SKY-HIGH STREET ART
What happens when street art leaves the laneway? Melbourne artist Lukas Kasper takes his bold lines 88 floors up, bringing raw creative energy to the city’s highest canvas at Melbourne Skydeck.
Lukas Kasper is used to painting with his feet firmly planted on the ground. His canvas? Melbourne (Naarm). Walls lining the city’s graffiti laneways, shopfronts along busy streets, doors and tunnels. His latest commission puts him somewhere entirely different, 88 floors above it all at Melbourne Skydeck, where his signature bold line work and vibrant creations now greet visitors looking down at the laneways that shaped him.
It’s a curious collision, street art lifted into a polished, elevated space, but Lukas approaches it with the same instinct that’s guided him since he was 15: spray can in hand, finding solace in the act of making something visible.
JOURNEY BEYOND: You were 15 when you started writing graffiti, influenced by skateboarding and street art. How has your work evolved since then?
LUKAS: When I first started, I wanted to paint all day, every day. It became an obsession. I didn’t realise it at the time, but it was a coping mechanism, a way to get through a negative mindset and create something positive.
I used to paint these little monsters and crazy creatures with big eyes and teeth. As I’ve refined my practice, I’ve been able to integrate subjects I care about, like animals. I used to volunteer at Australia Zoo and the RSPCA while doing graffiti, thinking I’d need a backup because art wouldn’t pay. That’s why wildlife and conservation feature heavily throughout my work.
JB: Do you think being an artist shapes the way you see and experience Melbourne?
L: I’ve been an artist for so long [that] art has become my whole world. It’s all I see anymore. When I’m driving down a highway, I’m scanning the walls; when I’m walking through the city, I’m looking for surfaces and colour. I’m terrible with street names and directions, but I can always tell you where I am by the artwork around me.
JB: Your latest piece at Melbourne Skydeck is a big shift from traditional street art. How did the project come about?
L: When Melbourne Skydeck reached out, my first reaction was ‘Wow, Skydeck, that’s awesome!’. The idea of painting while looking over the city, when I’m usually down on the streets, was really exciting. I might have created the highest mural in Melbourne. It’s a huge privilege. The vision was to reflect Melbourne, and with iconic sporting events like the AFL Grand Final and the Australian Open hosted here, sports was part of the brief. I wanted to create something interactive too, something people could be part of, so I used Melbourne sports imagery within painted wings: a tram, a soccer ball, a basketball, an AFL trophy. You stand in the middle, and it branches out around you.
JB: Your murals usually exist at street level, where people walk past them daily. What do you think changes when people experience your work in a single moment, 88 floors up?
L: It’s a different context. At street level, locals walk past artwork constantly. But in settings like Melbourne Skydeck, people pause. They’re already in that mindset of looking, taking it in.
It’s an interesting shift, taking something that’s usually discovered organically in a laneway and putting it where people are already primed to look and interact. I tried to stay true to that street aesthetic – the bold line work, the energy – while making it work for the space. The goal was that a seven-year-old from Japan could get the same kick as a local bringing their kids through. I want them to see that art doesn’t have to sit in a gallery. It can be bold, playful, interactive.
JB: What does Melbourne give you creatively that other places don’t?
L: Two things: opportunity and freedom. In Melbourne, a wine company might want a live painter because they’re into street art. Schools love murals; it’s normalised here. The second thing is freedom to experiment. I can jump on a tram, go into a laneway, and visualise an artwork I just want to get out of my head; I don’t ever want to lose that, I want to always have fun with my work.
Find Lukas on all social media platforms @lukaskasper_art and at lukaskasper.com.