Just stating facts on Kippax Street, Surry Hills.

The typography’s slightly middle Eastern or Ottoman – “FAME ON ZE WALL” – it looks pretty considered, except for the W.

You can find it right next to a Jumbo & Zap paste up from November.

This jaunty chap was spotted on Wade Place, Surry Hills.

He looks like some kind of top heavy, new breed of future robot. Harvesting energy from his gait, solar panel for a hat, he’s all head and arms. And he’s not alone.

Two red robots and a black one. Some kind of metaphor?

This linocut kid holding a spray can is up on the corner of Jesmond and Crown Streets, next to the Blank Space gallery.

On the other side of Jesmond Street, this sticker covers a Telstra box – a comment on Telstra’s practices, a general comment about telecommunications/electrical infrastructure, or just a random surface to paste something on?

This spaceman is near the corner of Mary Lane and Albion Way, Surry Hills.

Paste ups occupy pretty much the same spot in the hierarchy of street art as tags. Quick to get up on a wall, and often barely sketched out, they rarely rise above their function.

For a while the only creative, really original paste ups we saw were from Jumbo and Zap. They’ve been quiet, so it’s good to see new characters pop up.

This Albion Way back fence has a distinctly Rosalie Gascoigne style: starkly geometric, rustic and quite beautiful.

Patches of rust on the corrugated iron suggest they were rescued from some old roof. But nothing about this fence seems accidental, it’s obviously composed. You know, the back fence isn’t where you expect people to invest their artistic energies, but in Surry Hills you have to use what you’ve got.

I love peeking through the gaps on neighbourhood redevelopments, like this one on Campbell Street, Surry Hills.

Sometimes the city streets seem so fixed – apartment blocks and shops and street signs are such planned things.

I love moments of change – not so much when restaurants or other businesses fail, that’s always sad – but those moments of transition when a house or a warehouse implodes to form something new, they’re totally exciting for me.

The Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, warehouse below has been in redevelopment for months. At first, you could peek in and see the hollowed out shell. But now it’s pretty dark and full of floors.

I guess I just like moments when you realise how ephemeral the buildings and structures of the city are, it makes me like them a lot more.

An activist/street artist called the Invisible Man has left small plaques on walls and telegraph poles around inner city Sydney, particularly Surry Hills and Darlinghurst. But recently, the Invisible Man’s branched out.

At this spot on Premier Lane, Darlinghurst, and on a few other walls around town, the Invisible Man’s appeared as a copycat of This Is For That’s alphabaffiti.

We’ve had people searching the blog for various combinations of ‘Darlinghurst’, ‘Sydney’ and ‘invisible’ or ‘invisible man’ every day for the past month or so. And at least one report, in the comments, of hand delivered material from Invisible Man.

Then one of our readers, Steve, noted this plaque on the corner of Farrell Avenue and Kirketon Road, Darlinghurst.

Hard to see, I only caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye. It’s stuck to the curb that forms the garden bed on the little traffic island at the intersection of Farrell Avenue and Kirketon Road.

This one is for Lisa Marie Smith and references something happening with her in Bangkok in ‘96 – and on a side note, asks to ‘FREI BOGAN SCHAPELLE CORBY’.

It’s also got what looks like a giant spliff on it.

And then this…

Walking down to Cafe Hernandez on a recent morning, we noticed this artwork on a shelf, dated 2007 – clearly by the same artist – Damien Jones.

The girl whistles a song to pass the time. The boy’s peaked hat gives him a bit of a Boys Own vibe as he teaches their pet to heel (is that a squirrel or a dog?).

You can find these inner city kids on Fitzroy Lane, Surry Hills.

Reminds me of this man, who appeared on Clarkson’s Mill Way, Darlinghurst, in March last year.

There’s a new paste-up on the wall of the Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills, by Jumbo and Zap.

But it’s not just Bourke Street, and it’s not just those two.

Whoever is Premier of New South Wales next week might well front up to a press conference on Macquarie Street and talk about getting tough on graffiti. But on the streets this year, Sydney has witnessed a huge resurgence in public art — for its own sake. We’re enchanted by the stuff because it’s ephemeral, because it adds an unexpected magic to our streets, and mostly because it’s absolutely obviously clear that the artist made it for us.

That’s the beginning of a piece I wrote, covering a lot of great stuff that’s had first airing here, you can find the rest at New Matilda.

After noting this Ryder Street terrace’s excellent stoop, it’s hard to miss its street number, hand drawn on the wall in a Roman script – ‘VIII’.

That’s not all. Along with the DIY number, the Surry Hills terrace gets a constant stream of messages, as far as I can see, all addressed to James.

Hey James!
Have a beer with us sometime!
Sam & Ed

Hello James!
This time it was Grace, Balin and Sam!

I’m assuming James lives in the place. Though, if not, it could go back and forward as some sort of ad hoc community announcement board?

Before mobile phones and email (and definitely before social media), connecting with friends called for good timing, a working landline, and a lot of luck. Somehow we managed. In Surry Hills, the tradition continues.

We didn’t see ‘2010′ written in dry ice or exploding lights over Darlinghurst or Surry Hills last night, but there’s an inescapable buzz on the streets.

It’s 2010, it’s Darlinghurst and Surry Hills’ year. Check the postcode: 2010.

We picked the moment in June, 2009, and it’s finally here! Happy 2010!