Don't give up your day jobs

Hey, I recently started two new jobs. 

The first of my two new jobs, which I actually started back in May, is 2 days a week of shopping trolley collection. Very glamourous.

You know how when you go to a supermarket and you see all the trolleys loitering around the carpark, and you think to yourself, "Gee, I wish I could be the person out there in the rain, strapping those trolleys into 50 meter trains and pushing them uphill back into the shops"? 

Well, you are looking at the guy who landed that sweet job.

At first I offered to collect the trolleys voluntarily, you know, just for the experience and exposure, but the supermarket are actually paying me to do it!

Joking aside though I do really love this job. (And I'm not just saying that in case someone from the company reads this!) 

One cool thing about collecting trolleys is you get to use the secret corridors of the shopping centre. 

When I went to Italy I was amazed to learn about the Medici Family; a bunch of rich murderers who in 1565 controlled Florence and built secret corridors all over the city. Apparently the Medici's had to use secret corridors because if they walked amongst the public they definitely would've been assassinated. 

So it's comforting to know that my job has the same level of safety from assassination as the 16th century mafia.

I think the only real difference between the Medici secret corridors and the ones that I use is that the Medici corridors were filled with fancy self portraits

unlike the ones I use, which look like this.

But if the only thing separating me from living the life of a Medici is sticking a self portrait on the wall, then that's an easy fix. 

So this morning before my shift I painted this self portrait.

And then, after my shift, I duct back into the corridor and duct taped it up.

Here's a photo of it with my workmate, who's very generously pretending to be impressed.

And so yeah, collecting shopping trolleys is obviously my dream job, I work really hard at it and I think I'm pretty good at it. But I'm also realistic; I know that collecting trolleys is super competitive, and it's a tough industry to make it in. Which is why, to give my parents some peace of mind, I did the smart thing first and I got my fine arts degree, this way if collecting trolleys doesn't work out at least I'll always have the art to fall back on.

Speaking of art, here's four places you can find some of my work at the moment, please check them out if you can!;

1. If you're in Brisbane, I've got a large new sculpture and some drawings in The Churchie exhibition, held at the awesome QUT Museum. The show's on now, and runs until November 13. 

3. If you're in Tasmania, I've got a big new painting on canvas in the Bruny Island Art Prize, on now and running until October 4. 

2. If you're in the south east suburbs of Victoria, I've got a new series of 25 ceramic sculptures in the McGivern TEXT exhibition. It's at Realm Gallery in Ringwood, on now, and running until November 20. 

4. And if you're in Melbourne, I've got a new sculpture, a painting and a wall piece in the current group show on at Lon Gallery. On now and running until October 15. The show has the theme of nudity in art, so if you're around Collingwood go have a perve. (Ha, but I don't wanna get your hopes up, you won't see me naked in the show!) Here's a flyer with all the info.

But if you can't make it to any of those exhibitions you can always just come find me at the supermarket. 

A big thanks to Cherie Peele and Zoe Mullins for helping take the photos in this post. Oh and hey, I nearly forgot; at the beginning of this post I mentioned that I've recently started two new jobs, but so far I've only talked about the shopping trolley job. 

Well, the second of the new jobs that I've recently started is this one, staring Ashton Kutcher.

So far I'm about halfway through the movie and to be honest I don't really wanna keep watching, but if there's one thing you should know about me it's that I always see my Jobs through to the end.

The fine art of fundraising

Hey, just thought I'd quickly put this out that if you're free tonight, (and in Melbourne), then come along for a drink at the RMIT fundraiser exhibition, where all the money raised goes towards their grad show catalogues. 

My pal Lucy Davidson is one of the artists in the course and invited me to donate a work. Lucy works part time at a chocolate shop so I donated this painting from 2010 titled Block. 


But as well as me, the auction is also chock full of other great artists whose work we can bid on;

Should be lots of fun, hope to see you there!

Here's a link to the facebook event with all the details.

And here's a photo of Lucy, about to eat my painting.

The Good, the Dad and the Mug-ly

Hey, it's Fathers Day, and so I just wanna say a big Happy Fathers Day to my amazing Dad! 

Not that I think my Dad is likely to read that, as I don't think he's ever read this blog, but just in case you are reading this Dad; I love you. You're actually something of a real father figure to me.

However, Fathers Day isn't just about my Dad, it's about all the other amazing fathers too, and so speaking of other amazing fathers, here's a photo of me with Father Bob Maguire. 

I got to meet Father Bob at a street art exhibition I went to earlier this year where he gave the opening speech. 

In the lead up to the show I made a ceramic sculpture of Father Bob's biography, and Father Bob was kind enough to sign it for me.

I first discovered Father Bob through hearing him on the Triple J radio show that he co-hosted for ten years with writer/comedian John Safran. I used to listen to their show every week so it was pretty surreal to actually meet him in person. 

My favourite part was that he kept calling me "comrade", which is how on the radio he would refer to the guests and people who called in.

After Father Bob signed the sculpture he asked me if he should also write an inscription. I said "Sure, I'd love that, how about some words I can live by". 

He thought for a moment, and he wrote;

"No Them and Us- just We"

Perfect.

And so yeah, a huge thanks to Father Bob for signing my new sculpture. Also a huge thanks to Chérie Peele for taking the photos. And because it's Fathers Day, one more huge thanks to my father for being such an amazing Dad.

Having said that though, I decided today that this Fathers Day my Dad shouldn't be the only one getting presents, so this afternoon I went out and I bought myself a new mug and I got my brother a matching stubby holder.

