For the past few months YarraBend has housed some of Melbourne’s most valuable hidden artworks. Over the weekend a select group of people viewed these works for the first time, right before they were painted over and set for demolition.
Rone, a Collingwood based artist best known for his large scale portraits of beautiful women, recently completed his latest works inside the machine rooms of the old Alphington Paper Mills at YarraBend. The works are an extension of his “Empty” series which investigates the themes of beauty and decay. In “Empty”, Rone secretly created murals in abandoned houses and buildings around Melbourne and documented these works in a photographic print series.
The Paper Mills works are unique in that they now exist only in photographic form, and through the memory of those few people who were lucky enough to have seen them in reality. The concept of documenting contemporary street art prior to its imminent removal takes the genre to a new level.
As an avid art collector, Glenvill CEO and owner of the YarraBend development, Len Warson was instrumental in engaging Rone at YarraBend. “One of our key pillars for YarraBend is The Arts, so to start our journey with these works by Rone is very exciting”. This project marks the beginning of a series of artistic collaborations for the site.