Renowned street artist Heesco Khosnaran, added his signature style to the
Karoonda silos transformation.
Karoonda is raising the bar for
silo art, with an Australian first combining a stunning daytime
mural and evening illuminated projections into a spectacular attraction to be enjoyed both day and night.
The projections, created by illumination specialists Illuminart, have already got visitors talking after they were launched to a huge crowd at the Colour Up
Karoonda festival held on Sunday, 16 June.
About 1800 people enjoyed an afternoon of celebration with a street party, live music, market and family activities, before the crowd filled the town’s main street to cheer on as Adelady stars Hayley and Lauren for a countdown to the big switch-on. A surprise illuminated animation by Illuminart wowed the audience as a precursor to the Blow Up Your Art projections, which will continue nightly for the next month.
Now Australian muralist Heesco has unveiled the concept for his painting, which will complement the colourful evening gallery. The huge
mural will pay tribute to
Karoonda’s farming
heritage and features Merino sheep, a kelpie working dog, picturesque bush setting and an historic steam train.
District Council of
Karoonda East Murray Mayor Caroline Phillips said securing an artist of Heesco’s calibre was a coup for
Karoonda.
“Heesco has already made his mark spectacularly on silos in
Grenfell and
Weethalle in New South Wales,” Mayor Phillips says.
“The
Weethalle silo was the first to be painted in NSW and was even hand-picked to feature on a national postage stamp.
“This unique artwork, created by one of Australia’s highly regarded street artists, will combine with the incredible illumination projections to deliver an attraction for
Karoonda that is truly special and absolutely unique when compared to others nationally.”
Starting this week, Heesco will be on site to paint the
mural on the Viterra silos. Visitors will be able to enjoy a double delight – watching the artist in action during the day, then viewing the colourful, ever-changing projections onto the silo from sunset until 9pm each evening.
“While other towns on Australia’s
silo art trail usually only feature one or two artists, we are incredibly lucky to showcase the work of many talented South Australians,” Mayor Phillips says.
“The illuminated projections will share some exciting works created by several individual artists in our dynamic evening gallery, projected straight onto the silos.”
The works were submitted by artists in the Blow Up Your Art project and chosen by the Council and Illuminart. This collection of evening projections will continue until 18 July.
But that won’t be the end of evening art in
Karoonda. Permanent projection equipment will enable the ongoing use of the silos as a giant canvas for unique exhibitions – ranging from art to historic photographs.
The project has been made possible through funding received under the Australian Government’s Drought Communities Fund (DCF), which also includes upgrades to
Karoonda’s main street. National grain handler Viterra, which operates the silo, has also provided support for the project.