COVER ARTIST
Sydney-based illustrator, poet, and muralist Joel ‘Mulga’ Moore has been covering the world with bright and bold characters for years. His latest creation, MulgaKongz, has entered a new digital platform. Beaches COVERED. Publisher, John Vickery, spoke with this season’s Cover Artist to find out more. G’day Joel. I did a little Google research and discovered the name Mulga is reference to a hardy Australian Native plant found throughout inland Australia. Why the name Mulga? How does it suit your personality? Mulga was my nickname at school and I got it when I was in year 5. I recited Banjo Patterson’s poem ‘Mulga Bill’s Bicycle’ in front of my class. I heard one of my snot-nosed classmates, who sat next to me saying, “Hey it’s Mulgaaaa.” The name stuck. Some variations have been Mulga Bill, Mulga Pig and Mulgs. When it came to choosing an artist name, I googled my real name. There
12 // Social
is an American actor dude with the same name as me. He even has the same middle name as me, which is kinda freaky. You might recognise him from the movies – Dodgeball and Avatar. I think Mulga works well and it ties in nicely with how my art has an Australian larrikin feel and the fact that my nickname comes from a character in a poem. I now write poems about my own artistic creations so it’s a nice full circle kind of thing. If the plants are Aussie and hardy, as an artist how would you describe yourself, style, persona, wit? I’d describe my artistic style as Summer fun-loving Aussie
good times; lots of bright colours and funky characters chilling. I like to make people smile so with my art, I’m always trying to bring joy, colour and fun times into the world. The world is full of serious bad stuff at the moment so I like to make my mark by creating a world where only good times exist, and the viewer can enter it for a brief moment of time and feel good. Your style is definitely unique and colourful. Is this the inner kid trying to break-out in you or do you just wish to make a statement with colour? I don’t want to grow up so there’s definitely that element of the child within breaking out
