Rone
Rone is one of Australia’s most famous street artists, but his paintings transcend the streets to galleries, art collections, and major Australian institutions.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
“I started painting by literally just seeing other people’s work, and I was inspired and thought I’d have a go, all while skateboarding around the city,” says Rone. Photo - Kate Ballis.
Growing up in Geelong, Victoria, as Tyrone Wright, with non-art parents, Rone never knew any real artists. “I thought it was a one in a million chance,” Rone reflects. But, in 2001, the artist moved to Melbourne and began an informal art education at skateparks— looking at other street artists, swapping board stickers and skating around the city.
After gaining, what he describes as “a bit of a following” with his graffiti, Rone decided to have his first solo exhibition in 2010— and it sold out. “[It] was a huge compliment personally and I got commissioned off the back of that,” Rone shares. The artist depicts huge, beautiful, women’s faces that jut out from the walls of derelict buildings; amplifying the humanness of time and the ephemeral nature of street art.
The RONE Empire exhibition. Photo - Tyrone Wright. Styling - Carly Spooner.
“I never actually knew anyone who was an artist who made a living off their works. The idea of someone doing it as a profession was a total myth to me. ”
The RONE Empire exhibition. Photo - Tyrone Wright. Styling - Carly Spooner.
The Omega Project, a solo exhibition by Rone in Melbourne, 2017. Photo - Tyrone Wright.
Each artwork is carefully prepared digitally, checking the composition of the faces on the walls or in abandoned houses. The artworks reflect the temporal nature of street art, feeding back into his processes. “More and more of my work is about the documentation as well,” Rone adds. “And still, there are opportunities to be creative with data sets that I haven’t even explored yet.”
The lack of permeability in his art lends itself well to the digital aspects, which in turn reflects on the style of work Rone likes to create. A complete 3D scan of his exhibition ‘Empty’ in 2016 allows us to visit the site, but also, the Star Lyric Theatre building in Fitzroy— which was pulled down shortly after the exhibition.
Rone and Carly Spooner working behind the scenes during preparation for RONE Empire. Photo - Tyrone Wright. Styling - Carly Spooner.
Rone describes his career as coming together ‘guerrilla style’, sneaking through the backdoor— he’s gone ahead and built it for himself. One huge success which has put him on the map for, not just street art lovers, but also, interior designers, fine art collectors, and stylists, was the immersive The Omega Project in 2017, and of course, Empire 2019 which launched earlier this year in an abandoned art deco mansion.
The installations use sight, sound, scent, space and texture to bring the visitor into the artworks through the senses, and Rone enlisted the help of long-term friend, interior stylist Carly Spooner. Carly understood the vision of the placement of Rone’s artworks, “to negate everything— to make it feel a lot more real.”
“There’s something lost when I translate my work onto a canvas— you lose the context of the environment,” says Rone. Photo - courtesy of Tyrone Wright.
“Knowing [that the artwork is] going be destroyed, is very much part of street art and graffiti. I’m getting into a more mainstream audience and sharing that idea… my entire life’s work of everything I’ve painted has been destroyed.”
The RONE Empire exhibition. Photo - Tyrone Wright. Styling - Carly Spooner.
The RONE Empire exhibition. Photo - Tyrone Wright. Styling - Carly Spooner.
These exhibitions are a return to Rone’s early career when he and a bunch of mates would go to abandoned houses, paint all through Friday night, and on Saturday mornings they’d send the texts out and have 300+ people parties. “Then the police will come, and it will be shut down. That was it forever.” Rone remembers. “I felt that what I was doing in galleries had lost that sense of excitement of street art and graffiti.”
Next year, Rone will be launching his first institutional exhibition at the Geelong Gallery. A traditional hang will feature his canvas and photographic works, but of course, it wouldn’t be a Rone exhibition without a few immersive installations to take you back to the streets.
“There’s something lost when I translate my work onto a canvas— you lose the context of the environment,” says Rone. Photo - courtesy of Tyrone Wright.
“The fact that they are going to be destroyed makes it more exciting.”
The RONE Empire exhibition. Photo - Tyrone Wright. Styling - Carly Spooner.