, and what that says about all involved. A perfect example of how art is not just a static creation hanging upon a wall!

It will be a while before the building will take shape, much less have a mural painted upon it, but we think we can safely say that we’re very much looking forwards to the finished product –with art filling the interior as well, it sounds like a wonderful place to live!