“If Rome is a living museum, then Venice is a dream,” says Rinaldo “Ronnie” Di Stasio. The Thornbury-born son of Italian migrants is a hospitality legend in Melbourne, best known for the groundbreaking restaurant Rosati in the […]
Category: Art
Insider’s design guide for Voyeur magazine
The nice folks at Voyeur Pacific+ (Virgin Australia’s in-flight magazine) asked me to put together a brief, insiders’ guide to great design experiences in Melbourne for a 2018 issue earlier in the year. I had […]
The evolution of street art in Melbourne
In a back alley in Brunswick, a grown man is behaving like a kid. Dean Sunshine should be running his family textiles business. Instead, the lithe, curly-headed 50-year-old is darting about the bluestone lane behind […]
Deaf dancer graces new seven-storey mural in Windsor
Strike a pose: artist Guido van Helten with his mural of deaf dancer, Anna Seymour. Photo: Wayne Taylor. By Peter Barrett “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture,” musician Elvis Costello once said. Half that metaphor […]
Let us spray: mural testament to St Kilda art
Street artists Paul Round (left) and Frank Maiorana with their mural at Peanut Farm Reserve in St Kilda. Photo: Wayne Taylor. Tennis players at St Kilda’s Peanut Farm Reserve now have more than their backhand to […]
Kitchen spy – Tai Snaith & Simon Knott
Artist Tai Snaith and her architect partner Simon Knott from BKK were given the kitche spy treatment on June 16, 2015. This story appeared in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food sections. […]
Mind the lines and draw on art therapy in The Mindfulness Colouring Book
July 11, 2015 Peter Barrett Meet Emma Farrarons, 32, the best-selling author who hasn’t written a word. (Well, almost.) The French illustrator’s first “literary” effort, The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-stress art therapy for busy people, sits on top of […]
Creator of Norm still into life
Couch potato Norm was created by Alexander Stitt for a 1970s health and fitness campaign. Image courtesy of the artist. Last Saturday my story about Alexander Stitt, the graphic artist and creator behind campaigns including ‘Life. […]
