It started after a mate commented on the number of guitars Paul had lying around and asked what he was going to do with them. Paul, who has had a guitar in hand since he was in the third grade, looked around and knew he didn’t want to get rid of them. But what to do with them? Then inspiration struck and Paul entered his artist phase.
Paul began upcycling the guitars, turning each into an individual piece of art with its own story to tell. The first designs had cut out shelves, and he quickly progressed to inserting clocks, lights, creating skulls. An impressive piece is his ukeaguitarlee, both strung and playable.
Some of Paul’s inspiration comes from his love of punk rock and metal music. Tunes you can hear pumping as he sits out on his porch creating the pieces. Paul uses the jigsaw, like a painter uses a paintbrush to bring his ideas to life with Pete, his support worker on hand to help with the electric tools. The men have bonded over a shared love of music.
“The guitars take a lot of effort to make” says Paul and that effort is proudly on display in his house, with more than 11 guitar master pieces. The guitars have come from friends or found at the op-shop. When he posts pictures of the guitars on Facebook, they draw a lot of attention with comments and likes flowing in from around the country and even internationally. Despite some international interest, Paul hasn’t sold any of his pieces…yet but proudly makes them for his mates.
Paul experienced a full circle moment, the night of Paul’s accident he was on his way to see one of his favourite bands NOFX when he was involved in a car crash. The accident left Paul blind in one eye and experiencing short-term memory loss. Recently, Paul’s mate bought him tickets to the last NOFX tour in Melbourne. “They were so so so good, they were awesome” Paul exclaimed. And as a tribute to one of his favourite bands, Paul created a NOFX themed guitar art piece.
When Paul’s not with jigsaw in hand creating these masterpieces, he’s jamming with his mates, even playing the didgeridoo, an instrument he’s self-taught in. There is no doubt that Paul as a guitarist and artist is only at the beginning of his incredible creative journey.