How long have you lived on the Beaches?
22 years! Born in Manly hospital.
What’s your favourite beach?
Can’t go wrong with Queensie or Freshie. Both are nice and calm, and I run and swim there often to start the day.
Where’s your favourite place to eat, drink, hang out?
Big fan of Salty Rooster! Also, Hugos, Wharfy and, most importantly, The Office. Unbeatable.
What’s the best thing about the Beaches?
The sense of community, access to the beach and lifestyle I love. It’s so easy to get up and get outside.
What inspired your cover?
Well, contemporary art, by definition, is art made and produced by artists living today. I am an artist who is living an incredibly normal life as a 22-year-old. I need to work two jobs to pay rent and bills. Some weeks I struggle. Some weeks I don’t. But that’s just a part of life and the cost-of-living crisis we are currently in. It is also inspired by Danny Lim, a Sydney icon who you can always find around the Martin Place and City Circle train station lines, wearing a sandwich board with messages that make people smile on their commute and get people thinking.
What inspires your work in general?
Everything I see around me I guess, things that I struggle to articulate in conversation or experiences I have.
How would you describe your art?
A jumble of detailed chaos that usually makes people either laugh or smile.
What is your favourite part of the process?
I love doing the linework. That’s usually when the project goes from blotches of colour to actual work that people can see.
Which artists or inspiring people, dead or alive, would you most like to have dinner with?
Ben Brown, Nedd Brockman, Kentaro Yoshida and Sam Kerr. All people who inspire me to pursue my passion and smile.
How did you discover you had a gift for art?
I don’t think I have just yet – still working on it.
Did you study art?
Not at high school or uni. I did Product Design at UTS and did an art class during year twelve outside of school that had nothing to do with study and was purely to make me happy.
What are you currently working on?
A portfolio of work and website to showcase it, and hopefully get out of the hospitality industry soon!
What’s your favourite thing about what you do?
My favourite thing is people’s reaction and interaction with the art I make. Whether it makes them laugh, be furious cry or smile – I enjoy seeing the reaction.
What would you like to see in the future of the Beaches art scene?
More opportunity and space for younger emerging artists to establish themselves when they don’t have a space readily available or affordable. Public spaces that people can use as a creative office free of charge or create a community within that has people of a similar age and similar standing having just finished school or still studying at uni.
Artist Statement:
Atlas – a man tasked with the burden of the globe on his shoulders. For many commuters, being office corporates, tradesmen, students, or parents – they feel that same burden. With no time, motivation or strength, your average Sydney City suburbanite is fuelled with caffeine, plus an added motivation to fill empty pockets and stomachs. Amidst all the apprehension and chaos, here is Danny Lim. A Sydney icon operating on a different frequency to the rest of us. He is our reminder to smile, take a breath and remember that the weight upon our shoulders gets lighter the less you think about it.
Follow Tom’s work on Instagram here and why not follow Danny Lim here too.
More from our local artists
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Are you an artist local to the Northern Beaches and want to be featured in the Tawny Frogmouth? Email mail@thetawnyfrogmouth.com.au