Talk us through the history of 567 King.
567 King opened its doors in 2005. Before 567, I was running a website documenting local aerosol art. The site was set up as a uni assignment but as I had fun keeping it fresh I put more effort into it and it continued evolving. Over time, my brother helped me set up a shopping cart and the next step was to source goods from overseas that weren’t available in Australia. Once the online store got traction, the natural progression was to open up a physical shop, with the ideal location, Newtown.
Have you found it hard to convince the wider community of graffiti’s value as an art form?
People in Newtown are very open-minded, and there was already a rich and celebrated history of murals and aerosol art here before we arrived. Public art speaks for itself, and when it is done well it can brighten up your day and enrich our lives. When Ben Quilty, the 2011 Archibald Prize winner, gave 567 praise in the press, it brought about a new acceptance of what we do.
What kind of goodies do you specialise in?
Our biggest focus is aerosol paint. This versatile tool has countless applications. We don’t only supply to muralists and artists, but also to designers, the film industry, tradesmen and so on. We have close to 1,000 colours available in different brands and finishes. Plus we carry a wide range of markers, water-based paints, books, clothing and accessories. Over the last few years, we’ve been venturing more and more into the sale of music resulting from our passion for hip hop and an addiction to collecting vinyl.
You put together the live artist hub at this year’s Newtown Festival – how did that go down?
It was fantastic and it was a great way to bring three super-talented artists together and showcase what we do. I’m sure that everyone that witnessed Peque, Unique and Phibs painting was impressed and gained much inspiration. We also staged a colouring competition for the youngsters, and this proved really popular.
How connected is the art and painting scene to the hip hop scene more generally?
A lot of people that paint also create music. This is their artistic nature, to create. In Sydney, before graffiti took off, breakdancing was the big thing. So Sydney has its graffiti roots tied closely with hip hop. At the same time, a lot of artists are into all styles of music and not just hip hop. If you dig through a hip hop head’s collection of records, you’ll find a wide variety of stuff. But we love our hip hop!
