Con Aslanis and Mimmo Cozzolino visiting the relics and the rellies. Instamatic by Heather Cox, Athens 1974
From 1975 to 1978 I was the frontman for the Melbourne illustration and design cooperative All Australian Graffiti. I am holding the studio’s kangaroo folio case designed by my partner Con Aslanis and made by Robert Reid. Jacket embroidery by Heather Cox. Photography © Tim Handfield, 1976.
Both the jacket and the case were included in The Kangaroo in the Decorative Arts at the NGV in 1979. The exhibition was presented by Terence Lane, curator of Decorative Arts.
Created in the early 1970s by Con Aslanis, the mythical Kevin Pappas became our studio’s trademark and patron. It was a bit of fun but also emblematic of our need to explore what Australian graphics might look like.
1972: The birth of Kevin Pappas and All Australian Graphics. Mimmo Cozzolino and Con Aslanis. Two migrants searching for an identity. Our business card left no doubt as to where we were coming from. Card concept, design and illustration by Con Aslanis
For All Australian Graffiti’s 1975 rebirth Con Aslanis further developed the narrative of Kevin Pappas as a successful migrant and applied it to our studio’s business card.
All Australian Graffiti studio (1975-1978), from left: Geoff Cook, Izi Marmur, Tony Ward, Neil Curtis, Mimmo Cozzolino, Meg Williams, Con Aslanis in St Kilda Road, St Kilda, two doors from our studio. Photography by Bob Bourne, 1977
ALL AUSTRALIAN GRAFFITI
unpacked by Mimmo Cozzolino
A cooperative of illustrators/designers working together in Melbourne for a short time in the 1970s. We started with a vision and slowly set about manifesting it.
The vision began to be developed by Con Aslanis and I while we were still finishing our art and design diploma at Prahran College of Technology. At Prahran we were told about Swiss Design. Naively, perhaps, Con and I were asking why are we being told about Swiss Design and not Australian Design? As European migrants we also asked ourselves: what might Australian Design look like? We decided that as soon as practicable we would start our own studio where we could ruminate on and investigate these conundrums.
Con and I started our first studio, All Australian Graphics, in early 1972 and closed it at the end of 1973. We took 1974 off to go travelling.
In 1975, back in Australia, we renamed our studio ‘All Australian Graffiti’ (AAG) and added more partners.
Among the thousands of illustrations we produced for our publishing and advertising clients we also created the irreverent Kevin Pappas Tear Out Postcard Book (Penguin, 1977). With the help of Penguin's publicity machine our book made it to national television, radio, print and the bestsellers list for 1977.
Over three years we created a body of work that informed, entertained, inspired and eventually attracted critical attention (as well as paying the rent). For a small studio we sure made a lot of noise. Sincere but whacky promotion was the key to our success.
Year after year, well after the studio had closed, I kept being invited to give talks about All Australian Graffiti to tertiary design students at Swinburne, Phillip, Monash, Prahran and RMIT. My thanks go to Max Ripper, Winston Thomas, Dr Denise Whitehouse and Dr Russell Kennedy for their interest in AAG’s work and ethos.
In 2005 Con Aslanis (aka Kevin Pappas), Geoff Cook, Izi Marmur, Tony Ward, Neil Curtis, Meg Williams and I, the members of AAG, were honoured with a retrospective of our work at the Post Master Gallery, Australia Post, in We’re a Weird Mob– Designing a Cultural Identity (The projects of All Australian Graffiti (1975-78) and A Vision Unfurled) an exhibition first proposed by Dr Russell Kennedy and curated by Elizabeth Gertsakis.
It is always challenging to write about yourself so I invite you to read what other people have written about us. The texts in the links below are in chronological order.
Rennie Ellis: The Kevin Pappas Tear Out Postcard Book and All Australian Graffiti
Helen Garner: Kevin Pappas– All Australian Graffitist
Andrew Budge: All Australian Graffiti– critical regionalism in graphic design
Andrew Budge: A jingo's got my baby– an examination of Australia’s national identity...
Elizabeth Gertsakis: We’re a weird mob– designing a cultural identity
Dr Denise Whitehouse: Wogs, skips, icons - designing a cultural identity
Chris Healey: All Australian Graffiti and the Cultural Cringe
I wrote a recollection of the formation of AAG and other matters in an a short essay called Papa, when I grow up I’ma goinga to be an Australiano. (The Lie of the Land, National Centre for Australian Studies, Melbourne, 1992)
Sadly, our good mate and AAG member Neil Curtis passed away in 2006.
MC, 2020