FEATURE
DIFFERENT STROKES
Coming out of a confronting covid lockdown, actor Tim Draxl has found painting is renewing his energy and self-confidence. He’s now gearing up for his first solo art exhibition – oh, and a stage role, a new TV show, and an action film with Liam Neeson. He spoke to Ian Horner. Photography Sean Sinclair.
STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY BY SEAN SINCLAIR @FORESPOKE
Actor Tim Draxl is super excited. His first solo exhibition of paintings opens this month at the Rex-Livingston Art + Objects Gallery in Katoomba in The Blue Mountains.
He’s also shooting a new show for the ABC, The Newsreader. His lead role on stage in the covid-delayed A Chorus Line at Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre is finally opening in August. And he’s about to shoot an action film in Melbourne with Liam Neeson, no less, called Blacklight.
It’s an awesome way to emerge from covid, especially for Tim. When so many creatives around the world used lockdown to push the boundaries of their talents in new ways, lockdown for Tim was the opposite.
He and his partner, Adrian Barritt, and their dog, Boss, spent eight weeks at the height of the pandemic with Tim’s mum in an idyllic part of the world near the Minnamurra River on the New South Wales south coast.
There was a time when I edited myself in regard to my sexuality. I realise how much of myself I sacrificed…
“I went into lockdown intending to be incredibly creative,” says Tim via Skype from his artist’s studio at home in North Bondi. “I’d always dreamt of having that kind of time to go somewhere beautiful to do just that.
“My mum is of an age where she was incredibly vulnerable to the virus, so it was beautiful to spend that time with her. We went for walks in the park and along the Minnamurra River; so picturesque.”
But he hadn’t figured on covid-stress. He volunteered to do the grocery shopping and that was a nightmare. Compounding everything was the unrelenting news from overseas.
“My brother was in Italy and we were getting all this information from him before it broke on our news. It was freaking us out to the point where Mum and I had to ask him to stop sending us the information because it was terrifying us.”
His partner, “Adi”, still thinks Tim went overboard. He’d wear gloves and a mask to shop and his mum would spray him down, and all the shopping, with Glen 20 when he returned.