Finding Banksy on a Melbourne street art tour

I have his number but, rather than take the easy option and simply call, the challenge is to try to pick him out of a busy lunchtime crowd.

What does a street artist look like? How old will he be? And will he be holding an aerosol can?

After much deliberation, I go for the guy who looks like Rick Nielsen, the guitarist from ’70s pop/rock band Cheap Trick. And I’m right first time.

Fikaris is not young. When I say that, I mean he is not a teenager rejoicing in a misspent youth. He is in his mid-30s. A grown-up who has a dark, pencil-thin moustache, dons a black baseball cap and wears pants that don’t quite make it all the way down to his shoes. It is a fashion statement. Put it together and it says, “I am different”.

He is a Melbourne-based artist who has worked mainly as a painter and illustrator. His passion, and you can tell this by listening to him, is street art.

Before you jump to conclusions, street art is not graffiti. It’s so much more, Fikaris explains as we start our 2 1/2-hour tour, about a 5km stroll, up and down the city’s lanes.

Our first stop is Hosier Lane, not only famous for its street art but it also happens to be the home of the original MoVida tapas restaurant that opened in 2003.

The laneway walls are smothered with paint, mostly from aerosol cans, although some street artists do use more traditional brushes.

Bloody vandals

To the uninitiated, it could be seen as a mess. And I’m sure that’s what a lot of people think every day as they traipse past. I’m sure I heard an elderly man mutter “bloody vandals” to his wife when he passed some young artists, spray cans in hand, at work.

Listen to Fikaris, though, and it is as if we are standing in the Louvre. He points out the styles of the various artists whose work graces these walls, albeit for a short time.

As we walk and talk I learn about Banksy, one of street art’s most famous names, although his real identity remains a mystery. What is known is that he was born and raised in Bristol. His work can be found around the world and is celebrated for its dark humour.

Next we find some stencil art by Blek Le Rat, a Parisian who is known widely as the father of stencil art. He is one of Fikaris’s heroes.

We pass the work of guerrilla knitters. They arrive in the middle of the night and cover metal street signposts with, well, knitting.

For me it is an education. I had never before stopped to look at this style of art seriously. I’ve been to galleries, supped wine at exhibition openings, but never really considered street art for what it is a modern form of artistic expression. The sad thing is that nothing lasts forever in the street-art world.

There is always someone eager to tag (paint over) someone else’s masterpiece.

Our Melbourne street art tour ends with beer, wine and snacks at Blender Studios. Here you can meet artists such as Adrian Doyle and discuss the future of street art.

Which apparently is looking good thanks to businesses and various arms of government commissioning more work.