Bowled, Callum

The mural depicts Warne at his farewell test. Pictures: Getty Images

When artist Callum Hotham heard that Shane Warne had died suddenly at 52 he was deeply upset, like so many Australians. But he didn’t know at the time that Warne’s tragic passing would affect his life in an unexpected way.

After Warne’s death, Hotham received a call from Mark Vincent, from Habitat Media, asking if he would like to paint a mural of the cricket great on a wall on Oxford St, Paddington. He leapt at the chance.

Over six days last week, Hotham worked on the mural, on the corner of Oxford St and County Ave on the side of the Nelder Jones bridal boutique.

“I was contacted by Mark with the opportunity to do the Shane Warne mural just a couple of days after he passed away and I couldn’t believe how fortunate I was to have that opportunity,” says Hotham, who happens to be a first-grade cricketer for Western Suburbs District Cricket Club.

“I just couldn’t believe they asked me. I was over the moon. I’m a massive Warnie fan. My first memories of watching cricket was the 2006 Ashes series with Warnie, (Ricky) Ponting, (Glenn) McGrath and all those guys were my heroes and at 25 I’m still admiring these guys. To pay tribute to him is something incredible really.”

Since going up, the mural has received the attention of instagram, the media and the passing parade, with people stopping to pay their own tribute to the cricketer and admire the likeness. Hotham says he was surprised by the level of interest in the work, nothing that the cricketer touched many lives.

“Lots of people would talk to me (as I was working),” he says. “The people of Paddington are so friendly, they’re amazing. People were saying how wonderful it is to have something to pay tribute to Warnie and saying thank you as well, which I thought was crazy because I am the one who was thankful for the opportunity. It was never about me it was about Warnie.”

Hotham donated his time to the piece, and Habitat Media donated the space, which is usually reserved as an advertising billboard featuring hand-painted murals.

Vincent says the mural came about because an ad previously booked by an alcohol company fell over at the last minute, and rather than leave the space blank, he decided to use the wall as a place to acknowledge the passing of a legend.

“When the space fell over I thought I would make it worth my while to keep it and got Callum to do the mural. The SCG is just down the road and I thought it would be a good thing to do,“ he says.

The mural is booked into the space until April 15 after which it will be painted over for a new creative — unless a keen local or business wants to sponsor to keep the mural up for another month.

Vincent is open to talking to businesses who might be keen to keep the mural up longer.

“I’d love someone to rally to buy the space,” he says.

For his part, Hotham says the mural has encouraged him to move from his day job as a stonemason, to being a full-time artist.

“Now after this mural I think I can basically go full time with murals because of all the work that’s come up for me,” he says. “Even if it doesn’t (continue) the mural has made a massive impact already on Paddington and on me as well.

“It’s not about me. But already even if it was taken down today it has made a huge impact. If I was just painting old Bob down the road nobody would hear about it. He’s the legend.”