Get Pasted, The Art Space Collective ·
The Art Space Collective, 2 February 2022 ·

Behind a burger joint down a graffitied laneway off Scarborough Beach Road is an inconspicuously tatty door in the wall, incongruous with the swanky new apartment developments that surround it.

Welcome to Art Space Collective, Scarborough’s first and only art gallery (as I’m informed by the evening’s curator, Jessica Appleyard) and the home of Get Pasted, described in the program as a “marvellous showcase of collage that assembles fragments of life into tactile works”.

This Fringe World presentation is much more than a purely visual experience. Our host Ebenezer, a pink-suit wearing, nipple tasselled divine creature with eye makeup to match the wallpaper, ushers us inside.

The converted house with its poky rooms and narrow staircases has been transformed to something utterly captivating, with a visual overload of wallpaper, tinsel tassels and kitsch light fittings. There is colour and texture everywhere I looked and an intriguing soundscape by Chris Tonkin, Chair of Electronic Music and Sound Design at the University WA, is piped throughout the venue.

All this is the backdrop to the thought-provoking collage exhibition by Marite Norris, the brave and creative brainchild behind Art Space Collective.

After browsing the art, Ebenezer requests we gather in the tiniest of corridors next to a heavy curtain obscuring a doorway, and we wait expectantly for an exciting reveal. I was first into the little covered rooftop terrace and discovered many people already inside eating take away from local eateries and drinking beverages from the bar. Clearly the locals know the venue and how to get into it!

The ensuing set by Whiskey Jack, a local boy from Kalamunda, was an enjoyable experience in an intimate room, the floor covered by rugs and fabric bolsters (which the kids in the audience loved), followed by Holly & The Broken Drought.

However, Get Pasted isn’t really about the performers (although I love the eclectic programming, the request to listen attentively to each artist, and the décor). It’s about an adventure in a hidden venue featuring quirky, stimulating and provocative art that feels like you are in an entirely different world.

Get Pasted continues until 12 Feb at The Art Space Collective.

Pictured top: Artwork by Marite Norris is the centrepiece of ‘Get Pasted’. Photo: Katharyn Quinn.

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