Melrose Central Wall Art

Melrose Central is an urban renewal precinct at Melrose Park 12km northwest of the Sydney CBD. The mixed-use community has 494 apartments, retail and hospitality, split into smaller building footprints and separated by green spaces.

Developer Deicorp selected artworks by Chris Yee for the gateways that lead into the retail heart of the site. Deicorp selected the works and submitted them for Council approval and brought Di Emme on board to create and install the large-scale murals.

Yee  is an East Ryde-based artist with an Asian Australian creative identity typified in the ground-level mural. Di Emme hand painted the mural in acrylics employing colour blends, spray fades and detailed linework faithful to Yee’s artwork. Di Emme produced laser cut coloured motifs to provide an extra dimension to the finished work. The sprayed aluminium cutouts are flush to the surface to prevent climbing.

The elevated artworks depict a waterway and two birds soaring above Australian flora. They are printed on graffiti-proof VitraPanel, a low-maintenance compressed fibre cement panels with a polymer pre-finish. Di Emme produced test prints to hone the colours and tweak the designs.

Di Emme managed the project from taking site measurements to manufacturing and installing the artworks in accordance with stringent building codes.