Vans The Omega, artist and director from Australia. Photography © Luke Shirlaw

1.Tell us what you do and your beginnings.

Right now at this stage of my career I balance work as a contemporary artist/street artist that travel’s the globe painting large scale works on the street and then flip to my director/curator roles in festivals like The Big Picture Fest, Wonderwalls Port Adelaide and many other productions. As I get older I love to make realities come to life for many artists as well as myself to ensure I can facilitate and inspire the coming generations and be a leader to keep creativity front and center with government and councils.

For as long as I can remember I have been drawing in a serious and playful way. I was exposed to my grandmothers studio practice since I was a baby and managed to use many different medias, paper stock, canvas etc from the age of 3.

In the mid 80’s when I was exposed to spray paint I became obsessed and started drawing and painting letter forms, starting with the words I had learned and my family’s names. My love of art and cross over of letters became the basis of the name Vans the Omega and helped my develope into the person I am today through the continuous 20 years of travel.

It’s been an opportunity to consolidate my practice and look to the future in more contemporary ways through projection, animation and other technologies to lace into my practice.

2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?

The MoMA Museum, NYC for its epic collection and incredible setting. Guggenheim Barbara was so diverse when I visited and had a lot of great contemporary technology weaved into exhibits at the time. The MONA in Tasmania because it’s daring and isn’t afraid to be confronting.

Gaudì House Museum in Barcelona, I love the city and the iconic Gaudì buildings. I guess the museum has a great vibe. British Museum, London. A hard one to beat in terms of collections especially historic in nature. There are so many incredible museums, these are just a handful that came to mind.

3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.

I was pretty late on the social network band wagon but can say that it definitely helped propel my platform and share my passion for art to a larger audiance.

Most of this has been done via Instagram and Facebook. My time is better spent creating that posting these days. When I am the busiest you wont see much posting at alla s I like to keep some key projects up my sleeve.

4.What are your future projects? 

After my The Big Picture Fest which took place in Newcastle in early October, I will curate a large artist driven project back in SA. Heading into 2021 The Big Picture Festival Frankston will be back for it’s 4th year, then Big Picture series with a new winter festival coming up in adelaide. Oh I will also have work displayed in Welligton Museum in April 21 alongside The Most Dedicated Crew from New Zealand. Many amazing projects are coming up so it’s an exciting time for me personally.

5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?

I guess the best way is to include youth and give those who don’t normally have a strong voice a larger platform to propel from.

Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist

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Vans The Omega on social networks: Instagram – Facebook – Twitter

Joel Van Moore aka Vans The Omega is an Australian artist, consultant, director and curator. Passionate about urban art from an early age, his works are based on topics relating to architecture, nature, words, ancient worlds and movement.

The artist is interested in many forms of art with the aim of creating in the viewer, especially with giant paintings, an inner world that is always new, colorful, balanced and at the same time dynamic, with an impact that induces the viewer to reflect on the topic it represents. Since 2000, his works have been found all over the world and the current ones concern geometric collisions and site-specific models washed between figurative icons. The artist lives and works in his hometown, Adelaide, in the south of Australia.