Public Art

Martinich&Carran have worked extensively in the public art realm, creating dynamic large-scale works both independently and collaboratively.

We love to work at a large scale, activating the spaces that our work inhabits, and enhancing identity, and bringing people and life to communities.

We believe that by working closely with our clients, we create landmark pieces that have a timeless energy. Below are just some of our public works. More can be viewed on our respective websites: martinich.com.au & geoffreycarran.com.au



BENDIGO MURAL

The City of Greater Bendigo partnered with Villawood Properties to commission an ambitious public artwork to adorn the entire length of an inner-city Bendigo laneway.

Rowena Martinich and Geoffrey Carran were selected for this project because of their reputation in transforming people’s experience of space; turning otherwise nondescript building facades into luscious colour-scapes, and providing the public audience with a connection to their wider environment, referencing nature and celebrating contemporary art’s role in transforming the mundane into the extraordinary.

This presented a perfect opportunity for Rowena to explore how her mark making techniques and gestures can manipulate the sense of flow, movement and energy in visually transporting people through a space. Also how Rowena’s use of colour can alter peoples’ engagement along the way.

Geoffrey researched local species and birds that were of importance to Villawood Properties, as developers of property across Australia. Of particular interest to the client were water birds, as an integral part of their developments is the rehabilitation of wetlands and the creation of sustainable parkland environments.

Bendigo is a regional city that is renowned for its strong emphasis on contemporary art, and we are glad to now be part of this story.

NIDDRIE MURAL

In November 2017, Rowena Martinich and Geoffery Carran were commissioned by the Niddrie Traders Association to create a large landmark mural at the gateway to the Niddrie shopping precinct.

The scale of this wall gave Rowena the opportunity to explore dynamic and bold mark-making and colour-fields with rollers and scissor lift. In planning the composition, consideration was given to the visibility of this mural, which can be viewed from a kilometre up the road, or closer from the main tram-stop, carpark or local library.

Geoffrey Carran took a conservation stance in painting a regent honeyeater. This critically endangered species would once have inhabited the area to feed on yellow box forest. The striking regent honeyeater perches proudly as it surveys the community.

This project was made possible with a grant from the Moonee Valley Council and administered by Matter of Fact Agency.

BALMORAL MURAL

In February 2013 Geoffrey Carran and Rowena Martinich were commissioned by the Chameleon Arts Collective of Balmoral to create a Mural for the town. This work was funded by Regional Arts Victoria in conjunction with community fundraising efforts. The work is situated on the wall of the community store in the centre of the town.

Public art projects in regional communities have a powerful and important role in fostering, maintaining and promoting many facets of the cultural life, identity and intrinsic values of these communities. This is of particular significance in the smaller rural communities of Victoria, where in many cases, the population has declined and the remaining communities are battling continuing environmental and economic hardships.

Public art projects provide an opportunity to galvanize communities as they pull together to contribute to the cultural wealth of their location. Chameleon Arts in many ways broke the mold of rural art projects by commissioning us to do a bold and contemporary mural rather than the classic ‘wagon and bullocks’ and in doing so made a loud statement that their small community in the Southern Grampians is still very much situated in the present, aware and proud of who they are.