Born in Brisbane, living and working in Sydney, Anthony Lister has established himself as one of the region’s best-known street artists. Through a mix of spray paint, acrylics, and charcoal, Lister produces colourful gestures that merge the aesthetics of popular comics and high culture.
© Anthony Lister
Anthony Lister
Lister: “I have a problem with the word art and especially being titled an artist. I feel that these are buzz words where all sorts of slithering pseudo creative types can hide in its ambiguous aura. My preference leans more towards the literal, therefore I refer to myself as a painter.
For starters, the word art is far too short and (as far as I can decipher) is an abbreviation for the word artefacts, is this correct of me to assume? If this is so, then I find myself (in the context of contemporary language) making facts. This is where I begin to confuse myself and also feel a sense of overwhelming excitement and amusement because if the fact that if I am (for lack of a better word) in fact making art and the product of my function as a painter is factually unmistakably the literal manifestation of this thing we call art.
I come to the realisation that I am in essence a fact maker, which is quite an exciting realization for someone who has been called a dreamer of fantasy and imagination. I am unique and not quite domestic and therefore necessary. Facts are wonderful in theory. The theory is disastrous without action. Action speaks louder than words. They say a picture speaks a thousand words. This is a show about how I turned the word art into fact. This being the case I imagine being told by people “Hey, I like your fact” to which I will reply “thank you”.”