Fintan Magee is a Lismore-born, Brisbane-raised artist who seems to have gotten up in just about every Australian city. Recently, especially in Sydney.
Magee's early work was heavily influenced by more traditional graffiti, but he's since been painting murals that verged into a different category. It's sometimes surreal, often character-based, and extremely illustrative. Stange people wearing masks play dangerous games, an infant dressed as Superman is speared by an arrow – there are some nightmarish themes that are somehow still beautiful, no matter how bleak.
His recent blending of cartoon-ish hero-style characters with everyday humans is a favourite: we love how the characters can explore heavy themes without being entirely grim. And yet, the subjects are strange, pseudo-humans – not quite real and not quite imaginary. They teeter in a strange kind of limbo that's neither here nor there.
More at
fintanmagee.com and
flickr.com.