A BIBBULMUN Noongar artist and recent Federation University graduate is one of seven First Nations creatives to see his work featured on a Melbourne tram.<\/p>\n
After tying for the win in this year\u2019s MuralFest competition, Jay Van Nus\u2019 top-place-taking style can now be seen as part of the RISING Art Trams project.<\/p>\n
Like much of his recent work, Van Nuys said he was inspired by his Indigenous heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe designs are based off my background, being Bibbulmun Noongar,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of traditional symbols in there and showing different people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing that connects my work is around using art to tell my story of all my different identity groups. More recently, it\u2019s really been about my Indigenous background.\u201d<\/p>\n
The RISING Art Trams initiative was a collaboration between Public Transport Victoria, Yarra Trams, and Creative Victoria.<\/p>\n
With this year\u2019s theme being Blak Futurism, the project was curated by Boon Wurrung\/Wemba Wemba artist Jarra Karalinar Steel.<\/p>\n
Van Nus saw his stretched across its tramline canvas during a launch event last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was overwhelming,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was huge. I\u2019d been seeing it on my screen for months so I hadn\u2019t expected it to be as big and exciting as it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the piece marked many firsts for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d done a lot of black-and-white Western traditional works in realism,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was my first time doing vector art to scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been using lots of contrasting colours as well. Composition-wise, a lot of it was based off that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a whole different process going from a sketch to vectoring. I got sent tram templates and had to be cautious of windows and I\u2019d never had to think about that before and in the 3D space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Nus is a self-proclaimed lifelong creative and recently established his art business Jay Kulbardi, which is Noongar for \u201cmagpie,\u201d after first selling his work in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A BIBBULMUN Noongar artist and recent Federation University graduate is one of seven First Nations creatives to see his work featured on a Melbourne tram. After tying for the win in this year\u2019s MuralFest competition, Jay Van Nus\u2019 top-place-taking style can now be seen as part of the RISING Art Trams project. Like much of […]<\/p>\n