Tauranga's newest festival will arrive on the scene in stunning fashion by hosting the most extensive collection of Bansky works in the southern hemisphere.

Tauranga City Council in partnership with Oi YOU! and Tauranga Art Gallery, is proud to introduce the Paradox: Tauranga Street Art Festival which will run next year from March 28 to the end of June.

The most extensive collection of Banksy works in the southern hemisphere will go on display during Paradox: Tauranga Street Art Festival which takes place across the city in 2017. Pictured: Banksy's ‘Flower Thrower'. Photo: Shannon Webster

Alongside the Banksy murals will be art work specially created for Tauranga by six international and national artists plus an extensive festival programme including works of the city's local artists, public wall paintings, food, music and dance.

The first-of-its-kind festival is paradoxical in nature as brings street art into a gallery and will also see internationally acclaimed artists turning the city into an outdoor gallery.

'Tauranga, a city of beautiful beaches and natural surroundings and one of New Zealand's fastest growing cities will become the unexpected canvas for the kind of street art festival New Zealand has not seen so far,” says outgoing Mayor Stuart Crosby.

'With works on show from Banksy, who is arguably the most prominent street artist in the world, as well as renowned artists, Tauranga has been given the chance to take its place on the world street art map.”

But the festival is more than just the Oi YOU! Collection and consists of three parts encompassing the whole city and its communities: Paradox Inside, Outside and Live&Local.

Oi YOU! Collection joint owner and Paradox artistic director George Shaw is excited to see the contrasts coming together.

'Since 2010, we have produced a series of street art shows both in New Zealand and Australia attracting broad audiences, but this is our first on the North Island and we are fond of Tauranga, a city you wouldn't think of street art in the first place.

'We assembled a group of six outstanding artists from these shores and abroad who will come to the city to create unique installations and paint stunning murals both inside the Tauranga Art Gallery and out on the streets.”

Oi YOU! Collection joint owner and Paradox Festival artistic director George Shaw. Photo Guy Frederick.

George says the artists exemplify the diversity of street art and the talent that's helped thrust the artistic form into the public eye, building it into one of the biggest art movements the world's seen.

'Add to that exceptional talent the Oi YOU! Collection with its 22 works by Banksy and the Tauranga Street Art Festival promises to be a serious treat for everyone who comes along to experience it.”

Tauranga Art Gallery will also break all the rules of the gallery space for Paradox Inside, creating a major, ground-breaking exhibition.

'The Gallery will be transformed into an immersive street art experience with every one of our spaces dedicated to Paradox,” says Tauranga Art Gallery's Director Karl Chitham.

'Alongside installations by six renowned street artists, we will have the Oi You! Collection on display featuring works by well-known and infamous personalities such as Banksy, Faile, Paul Insect, Swoon and Anthony Micallef.

'As the main venue for the festival we are looking forward to seeing the gallery and spaces around the city re-imagined by incredibly talented street artists.”

For Paradox Outside a collective of international and national street artists including Askew One, Lucy McLauchlan, Sofles, Charles & Janine Williams, Jacob Yikes and Ernest Zacharevic, will create a remarkable legacy to grace walls across Tauranga for people to enjoy for years to come.

While Paradox Live & Local will showcase the work of local artists and encourage interaction from across the community with events like public wall paintings, food, music and dance. All Paradox Live & Local events will involve the wider community, opening this urban contemporary art form to those who may not have engaged yet and to those who are already involved.

Tauranga City Council, Oi YOU! and the Tauranga Art Gallery proudly presents Paradox: Tauranga Street Art Festival which takes place across the city from March 28 to June 2017.

PARADOX FESTIVAL ARTISTS PROFILES:

ASKEW ONE

Photo: Askew One.

Based in Auckland, Askew One is recognized worldwide for his unique approach to graffiti art and remains at the forefront of the international art scene through constantly exploring new and exciting styles. He is self-taught in graphic design, illustration, photography, publishing, directing and editing music videos and moving images. With over 20 years of experience, his need to reach out to the world from his home in New Zealand has driven him. He is now an artist of global repute and the most highly respected aerosol artist from these shores.

LUCY MCLAUCHLAN

Photo: Matthew J Watkins

British born Lucy McLauchlan is an internationally recognised artist. Her monochromatic large-scale paintings are at home within galleries and museums just as they are covering multi-story building across Europe, gigantic billboards in China, huts of The Gambia, Italian water towers, a Norwegian lighthouse, car parks of Detroit, to the depths of abandoned subway tunnels in New York. And many places in between. Implicit within her work is a deep respect for nature as she draws inspiration from her immediate environment; allowing it to inform and direct what is an intuitive and explorative process.

SOFLES

Photo: Luke Shirlaw

Hailing from Brisbane but seldom there, Sofles is fast becoming one of the world's most widely known and respected street artists. His video Limitless shot and cut by Selina Miles and released late in 2013, went viral. It received over 4 million views within 48 hours and currently sits at over 11 million. He is a member of the world champion graffiti art crew TMD and embodies the acronym by being The Most Dedicated of artists.

CHARLES & JANINE WILLIAMS

Photo: Charles & Janine Williams

Charles is a founding member and president of the TMD crew, a globally acclaimed collective of creative individuals from all corners of the world who have been pushing artistic boundaries of urban and graffiti art for the past 20 years. Janine is one of Aotearoa's first female urban artists and has spent the past 15 years developing community art activations and projects with a strong focus on youth interaction and life intervention concepts. Partners in life as well as art, their style is a graphic, colourful outworking of the environmental and genealogical urban Māori heritage they are both are proud of. Married with for children, whanau (family) & hapori (community) are an integral and important part of their artistic journey.

JACOB YIKES

Photo: Jacob Yikes

Yikes gained his diploma in fine arts from the Design and Arts College of New Zealand in Christchurch. He is DTR Crew's newest recruit and is one of the city's most active street artists. With his roots firmly planted in graffiti art, his style has developed to reflect a world of weird and wonderful characters that morph and merge to form elaborate, often bizarre, compositions. Inspired by his knowledge of decorative special effects, he is also pushing the boundaries of the art form by mixing exotic chemicals with spray paint to add a depth and uniqueness to his work.

ERNEST ZACHAREVIC

Photo: Ernest Zacharevic

Ernest ZACH Zacharevic is a Lithuanian-born artist combining fine art techniques with a passion for creating art outdoors. Experimentation lies at the heart of Ernest's style, with the only constant being the dedication to his ever-changing concepts. With ideas leading the way, he removes the restriction of artistic boundaries; moving freely between the disciplines of oil painting, stencil and spray, installation and sculpture; producing dynamic compositions both inside and outside of the gallery space. In the public realm, Ernest is interested in the interaction of murals and the urban landscape, with concepts arising as part of a spontaneous response to the environment, the community and culture.

For more information visit the festival's website at: www.taurangastreetart.co.nz