The Omega Project by Rone

The latest artwork by Melbourne street artist Rone was made in an abandoned house in the north of the city. The transformed house is set to be demolished very soon to make space for a new housing development.

The artist, who has spent the last years painting derelict houses, said that he had always had his eyes on this particular house, so he had to paint more than just one wall. He decided to celebrate it by painting murals and decorate the interiors with furniture from the 70s and call it the Omega Project.

The property developer of the residential development approached Rone to work with the house, since he is a collector of his art. It took the artist one month to paint the interior, which includes one room with one half painted in green and the other in blue. The other rooms have purple roofs and cream walls. Rone also explained that the inspiration to paint the walls came from a similar house that he had grown up in.

The outstanding portraits of a woman on the walls represent beauty to Rone, he considers that she symbolizes the house in a sense, as she is beautiful but also fragile and about to collapse. Additionally, the exhibition includes classic Australian 70’s furniture from designer Carly Spooner.

The display has been a surprising success with people queuing and waiting to enter. The range of ages of the visitors also positively surprised the artists, since he expected only “the cool kids” between the ages of 18 to 24 who would be into street art and graffiti. Nevertheless, attendants include very young people to very old, and those above 40 years old seem to enjoy the most since they grew up in the 70’s in houses with similar interior decoration.

The house is set to be demolished in August, that is why a lot of people are waiting in the long queues, and even though Rone is used to the experience of letting go of his work once it is finished, he expressed that the demolition kills him in one way but it would have been worst if no-one had seen it.