The island according to Curl

Just as an artist holds a mirror to society, cartoonist Darren Marks posts his locally-inspired work to online Phillip Island Facebook groups.

But if art often reveals ugly and uncomfortable truths about society, perhaps more telling is the slew of comments left under his work, which range from praise and appreciation to flat-out abuse and denigration.

The Cowes-based artist, better known locally as Curl, is known for his iconic murals across the island and has previously published a hardcover book - Sand in my Crack: Life as a beach Bum, Aloha Barry.

Curl said he only recently joined the online groups, and began posting his work to gauge if it was connecting with people.

"I thought I'd chuck a couple on there and see what happens, but they're full of different people and opinions and some people get pretty bloody heated," he said with a laugh.

"There were a couple of posts that people got pretty fired-up about, but I just kept agreeing with them saying: 'yeah, good point".

"I just try and have a laugh and have fun with it, cause it all gets a bit too serious online."

One cartoon, which depicted a ragged Ronald McDonald with bloodshot eyes, smoking a cigarette and littering a chip packet, stirred a small hornet's nest of rebuke.

In one jestful rejoinder, Curl claimed he suffered from coulrophobia - an irrational fear of clowns.

"I know that a few people who were watching (the online discourse) were having a bit of a chuckle," Curl said.

"I'm not necessarily here to push a particular point, just to have a bit of fun and make some people laugh."

Satire

Other cartoons Curl has posted to the online forum include a consultant for a "controversial Cowes redevelopment" who "prefers to ride (an) electric scooter to site meeting due to lack of parking".

"Drunken dad, trying to show kids he's still got it, is first casualty of new mountain bike track at Sunset Strip..." another reads.

The artist said there was never a shortage of contentious fodder for a cartoonist on the island.

"There seems to be a few hot button topics at the moment: McDonald's, Dan Murphy's, (coastal erosion at) Silverleaves, the Cowes foreshore," he said.

"A year or two ago it would have been Berninneit, there's always something going on that people are upset about.

But we're not living in the Gaza Strip are we?

We're whinging about living a peaceful lifestyle and getting a hamburger restaurant and a bottle shop."

The vast majority of responses to Curl's work are positive, and the artist said he is not at all bothered by some of the more hot-blooded netizens.

"Just because the chips are down doesn't mean we should act like seagulls," reads one of his captions.