And so there you have it, here's a photo from tonight of my Dad, my brother and I, gathered together to celebrate my new mug. 

Because, like I always say; No Them and Us- just Tea.

(In other news, I got a haircut.)

I haven't got an air in the world

Hey, here's a drawing of air.

And here's a drawing of air, at night.

Here's a drawing of a Macbook Air.

And here's a drawing of a Macbook Air, at night.

Air-nyway, let's change the subject. 

Here's a drawing of gas.

Here's a drawing of a sculpture by De-gas. 

And lastly, here's a drawing of a De-gas being a little bit De-gassy.

Doing things by the book

Hey, I don't wanna boast but here's a new ceramic sculpture I just finished.

In other boastful news, I'm super excited to have found out that I'm a finalist in the upcoming R & M McGivern Painting Prize, held at Artspace in Realm, opening on September 16.

Here's a list of the fantastic artists I'll be exhibiting alongside;

When it gets closer to the date I'll be sure to invite you to please come along, but in the meantime I thought what might be more fun for today, rather than go on about shows that I'm involved in, will be to mention three other artists who've got exhibitions on at the moment.

First up is Emily Floyd. I really like Emily Floyd, she's funny and warm and a great sculptor. Emily's featured in the current exhibition, Telling Tales, on at the MCA in Sydney. Here's a quick drawing I made of Emily's work in the show, titled It's because I think too much that I do nothing.

And here's Emily Floyd and I at an exhibition she was in earlier in the year at Gertrude Contemporary, where she was kind enough to sign a ceramic sculpture I made of her 2014 book, The Dawn.

Here's my sculpture of Emily Floyd's The Dawn, photographed this morning at dawn.

The next artist I'll mention is Jess Johnson, and no I don't mean Jess Johnson the Cricket Wag...

I'm talking about Jess Johnson my pal, the awesome New Zealand born artist, whose work you might remember from her show at the NGV last year where you got to take a ride inside a fully immersive Oculus Rift headset. 

The show was amazing. Totally amazing. I was totally amazed.

Jess has a show opening tonight at Talbot Rice Gallery, so if you're lucky enough to be in Edinburgh between now and October 8 you should definitely hit it up. 

Here's the flyer;

And here's a selfie with the wonderful Jess as she's signing a ceramic sculpture I made of her book, a few days before she left Australia to go live in New York City.

Also, before Jess signed my sculpture, here's the scrap piece of paper she practised her signature on to make sure she would do a good one :) 

And here's the finished sculpture.

And with no time to keep Patting myself on the back let's move on to the third and final artist, who's a different kind of Pat altogether, the artist Pat Brassington. 

A lot of Pat Brassington's work is really disturbing. 

"How disturbing is it?" I hear you ask.

I would say it's almost as disturbing as the other morning when I walked into the kitchen and discovered that my Mum had made my Dad a coffee using my "Worlds best lover" mug.

The first time I saw Pat Brasington's work was back in 2012 when she had a show at ACCA. Recently I made a ceramic sculpture of Pat Brasington's book from that exhibition and last month, while at Arc One Gallery, Pat was kind enough to sign the sculpture for me. 

And so cool, there's three new ceramic books signed by three awesome and inspiring artists. 

Check out their shows if you can, pretend their work is Pokemon and go catch it in the wild.

Emily Floyd is in the group show Telling Tales, curated by Veronica Kent at the MCA in Sydney. It's on until October 9 and it's free. Click here for details. 

Jess Johnson's show opens tonight at Talbot Gallery in Edinburgh. It's on until October 8 and it's free too. Click here for details.

Pat Brassington is in the CCP 30th anniversary fundraiser in Melbourne. The last day to see the show is this Saturday, (July 30), and it's also free, but obviously it's a fundraiser so all the work is for sale and CCP is a great space so if you feel like buying a work you'd be helping out a great cause. Click here for details. 

Thanks heaps for reading, see you soon, and yeah, I'm just really thrilled with these new ceramic sculptures. But like I said, I'm not really one to boast. I much prefer to Boost.

Blood, sweat and Voltaire's

Sometimes when you go through the old photos on your phone you can find some real gems you'd forgotten about. 

I'm not sure if this photo is one of those gems but maybe it is, well, at the very least it does literally contain gems.

And so yeah, here's a photo I took at the NGV last year of Catherine the Great’s famous collection of gems alongside a handful of ceramic sculptures I made of potato gems.

And speaking of Catherine the Great, here's the cover to a book of writing, drawing and activities that I was commissioned to make about her by the NGV while I was the artist in residence during their recent Hermitage exhibition. 

(I still have a couple of copies of this book, Catherine the Great Gatsby, so send me an email if you'd like one, they're $5.) 

Anyway the reason I bring all this up is because Catherine the Great was friends with a little 18th century writer by the name of Voltaire, and speaking of Voltaire, I've been invited to read some of my silly writing tomorrow at the House of Voltaire. 

It's 4pm, (on Thursday, July 21), at 80 Collins Street in Melbourne, come along!

House of Voltaire is a UK not for profit gallery, if you'd like more info about them click here for a link to their website, (or click here for an article about them published last week in Broadsheet.

And yeah, the House of Voltaire is really awesome, and my little reading has been curated by Melissa Loughnan which is really awesome too, and ok great, I think it's gonna be a lot of fun and hope to see you there!

In the meantime, here's a photo of me asleep after clearly having just read every single book ever written about Voltaire. 

And yes, I'm wearing an INXS t-shirt, but that's only because they could never Voltaire us apart.