Studio Dennis

Studio Dennis is the collective name for a practice which covers multiple outputs such as mural art, painting, design, textiles and street graphics.  Drawing from a diverse range of influences including 20th century art, low-brow comics, skateboard culture and points in-between, Studio Dennis has gone on to develop a unique visual language.

Andrew Dennis’ commission for this project is organic, fluid and floral focus mural.

Title: Botanical tangle No. 3

Description: The intention was to use several intersecting botanical forms and send them towards the direction of the building entrance in order to give a sense of movement and direction to the corridor. The method behind the construction of the painting involves some level of spontaneity that responds to the space and allows for the design to move freely and with a sense of expansiveness. This is essentially how I make these murals, to have an immediacy and directness that implies a sense of purposeful engagement beyond the act of painting.

What was something of interest you discovered about Frankston while researching the concept for your artwork?

I found the highway sculptures along the Eastlink on the way down to Frankston to be really interesting. The Hotel by Callum Morton is a favourite of mine because it has this strange presence beside the motorway, asking the viewer to question the building and whether it’s real or not. The drive down is scattered with a range of interesting and different sculptures that offer a point of difference to your typical travel on the highway.

What message do you hope your art will bring to the community at Karingal Hub?

My artwork aims to give the viewer something to wander across in the act of going to the shopping centre. This intervention is a creative and positive action that uses colours and shape to add some level of optimism to the general environment which can often seem neutral and concrete.

The technique of painting the artwork is a response to that environment and offers a counterpoint to the type of space that it inhabits.