Street art in the spotlight at The Outsiders Melbourne

Melbourne is one of the street art capitals of the world. From the colourful laneways of the CBD to the monumental murals of Fitzroy or Prahran, some places give the impression of walking through an open-air museum! Since the 12th of December 2024, a real exhibition dedicated to street art and completely free has opened to the public, on the corner of Hosier Lane. Don’t miss The Outsiders Melbourne, until the 25th of May 2025!

A fantastic street art exhibition, on the corner of Hosier Lane

Summary

The Sandrew
The Outsiders Melbourne
Things to know

The Sandrew

Under this name hides the Australian collector couple Sandra Powell and Andrew King. Passionate about street art, they have gathered over the years an immense collection of works by some of the most famous artists in the world, such as Bansky. For the first time, they share this collection with the public, through the exhibition The Outsiders Melbourne! I had the opportunity to briefly chat with Andrew on opening day (hard to miss him with his splendid moustache!). I found him extremely friendly, taking the time to have a word with every visitor. A big thank you to him and his wife for putting together this completely free exhibition!

To find out more about the Sandrew, have a look at this very good article from the Guardian, published a week before the opening of The Outsiders.

A portrait of Andrew King, by Fintan Magee

See also: where to find the best street art in Melbourne

By definition, street art is rarely intended to be presented in a museum. Not often in the spotlight, this form of urban art was born illegally, through tagging and graffiti, sometimes with heavy fines for the artists. But when you visit The Outsiders Melbourne, you quickly realise how the muralists exhibited there have nothing to envy of the most famous painters.

The Outsiders Melbourne

Most of the works in this exhibition were commissioned by the Sandrew from the artists themselves, for their private collection. No section of wall was mistreated in the operation! It features artworks of many contemporary artists, particularly Australian: Adnate, Rone, Vexta, Kaffeine, Loretta Lizzio, Mike Makatron, Lucy Lucy, Swoon, and many many others. But also two French artists that were among the pioneers of street art in France: Blek le rat (described in the Guardian article cited above as the “godfather of stencil art”) and Invader. You might have seen before his now famous Space Invaders in mosaic: he has created more than 4,000 of them all over the world since the 1990s.

One of the rooms of the exhibition recreates the interior of a street art studio, with its walls entirely covered with tags and graffiti.

But the highlight of The Outsiders Melbourne is probably this room entirely dedicated to the always mysterious Banksy. The Sandrew own the largest collection of his works in Australia, and it is a real chance to be able to discover them in this exhibition.

In March 2025, this studio was replaced by a room dedicated to the work of Melbourne artist Rone. It recreates the atmosphere of the fabulous exhibition "Time" that took place in Flinders Street Station in 2023, and more recently in the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth.

Things to know

The Outsiders Melbourne is open 7 days a week, from 12pm to 6pm, until the 25th of May 2025. Access is completely free. The entrance is at 167 Flinders Lane, on the corner of the iconic Hosier Lane. Was there a better possible location for this exhibition?

Whether you're a fan of street art or not, I highly encourage you to visit The Outsiders Melbourne. I'm willing to bet you won't regret it!