Mencia ~ The Artist ~ Tristan Kerr

Tristan Kerr is an internationally renowned Australian designer and artist celebrated for his bold typographic and contemporary approach to graphics and large-scale installations.

With over 15 years of expertise in design, bespoke typography and artwork installation, he has collaborated with leading brands such as Red Bull, Jägermeister, Brixton, Coopers, Intercontinental Hotel Group and Westfield.

His work reflects on cultural diversity, consumerism and advertising, and the tensions between subjects who exist within these worlds, as he combines fragments of street signage, mark making, graffiti and abstraction through his works.

Through his practice, Kerr interrogates the ever-changing face of the city and its typographic ephemera, portraying the disregarded surfaces of urban life in his paintings, sculptures and large-scale installations. His fixation with fleeting urban street views is fuelled by the several years he spent working and exhibiting in Paris - as he noticed the disregarded shopfronts with fading hand-lettered signage, the sprawling graffiti and the torn metro posters that adorn the cities walls, forming part of its cultural archive.

Kerr’s works encourage people to stop, look and question their surroundings, considering other possibilities for what public space might constitute. Kerr has exhibited locally and throughout Europe.

“Thanks for reaching out and having me on board for the label. I've loved creating the artwork for this. Jacques VILLEGLÉ has long been an influence of this stylistic approach to type and collage for me and a point of departure for this project.”

Tristan also did the painting and signage for our cellar door back in 2014, so it has been a 10-year reunion working on this label.

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE LABEL

This came out of a tasting session with our team, where we sensed the small brown mineral rocks from the soil, then the juicy berry fruit and joy of the wine transported us to old times, simple pleasures. I also feel this is an Australian (modern) take on Mencia, so if you like a bit of rock to play with it, my tip is The Smith Street Band, enjoy!

Cheers Mal.