Perth's Best Art Gallery - Condor Carpark

First, a little history on the "Condor" tower. The St Georges Terrace apartments are built on the site of a former office building. Unfortunately, for the tenants-to-be, some have been waiting since 2003 to take ownership of their new abodes. Unfortunately, the lobby appears to have been designed by either Crocket, or Tubs. Probably Crocket. Unfortunately, the copper clad front door is easily the worst looking thing on the Terrace (why do I feel a need to insert a Patty Chong joke here, this isn't theworstofperth.com).

Importantly, when the building finally opens, it will help solve the residential crisis in the Perth CBD. We have a serious lack of CBD residents. That, is a more serious a problem than the annual pre new-years drug shortage, and the lack of a Jamaican jerk restaurant anywhere in the metro area, combined.

Fortunately for the new owners, the car park has been given the full treatment. This is currently the best permanent display of artwork in Perth. Saturday night (July 25th 2009), it will be open to the public. I would link the Facebook invite, but seriously, fuck Facebook.

Enjoy the carpark, and think of the residents who, sadly at this point in time - can't.

Stormie, you are dark and mysterious. No you're not. But you do paint very well.

There really is a LOT of coverage down here. The car park is about 6 or 7 split levels.

Amongst the hundreds of artworks on display, I enjoyed these trucks the most.

Ironlak. Its aussie for paint.

Background piece incorporating the lift button and display.

Is it just me, or does everybody love Kate Moss.

I watched the artist finishing this picture the day before, he was *censored* a nice *censored* as he painted. He kept looking around, as I admired his work. I'm sure he thought I was not in approval of his *censored*. Sure, I've *censored* a *censored* or two. You know, a *censored*. But I never forget what Harry J Ainslinger, America's first drug Czar, had to say on the matter: "You a *censored* a *censored*, and you're likely to kill your brother". Uh-huh.

Dogs, parachutes, and umbilical cords. Sweet.

I enjoyed this dark and raw corner of sub-basement six, as-is.

Trevor, you are officially the most covered artist in my blog.

Does this beast have two brains? If so, cool. If not, that's messed up.

This really is an amazing car park. I commend everyone involved. As far as the artists go, I would be more than happy to edit this post to give credit to those where its due. Comment away.

I should mention, this building is the one with the enormous green stripe visible from the North of the city. Go down, take a look around, and think of the poor future residents. This time next year, they may actually be moving in.

Perth CBD Alleyways - Part One - Baby I Like It Raw

Perth has an abundance of ready-to-use alleyways throughout the CBD. These laneways are the lifeblood of the city. Attracting skateboarders, drug users, fashion models, and Asian photographers, they already have the exact clientele any world class CBD yearns for. The gentrified laneways, such as Wolf, Munster, and Shafto lanes, were a good start. However, it's the location, rawness, and aesthetics of the central CBD laneways which will ultimately feed Perth's embryonic claim to realness.

All of the photos were taken in the Perth CBD, today.

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Perth in 3D - Rooftop Views - Northbridge Link

If there's one thing that beats an abandoned building, its a rooftop. Perth put on a trademark winter sunset on Friday evening. Fortunately, that was the day after I had figured out how to get onto the roof of a Perth tower. From this angle, it is clear that Perth is finally moving away from the St Georges Terrace 2D spine, and into the realms of 3D. William St is at the forefront of this expansion North.

The train-line is a harsh divider, limiting not only the expansion of the city core North (towards the right in this photo), but also restricting the movement of people, the lifeblood of the city. Do humans respond to the topological aesthetics of a skyline? Strangely enough, much like a tropical rain-forest, once the city canopy extends above, life will naturally follow and grow below. The Northbridge Link plants the seeds for the extension of our CBD forest.

If you want to see the real version of the photo below, click this link.

Perth - Another Abandoned School, plus Northbridge Krispy Kreme site bonus pics

The old warehouses on the future site of the Northbridge Krispy Kreme Megaplex (read about it in the last post) are all but gone. A few more photos, simply to document what was, formerly, a great city art gallery. One day, I should visit a "real" gallery. I heard there was one in Perth somewhere.

Even the demolition equipment had met with the interior designers.

Yet another abandoned Perth school. I now know for sure, nobody is thinking of the children. Won't SOMEBODY think of the children? This one was fairly untouched, perhaps due to the motion sensitive alarm system that is currently active. Honey - just hold my tripod whilst I jump through this half broken window into the abandoned classroom? Yes dear. WOOP! WOOP! WOOP! I hadn't even got both feet inside the building. One large sledge-hammer later, I could explore at leisure.

This shot shows most of the school. A few buildings in total, perhaps 10 or so classrooms, all in a serene location in the burbs south of the city.

I call this one "blue chair". Its a surrealist in-joke.

The old classrooms. These days, with the invention of Google and Wikipedia, schools aren't actually necessary. This school probably closed down due to lack of broadband in the area. Or maybe it was the asbestos.

Bonus Northbridge warehouse photo - the main east-wing gallery. Its panoramically large, so click on it, especially if you're on dial-up (which 1.4% of my visitors are).

Northbridge - New Developments in Abandoned Realestate - and Krispy Kreme in Perth?

The Northbridge abandoned warehouse looks even better now, as at June 26th 2009. Pity, by the time you have read these words, it will be gone forever. This photo was taken from the outside, showing a CBD reflection of the Bankwest Tower on the remaining glass. Shortly, the site will be used for a new Northbridge police station. Initially, it is anticipated that donut sales will go through the fucking roof on James St. The current rumour eventually sees the Krispy Kreme chain opening in Perth for the first time on the ground floor, with the 2nd, 4th, and 5th floors featuring smaller Krispy Kreme outlets, similar to those of many airports. I love cops!