Byron mural artists draw many admirers

Eve Jeffery

Renowned graffiti artists using a new line of eco-friendly spray paint came together for a joint artistic enterprise in Byron Bay over the weekend.

They indulged themselves in their passion to complete a colourful mural 60 metres long and eight metres tall now adorning the building on the corner of Ewingsdale Road and Bayshore Drive.

The Byron Bay Sugar Jam celebrated the release of Ironlak’s new eco-friendly line of spray paint: Sugar Artists’ Acrylic.

Over 150 visitors came to see the artists in action throughout the day despite heavy showers threatening to cancel the event.

The event was organised by Andy Sachs and Luke Shirlaw from Ironlak Spray Paints, who brought in six graffiti artists Askew from New Zealand, Meks, Treas and Quench from BASIX, Murwillumbah, and John Kaye from the Gold Coast.

With music provided by  Green Nose, Desmond Cheese, Drop Legs (with guest appearance from Dave Dog), and Butcher, the main attraction was  the live painting of a massive wall by a hand-selected group of graffiti artists, some of whom are sponsored by Ironlak – Askew, Meks and Treas are members of the Ironlak Family, who are an international collective of influential artists representing Australia’s first aerosol art paint.

‘We wanted to invite the community to come and watch the wall be painted and be entertained by the music’, said Shirlaw.

‘Despite the rain we had over 150 plus come through during the day and we consider the event a huge success.’

Luke says that The Boardshop’s Tony Gembeck was a great help organising permission to paint the wall and the event was to provide the local art community with a live graffiti demonstration from some of Australia’s best graffiti artists.

‘We feel that the ethos of Sugar is very in line with the mentality of the people of Byron Bay which is why we wanted to hold this special launch event in the region’, he said. ‘We also had special guest Askew from New Zealand who is internationally renowned.’