Under Stage 3 lockdown, a daily walk offers some small and sweet relief from the confines of the house.
Key points:
But in the south-west Victorian town of Portland, it also offers something else — the chance to see the latest masterpiece from local street artist Lincoln Roberts.
Roberts has painted more than 100 classic cartoon characters on old phone pit covers around the town.
A city-wide passion project
What started as a one-off novelty, has grown into a one-man campaign.
"The first one I did was [The Simpsons'] Duff Beer and it would have been at least four years ago," Roberts said.
"And it was there for a long time and no-one argued about it.
"I thought I could do that again.
"I'm pushing 120 at the moment. Until we were in lockdown, I was only doing them occasionally.
"But the last few weeks I've just been pumping them out — yesterday, I did three in a day."
Bluey? Never heard of him
Roberts is a cartoon fanatic — his letter box is a full-scale replica of Futurama character Bender.
The rest of the town is almost as enamoured with these nostalgic characters as he is to the point that he has been taking requests.
"Some people want ridiculous pictures," he said.
"I did 101 Dalmatians, so I had to find a street that had '101'.
"Pokémon. I've never watched it … and I've done that twice.
"I got asked to do Masters of the Universe the other day, which is hilarious."
Chief Wiggum for the local police
Roberts' street art is not some covert endeavour or vandalism masquerading as art, with the local authorities more than aware of the art project.
"I went to the police station the other day and had a chat, and asked whether they'd like one out the front of [the station], and asked if I could do [The Simpsons' police chief] Chief Wiggum.
"And the guy that was behind the counter was very keen.
"I said, 'Well mate, here's my card, I want you to talk to the rest of the guys because I don't want to do this and then get into a whole lot of trouble'."
Roberts only paints old, out-of-date phone pits avoiding newer ones.
He takes the pit covers away to paint at home. So to ensure the sites of future artworks are safe, he replaces the pits with a wooden cover that reads "coming soon".
"And people will find that every now and then they get all excited and say, 'Oh, I wonder what's gonna be on that'," he said.
Spreading joy across his community
Roberts posts pictures of his latest works to a local community Facebook group.
Each one draws dozens of comments from people thanking him, wondering if they'll find the next Bart Simpson or Bugs Bunny on their daily walk.
It is clear the small bursts of joy these little artworks offer are even more welcome during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"My whole family are basically artists," Roberts said.
"My grandmother, my aunties, my cousins — it's in my blood, it's just one of those things.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA4LTI2L2NhcnRvb24tY2hhcmFjdGVycy1vbi1waG9uZS1waXQtY292ZXJzLWxpdmVuLXVwLXBvcnRsYW5kLzEyNTkzMTIw0gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyNTkzMTIw?oc=5
2020-08-26 00:26:00Z
52781020969701
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar