Melbourne graffiti artist Lush thought he was being trolled when he received an email invitation from artist and activist Banksy to take part in an international art event. As it turns out, he is the only Australian represented at Dismaland, the highly publicised "bemusement park" set up by Banksy in an English seaside town.
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Meanwhile in a Melbourne laneway on Friday night, Lush staged his self-styled "secret show", a transient museum-style display that was mounted and removed in little more than an hour.
When Lush was invited to be part of a Banksy project, he thought it might have been a hoax. "I sent back an email talking about a person we both know, checking to see if they knew what I meant," he says.
At the start, he wasn't told what the project was. "I asked if it was going to be a street-art circus sort of thing. That's all I really cared about, I didn't want to be involved some kind of joke. But it turned out I was pretty much the only graffiti guy in it."
Dismaland, which opened at Weston-super-Mare on August 21 and will close on September 27, is Banksy's dystopian destination, a place he has described as "a family theme park unsuitable for children, a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism". Fifty-eight artists from around the world – including Jenny Holzer and Damien Hirst – have made works for it.
Lush submitted various ideas before he made his final contributions, three framed works and two outdoor installations, set-ups that allow "people who visit to become part of the show themselves, because everyone's so self-obsessed at the moment". One is a blank wall with a "selfie hole" for people to stick their heads through, the other is a contemporary twist on the Pirates Of the Caribbean theme park image.
The Lush installation that is part of Banksy's Dismaland. Photo: Supplied
He describes the framed works as "recycled art prints". At Dismaland, he says, they are "hanging right next to Damien Hirst, it's pretty crazy." He has already felt the impact of being a Dismaland artist – sales are booming. "I've worked all year on a whole body of work, and this week I've sold every single piece of it," he says.
Lush hasn't been able to go to Dismaland, And he wasn't an obvious presence at the laneway event that he had foreshadowed earlier in the week on Instagram (he has more than 53,900 followers) with the time and date, but not the location.
On Friday evening, he announced that it was at Hosier Lane. A group of people set up a temporary gallery-style display of framed works on a section of wall that had been freshly painted red: the atmosphere was enhanced by a uniformed attendant, velvet robes, and moments of theatricality, including the presence of a couple of men who started to paint over some of the works with white paint, in an echo of graffiti erasure.
A "council worker" paints over art pieces by street artist Lush in Hosier Lane. Photo: Josh Robenstone
What was displayed at Hosier Lane included the work Lush just has sold. "I thought I might as well show it before it goes into the abyss." By 6.10 pm, it had all been cleared away. "A little bit of fun," he says.
