humansofnewtown-blog - Tumblr blog

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Beer delivery dog

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So fitting - she's fresh from the HMAS Penguin!

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You couldn't script this if you tried. In the midst of two-up, the roof of the Courthouse Hotel collapses, everyone has to leave the pub (after a few sherbets), amongst the 'snow' fights, the fire station floods.

What climate change?

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Lest we forget the day the Newtown firies had to attend to their very own emergency. ‪#‎sydneystorm‬ ‪#‎snowinnewtown‬ ‪#‎sydneyhail‬ 

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It's chaos on King. Stay safe! 

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The grand Winged Victory looks down over the Lighthorsemen at ‘Marrickville Remembers’. 

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‘His name is Herpes. If you call him, he’ll come.’

Spotted in Newtown.

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‘I was homeless for about 2 years. I had a bad breakup with my ex-wife. She was seeing someone else and then one day she just decided to tell me. I just walked out. I had nowhere to go and had no family.

‘While I was married, I had a job as a storeman in a chicken factory in Blacktown. When I walked out of the marriage, I just left everything – my job, everything. I just couldn’t handle it.

‘The hardest thing about living on the streets was finding shelter and food. I ended up stealing and stuff like that and got caught and decided this is not good for me.

‘I was unemployed and homeless and I wasn’t getting any money. One day I was at Matthew Talbot Hostel and one of the ladies from the office came in and explained The Big Issue to everyone so I decided I’d give it a go.

‘I’ve been selling The Big Issue for about a year and a half now. It was a bit hard at the start but once I got in to it, it got a bit easier. Selling The Big Issue has completely turned things around for me. They helped me a lot and I’m a lot happier now. I love getting to meet people every day.’

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‘It was very late in life when I finally worked out what I wanted to do. I started at the age of 47. I think sometimes things are meant to happen at ages that you don’t expect things to happen.

‘I don’t wish it had happened earlier. I think my life has panned out just nicely. There were other things I wanted to do. I was convinced I wanted to be a beauty therapist and an actress. I did both of those things and then realised they’re not for me.  My passion just naturally changed and I think there is a strong message in that for everyone looking at what they want to do with their life. It’s not too late to change your passion. It was very hard to let go of the acting because I studied for 3 years, did my degree and then wondered how I could possibly stop but I finally gave myself permission to finally let go. This is my new passion and I love what I do.

‘From about 14 I was drawn to vintage clothing. I went through a number of years working in retail, studying acting and always in creative fields. One day I was unhappy with where my life was going. I walked in to an antique shop. I was looking at a shop counter and the guy asked where my shop was. I said that I didn’t have a shop but just loved the counter. He asked me if I did have a shop what would I have and it just came out. I said to him that it would be a vintage clothing shop. I had an epiphany at the moment, walked out and rang my husband and my mum straight away and said to them I know this sounds crazy as I have no stock but I just want to have my own vintage clothing shop. I didn’t buy the counter. Someone else bought the counter and I kick myself to this day that I didn’t but it was the catalyst. It really was like a bolt of lightning. I literally walked on air out of that antique centre because I knew what it was that I finally wanted to do with my life.’

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Sunset on King Street.

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Putting it out there...

Spotted in Newtown.

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The coolest hound in town.

Spotted in Newtown.

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‘I grew up in a creative home & started painting young. Both my parents were artists. Dad’s a sculptor. My mum did study art but went on to study architecture. 

‘My mum’s graphic drawing probably influenced my early work more than my current work. I’ve always been quite obsessed with architecture and buildings. My dad’s taught me things over the years – techniques and ideas. He’s good to talk to about art as he’s got a pretty good understanding. I’ve learnt art history and some of that kind of stuff from him as well – just in all the natural ways your parents influence you.

‘I started out writing much more traditional graffiti so I was working with letter structures and formations. It was quite sharp, aggressive, very technical. About 4-5 years ago, the graffiti thing started to get a little bit old for me & I found the structure of traditional graffiti quite restrictive. I was studying art at the time & was doing oil paintings so it was like marrying my oil paintings with my graffiti work. I lost the letter structure completely & started to experiment with figure work & landscape works. It took a few years to get direction but it’s definitely evolved a lot.’

How do you work the concepts on your walls around the Inner West?

‘Sometimes I have ideas in the back of my mind but need to find the right wall. Mostly however, I like to react to space. If I have a wall lined up, I’ll take photographs of it. I’ll play around with different compositions. Everything is very much designed to fit in that space. Sometimes the trees surrounding the walls can influence the way you lay out your composition – the street, the sky, the buildings behind it. Everything can play a part. I think that’s pretty important when you’re a street artist. You’ve got to react to your environment.

‘I’ve got a lot of walls in the Inner West lined up - it’s just finding time to actually paint them and getting funding as well. Hopefully this year I’ll paint about 10 new murals in the Inner West. I’m going to be working overseas quite a lot as well. Just when I’m home I’ll do what I can. I’m going to be back in Europe & America - and in New Zealand as well which is exciting.’

What’s been the best part of working overseas for you personally?

‘Probably just the people I’ve met over the last couple of years. I’ve met really good, interesting people. For me, that’s probably my favourite thing about travelling and working. It’s been so nice to be able to go somewhere and leave your mark a little bit as well. It’s good to be immersed with local artists & local people. Sometimes you’re up a lift & out of the way but sometimes people chat, watch & take photographs. It’s kind of cool being able to produce work & interact with the community at the same time. You get a direct response & a direct feel. It’s nice to know you’re appreciated sometimes as well even if you are just a visual polluter in many ways!’

View more of Fintan Magee's work at www.fintanmagee.com or @fintan_magee.

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Definitely not one cool cat on King Street today.

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‘This year has been both good and bad. I had two close friends pass away so that was pretty shit. One died from suicide – hanging herself - and the other one passed away from a motorcycle accident so that was pretty sucky. 'I’ve met some amazing friends through this year and the support I’ve got from all my friends when I thought I didn’t have many close friends was great. I thought I had friends that were more acquaintances and I didn’t expect them to be as supportive. Maybe I’m just paranoid but it was nice to feel like they actually truly cared and actively wanted to be a part of my life. It’s definitely made me feel better as a person as well.’

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Summer on King Street.