Street artist Dside has been holed up in a hotel room and drawing on the walls.
The New Plymouth-born Wellington artist, whose real name is Damin Radford Scott, has made his mark on one of the rooms at the QT Wellington (formerly Museum Hotel) as part of the Gallery 4 project.
The project invited artists to create in-room artworks for the wall space behind the bed-heads of new guest rooms on level four. The hotel describes itself as a cultural playground built on a wonderfully eccentric, largely New Zealand art collection, and it celebrates creativity for its guests.
As well as creating the initial work, Dside was also on the panel that selected the artists for the other rooms from responses to an open call for submissions. The standard of applicants was so high that QT engaged 19 artists, rather than the nine they intended. Dside says that proposed work spanned a wide range of aesthetics. All 25 rooms on Level 4 became a canvas for original artwork, on the walls, balconies, ceilings, wherever the artists chose to point a paintbrush, camera or spray-can.
Dside’s art focuses on animals and the environment, most recently with a heavy emphasis on extinction. His projects are designed to translate facts into terms that people can grasp. ‘Just trying to tell the truths of the planet,’ he says. His first gallery exhibition, Extincted, featured nine images of different animals, half of which were painted over during the night. ‘It was an experiment,’ he says. ‘It was for other people, it was for the reality that extinction is real.’
Of the collaboration with QT Dside says, ‘They have a great collection in their building. I’m aware of how much they have supported and encouraged the fine arts community and was happy to be involved.’
Following the November launch of Gallery 4, all 25 rooms are now available for guests to book.
First published Art Zone #76