Asyou might have heard, the elusive street artist behind Sydney Festival 2015’s colourful centrepiece is Maser. Well-practiced in spreading funky patterns and good vibes, the Irishman’s newest and most ambitious work is Higher Ground.
This photogenic playground will be set up amongst the sensory delights of Festival Village in Hyde Park during the month of January. The multi-level structure is imagined as a kind of three-dimensional M.C. Escher drawing with a healthy dose of colour, and snap-happy viewers will be free to wander throughout.
While Higher Ground is his largest project to date, Maser also pours his energy into revitalising eyesores and disused spaces. Earlier this year he coated a Los Angeles gas station in layers of bright paint and diagonal patterns – cars and all. It seems as if geometry and a guerrilla-style proliferation of optimism are at the heart of his work. This is partly fuelled by the problems Ireland has experienced as a result of the global financial crisis. On the whole, Maser thinks of his social mission as “promot[ing] hope in any way I can”. Many of his works, he says, have developed as a result of “seeing good people in bad situations”.
In the past, text has formed a big part of Maser’s practice. He tends to borrow the typography used by Irish signwriters, lending his work a retro aesthetic. In thinking about Ireland’s formidable literary legacy, Maser might be considered the friendlier and more accessible counterpoint to those modernist gods of prose and stage. In 2009 he collaborated on a project with Damien Dempsey, pairing the songwriter’s lyrics with his chirpy stripes and eye-catching colour palette. Simmering with political subtext, these uplifting and incisive messages were stamped all over Dublin.
“That was a very poignant and rewarding collaboration,” says Maser. “I think it was also quite timely, given Ireland was hit hard by recession. A sense of community was coming back into play and I wanted to participate by giving more to the environment and encouraging people to engage with each other.”
However, Maser has since moved away from text and is pushing towards new artistic frontiers. He is concerned with a more abstract means of communication and, in his words, “creating spaces for social interaction”. For instance, the bold lines and labyrinthine shape of Higher Ground will impact the viewer’s sense of space. Ultimately, it will be an architectural sanctuary, a place to explore and get lost in. And at two storeys tall, it has been no easy task bringing this large-scale interactive artwork to life.
“It’s being built right now – the bones have been put together,” says Maser. “It’s been tricky to project-manage from overseas – getting the design out of my imagination and off Google Maps. One challenge will be deconstructing it and relocating it. It’ll look pretty wild travelling through the city.”
No-one would deny the contemporary appeal of street art. Initially grouped under the umbrella of ‘outsider art’, it has flowered into a genre that is ever-present and provocative.
“It’s such a broad discipline,” says Maser. “I think galleries are realising how much scope and diversity there is to it … I get more satisfaction from working on a larger scale where I can fine-tune aspects. So I’m definitely gravitating more towards that. Having seen my portfolio, people have been really open to what I want to do. For Sydney Festival, it’s been a back-and-forth process, building a relationship with the curator. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Higher Groundwill be on display in the Festival Village, Hyde Park as part of Sydney Festival on Thursday January 8 – Sunday January 25. Best part is, it’s totally free.
