Bondi Local | Rocco Fazzar
Bondi Local | Rocco Fazzari
Rocco’s illustrative work has been published in the Fairfax press for the past twenty years, as well as in Rolling Stone magazine and American Sports Illustrated among many others. Readers of The Sydney Morning Herald would recognise his work. For examples see Rocco’s Facebook page HERE.
Melanie chatted with Rocco at the Sun Cafe at Seven Ways in Bondi.
———————
Tell us a little about your background.
My parents came from Calabria. They arrived in Adelaide in the 1950s. Dad worked as a labourer and a market gardener on the weekends. I was born there in 1959 but when I was 5 or 6 he decided we should all move back to Italy. It didn’t take long before he decided that he had had enough of that place so we moved back to Australia again.
It’s been hard work but happy ever since. With its ups and downs.
How did you get to Sydney?
I moved from Adelaide to Canberra in 1983. I spent 4 years in Canberra working firstly for the Federal Government illustrating Government issued children’s books. Then I worked at the Canberra Times as an illustrator, cartoonist, whatever. In 1988 I moved to Sydney, to The Sydney Morning Herald. So I’ve been associated with Fairfax for quite a long time.
What is it that you have been doing for Fairfax?
I do political satire, caricatures, social issues, that sort of thing. It’s changed a bit over the years but a lot of that stuff.
Visuals became a very important thing for newspapers in the 80s and the 90s. They were a selling point. People decided that to sell ads you had to have more visuals rather than great slabs of type. It became a big thing as newspaper circulation began declining they became more ‘magaziney’ and one way of making them more like a magazine was to have more art work in them.
Tell us about your recent award.
We were nominated for the Online Video Awards (OVA). We didn’t win but were stoked to get a “seat” at the table with some of the most innovative video makers in the country.
The video was Bronnie Bronnie Bronnie. Link HERE.
I got into poltical satire because it was a genre of topics that made me both angry and made me laugh in equal measure.
You also paint.
Yes, I was painting quite a bit before I got into publishing. I got into drawing for magazines and newspapers coz I thought it would be a good thing to do while I was waiting for my painting career to take off. It was one thing or the other really.
The way I got into it [publishing] was my friends were in a rock band [Distressed Innocents] while I was at art school in Adelaide and they asked me to do an album cover. So I did a cover for one of their records and then they asked me to do a newspaper ad based on the album cover so I did a pen and ink drawing of the cover. It was a drawing of my drawing for the ad. And then they asked me to deliver it to the newspaper – I thought they were going to ask me to wash their car next! Anyway I did deliver it to the magazine – one of the street magazines – and they said “that looks pretty good, who did that?” and I said I did and they asked me if I wanted a job. In those days anyone who could draw quickly and knew a little bit about layout, which I made out I did, could get a job. They knew nothing about layout obviously which is why they took me on – they thought I did.
We recently saw your show at the Maunsell Wickes gallery.
[Rocco is represented by Maunsell Wickes. HIs artist page HERE.]
Yeah I’ve exhibited with them for 3 years. I was with Damien Minton gallery prior to that. I was with Charles Hewitt gallery for a while. I’ve done the rounds a bit!
You did a beautiful series on Barangaroo. Have you been to the site lately?
Yes I go into Fairfax in the afternoons to do my stuff and it’s the first thing I see when I arrive there so I’ve been watching the progress. I can see it through my window. I see it at all times of the day. It’s pretty striking in the evenings when the light reflects off the water. It’s pretty interesting watching the evolution of it. It has been a focal point of a lot painters over the last century. And still is.
How long have you lived in Bondi for?
When I arrived in Sydney I initially lived in Surry Hills and I decided I wanted to live in Bondi because it was one of the few suburbs that I knew of. So I bought an apartment when no-one wanted to live in Bondi. In about 1991. And it was just that I knew Bondi. If I had only known Parramatta I might have moved there. Just from being naïve I guess I made the right move.
Are you happy you made that move?
Yes I am. It’s been good for my family and me.
Are you a beach person?
I do go to the beach quite a bit. We like Coogee too. But we walk down to Bondi Beach with my daughters. We have good times at the playground, the children’s baths …
We are here at the Sun Café. Is this a favourite haunt?
Yes we come here quite often as a family or on my own. It’s near the bus stop so that’s good.
Is there anywhere else that you eat and drink in the neighbourhood?
We normally just eat at home. Mostly Italian but Greek as well. My wife who’s Greek does a great lamb. But there’s a heavy Italian influence.
Are you excited about anything at the moment?
Yes I’m excited about the new digital era. I’m excited that anyone and everyone can make something and be a publisher and have their point of view and do stuff. Whereas in the old days it was just a select few who could.
Is there anything that you’re reading or watching at the moment?
I bought the first season of The Sopranos for $2 from an op shop down the road. I’ve seen it before, quite a few times, but I’m watching it again. I watched it first time round when my daughter was one year old and couldn’t sleep so I used to stay up with her watching it. It used to be on really late and then they wouldn’t show it or run it in the wrong order. It got thrown off. The first time you watched it, remember? You thought, “what was that!”. My family are not gangsters but it was the Italian family thing.
I read The New Yorker magazine. It’s got everything. Fiction, non-fiction, interviews, great cartoons. Great artwork. It’s my staple. I get one a week and I read it cover to cover. There’s a lot but every night we spend a good hour reading together as a family.
Do your children like to read?
Yes, they love it. We actually have to fight with them to switch the light off in the evening.
That’s a fight we like having isn’t it!
Do you have a motto?
Yeah, it’s one that my first boss used to use all the time. I like it coz it’s funny and it’s very visual and it can apply to lots of things: “Why deal with the monkey if you can deal with the organ-grinder.” It made me laugh the first time I heard it and it’s got a lot of nice meaning and metaphors to it. It’s something you can apply to life – get to the core of the matter, why mess around with the monkey. In a work situation, go straight to the organ-grinder.
________________________
PS: The above portrait of Rocco was done by English artist Andrew McLeay who is a keen follower of Rocco’s work. And the recent illustration was SMH.com.au on the 31st October 2015.
________________________
Full interview on SoundCloud below or HERE
