Sydney Street Artist MCRT Is Taking Over the Walls at Paddington's Ampersand

Sydney's street art game has become more publicly known over in the last few years. Melbourne had been stealing significant thunder with its clandestine laneways plastered with all forms of art, but Sydney has always been a quiet achiever in this wall-based cultural realm. But those days are done, as Austrian artist Nychos makes his mark around town, another artist will work on his own wall canvas live for all to watch.

Russian-born, Sydney-based artist MCRT, aka Maxim Chikanchi, is known for his portraiture and wild animals found in some prime Sydney spots. You may recognise his work from the walls of Garçon at Tramsheds, Paddington's Captain Cook Hotel and café-book-nook Ampersand Café. And this week, the artist returns to Ampersand to take on eight metres of fresh wall canvas.

My new #artwork for #garconsydney at #tramshedsharoldpark #sydneyart #coffeeart #gabrielgarciamarquez #mural

A post shared by MCRT (@mcrt.studio) on Oct 13, 2016 at 7:22pm PDT

Bringing "The cool chill of Russian winters to the tropical heat of Sydney's busy streets," Maxim will paint a massive polar bear inside the cafe to submerge the space in Artic waters, and perhaps add a bit of world contemplation to your morning latte. "The piece is about contrast," he explains, "with the world temperatures rising, and the hottest summer ever recorded here in Sydney, I thought a polar bear swimming through the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean to be an apt thought for contemplation on both the direction our environment is going in, and a fresh reminder of what we are hoping for on a hot summer day."

Head to Ampersand this Thursday, March 2 and Friday, March 3 from 10am to 3pm, and if you're lucky, you may even snag a one-off replica of MCRT's polar bear for your home. A collection of his original works and prints will also be sold.

Images courtesy of the artist.