politics

Big Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten puppets

Posted by hil

I’ve continued to make large puppet heads of Australian politicians for Matt Armstrong. In December 2018 I finished one of Scott Morrison, who had just become Prime Minister after rolling Malcolm Turnbull.

Fairly soon afterwards in March 2019 there was a call for a Bill Shorten puppet head. The life of this one was remarkably short, since Shorten’s Labor lost the election it was expected to win.

There are now five of these – Abbott, Turnbull, Joyce, Morrison and Shorten. Canberra Museum and Gallery has currently borrowed the Abbott and Shorten puppets for display in their exhibition Activism: forces for change in Canberra, which runs until early November.

On the opening night of the exhibition, the Joyce and Turnbull puppets mingled with the crowd, and it was fun to get a photo of all four of them together.

There has been a lot of interest in these puppets, and they appear in the media quite often. In September 2018 the ABC had a nice article about them, with an accompanying video.

Political puppets for Puppet Government

Posted by hil

I made four puppets of Australian politicians earlier this year – Abbott, Bishop, Turnbull and Hockey – for Puppet Government, an indie youtube parody series.  So far four episodes have been made, with more presently in the works.

Here are some photos from making process:

IMG_0198

Bidja

Posted by hil

bidja

The design for Bidja the bunyip, the mascot that I made for the Pacific School Games, was transfered into this soft toy as part of the merchandising for the event.

Messy

Posted by hil

Studio

This is what my studio looks like at the moment. I’m making a large dead manta ray out of polystyrene. I wish it wasn’t so messy and that I didn’t have to wear a respirator all day, but it works nicely.

Poster’s remorse

Posted by hil

I’ve just pulled my last post, the one about a mask I made in 1974, called the Essential President. It was spooking me, and completely at odds with how I am feeling, as the world looks hopefully to the promise of Barack Obama. Instead I recommend this hit of optimism.

Obamafication

Posted by hil

ObamifiedObamified

I’ve watched the story of Shepard Fairey’s Obama poster unfold right from the beginning, about a year ago. The design is so good, and it’s wonderfully appropriate in the circumstances that a street art design has become iconic and so appreciated that it has become mainstream. Now you can obamify yourself at Obamicon.Me.  It’d be fun if everyone adopted one of these as their avatar at Twitter and other places on inauguration day to celebrate.

Obama banner

As square as a butter box

Posted by hil

For your reading pleasure: David Barnett frothing over last night’s broadcast of ‘Keating the Musical’. My favourite bit:

Alexander Downer, dressed as FrankN’Furter from The Rocky Horror Show, is shown as effete. Downer, father of four children and with nothing in his private life to suggest he is anything other than as square as a butter-box…

I’d never heard that euphemism before!

…how ironic it is that the Liberals are in the process of organising an orderly transition of leadership from Brendan Nelson to Peter Costello, along the lines of the transition by agreement from Bill Hayden to Bob Hawke. Not one like the brutal coup arranged by the stabber, Paul Keating, to serve his own ambitions.

I wonder if this is an insider view, considering Barnett is Prue Goward’s partner?

Keating! the musical is no joke, and the question it invites must be taken seriously: where does all this hatred come from?

An absolute mystery, isn’t it? Continue reading →

Kevin Rudd glasses

Posted by hil

Kevin Rudd glasses

Eight pairs of sparkly Elton-John-sized Kevin Rudd glasses made for Shortis and Simpson’s lastest political satire, Three Nights at the Bleeding Heart, currently at the Street Theatre.