On 2006-05-04 18:48, Benzart wrote:
Are ya' Home Yet??

Marcus and his wife Yvette live on a 10-acre man-made paradise of waterfalls and jungle, giant bonfire pits and an outdoor bamboo tiki bar hung with odd bits of vintage flotsam-and-jetsam on the outskirts of Brisbane. Marcus, revered around the world for his enormous tiki carvings in Australian gum- timber and palm, is a self-taught carver.

‘Marcus is one of the greatest living tiki carvers today, and he’s neither Polynesian nor American,’ comes one comment on Tiki Central, a website set-up for lovers of all things Polynesian, visited by over 1000 people every hour (www.tikiroom.com).

Viewing his work in person it is easy to understand the reason behind this surge of publicity and orders for these beautiful Polynesian statues, representative of the 1950s interest in pop paradise. They are superb, and his artistry, which sees him get up at 4am each day, demonstrates his love for one of the greatest icons of an era he is adamant to recreate. How tiki carving became a full-time job for Marcus in less than five years shows just how big the interest in Polynesian exotica has become. Sparked-off by the revival of Hawaiian fashions, complimented by the release of the excellent and widely read Taschen Book of Tiki by Sven Stroheim, the ground was set for a man as skilled and passionate as Marcus to flourish.

‘Every tiki I do attracts many more commissions as people who see them want one for themselves. Nowadays I can’t keep up. It can take me a week to do a single large carving, and my most recent, a Maori tiki with detailed carved tattoos, took me three weeks full time!’