Community
12 December, 2024
Creatures adorn Roadie
ARTIST Jimmi Buscombe has continued adding to the unique mural being painted at the Mortlake Roadhouse.
Mr Buscombe was in Mortlake last Wednesday to paint some new additions to the mural which he began in March this year.
Last week he added an Australian white ibis and sparrows flying in an air force formation, all wearing aviator goggles and “all coming in to battle,” among a number of new characters added to the mural.
“I’ve added a fox emerging from the hole, an anthropomorphic fox riding a motorbike wearing a leather jacket,” Mr Buscombe said.
“There are all these cheeky, sly creatures turning up on the site – all gathering.
“We’ve got ravens, mice, rats, foxes, a bin chicken (Australian white ibis) and I’m also painting some sparrows.
“I’ve added a rat driving a Tonka truck, digging a hole, next to a hole with a bag of dynamite.
“It’s like in a novel when they say you have to introduce the characters in the first third of the novel, it’s sort of like that – an unveiling of all these mysterious characters turning up, causing some mischief at the Roadie.”
As Western District Newspapers has previously reported, Mortlake Roadhouse owner Dion Symons commissioned Mr Buscombe to paint a mural on the Bourke-Street side of the business.
The mural is taking on a unique form as Mr Buscombe will be gradually adding to the piece over the next year or two with each addition to the mural creating an unfolding story.
The piece will include various sections being painted over or completely removed as the story, which is being kept under wraps, emerges.
“The deal is I come along when I’m available – it could be once every three weeks,” Mr Buscombe said.
“We want the story to unfold slowly, to paint something to be left unchanged for a bit so people have time to see it because, at some point, the characters won’t be there.
“Like the fox coming out of the hole. At some point, he’ll emerge from the hole and be elsewhere.
“I’ll be painting over sections, so we want to give people the opportunity to see what’s here, while it’s there.
“The final scene will be absolute chaos, and different to what it is now.”
The Roadie mural is not the first time Mr Buscombe has painted a story progression throughout the timeframe of the mural being painted.
He has previously painted an unfolding story of a father emu in Warrnambool, and his work on the Lismore water tower featured a pair of Brolgas before six months later returning to paint a nest, and then eggs, which ‘hatched’ after 54 days.
Mr Buscombe said the approach helped to keep him “tapped in to creativity” while the whimsical depictions appearing on the Roadie gave him more freedom to express himself.
“I wanted to do this over such a long period because the feedback, particularly on the emus in Warrnambool, was so positive – with kids begging to be driven past it to see what the new developments might be,” he said.
“This is where I get to really play with silly things – such as a mouse wearing hi-vis and holding a stop sign – it’s so ridiculous but cute, a crowd-pleaser through whimsical humour, which is where I like to sit a lot of my art.
“This is a great opportunity for me to be me – I’m a bit of a goofball, I don’t like to be too serious about anything, so this is exactly that.”
Mr Buscombe said he was also enjoying the opportunity to meet new people which emerges through interactive art – from people coming along to have a chat while he’s painting, or from social media interaction when he or Mr Symons post an update.
“It’s good to get people stopping by and having a chat, particularly having locals stopping by,” he said.
“I know there’s people who have come from Melbourne, or from Warrnambool, who want to check it out.
“It’s kind of the point.”