Oceanic art on exhibition

If you don’t know Paul Fullbrook, you don’t drink in Bondi. The 50-something artist is a pub regular. But everybody who visits the area knows his murals: ocean swirls, mermaids, dolphins and fairies are plastered across the eastern suburbs.

Some of his pieces have suffered from gentrification: the old Bondi Guest House on Consett Ave was covered in his trademark art, but was bulldozed for luxury apartments.

But for a month following October 14, people have the chance to see a retrospective of his work at 420 Oxford St, Bondi Junction.

“I love doing art in Bondi because I was born and bred here- I was a member of the ‘second ramp’ surf gang as a kid,” Fullbrook said, in his half-American accent acquired from two decades overseas.

“I used to be a photographer, but when I lost all my stuff in the LA riots in the eighties, I moved to Hawaii and started painting,” he said.

Now his art stands as a local institution. He said, “They should make postcards of some of them.”

And, like so many of the community who have travelled, he’ll always return to Bondi to paint.  “I get that homely feeling walking along the beach. It’s changed a bit, but it always inspires my art.”

– BY MATT KHOURY