The Hyper-Psych Diaries of Marker Magus
On the stinking hot 42C/108F Australian Christmas of 2016, a gruesome artistic discovery was made. A dead man’s body was discovered in an abandoned shipping container. The discovery was ironic for having occurred on Christmas Day, as it presented the world with a gift of new and unknown artwork. Yet this made it no less of a tragedy, as the dead man must have suffered terribly while making these drawings. We document the artworks here, in the hopes this blog post may go some way towards redeeming the dead man’s troubled existence.
What is known is this. The dead man was found in an abandoned shipping container in a remote suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The coroner’s inquest estimates his age at death to be approximately 54 years. It would appear the man had moved himself into the empty Maersk container, in a disused industrial lot near Port Adelaide, and was attempting to squat there, whilst making his “artwork”. Along with his body was a pile of over 400 sketches and drawings. The “artwork” appears to have been created with texters and sketchpads shoplifted from the local Reject Shop and Cheap As Chips. How anybody could have survived in such conditions, let alone created a body of artwork, beggars belief. Temperatures inside the container would have reached well over 40C during the day, and dipped to 0C at night. There were no cushions, sofa, or bedding found in the container. There were no lights, plumbing, or amenities of any kind. The inside was strewn with empty tins of tuna, Heinz beans, dried up texters, and empty drink bottles. Evidence would suggest he died in the shipping container alone, unknown, without funds, friends or next of kin.
Since the body was found without driving licence or passport, the only clue to the man’s identity is the drawings themselves. Most are signed either “MM”, “Magus”, or “Marker Magus”. According to the dates on the drawings, he began his cryptic residency in early 2016.
Enquiries to the local Art Gallery would indicate the man was what those in the art world refer to as a “hyper-psych” artist. We were fortunate enough to have been allowed to scan the drawings and sketches, and we present the artwork here as it was found, in its raw, unframed condition.
View the complete Hyper-Psych Diaries at the Internet Archive.
Back to Gallerymjb Homepage/Main Menu
© Michael J Bowman - All Rights Reserved
