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The Gold Coast is full of inspiring individuals, doing their part for our city, creating, achieving and sharing their talents. As is tradition, we at GCM have created a ‘man issue’ for our July/August edition and once again have sourced who we believe to be the Men of the Moment right now on the Coast. We found artists, an author, a race car driver and our very own Mayor to grace the pages of this beautiful issue and to introduce you to these incredible men, doing incredible things. May we introduce our Men of the Moment!
SHAE DAVIES: DRIVER at Shae Davies Racing.
Shae wears Versace jacket $1198, Rare knit vest, McQueen for Puma shoes $250 from Emporio Guardi 07 5591 6148, Shirt $69.95 and pants $149.95 from Cubic Collective 07 5570 3233. Esky from Piece to Peace.
Like most boys Shae Davies had a dream to become a race car driver born from watching V8’s on Sunday’s with his dad. Now, aged 22 the Gold Coaster is well on his way to making that very dream come true. With the support of his family and sponsors, Shae is heading to the States at the end of June for what we hope will be the debut of an international career.
I was born and bred on the Gold Coast and got into racing cars in the beginning through family friends, starting with go-karting. I had the goal and it progressed from there having the backing and the right opportunities to step up to Formula Ford. Unfortunately it’s not just a talent based sport, the more sponsors you have, the more opportunities there are.
I’m really excited about going to the States, it is basically the American equivalent of our Formula Ford championship here. We are doing it for a couple of reasons, firstly the experience, it’s an opportunity to do more driving and to get a point of difference to impress the team managers higher up. It’s great to show that you have experience in other platforms and classes and opens us up to potentially race in America. As soon as I get back from there I fly out to Townsville for our Australian National Championship round. Racing is quite intense and the obvious goal is to finish first. You flash in and out of consciousness and at various points in time you might tune back in and sort of have a little strategy in your head where other times it is about setting up a rhythm.
My ultimate goal is to make a career from what I love and that is racing cars. Specifically that would be V8 Supercars and anywhere I can fulfill that goal I would be happy.
TIM BAKER: AUTHOR
Tim wears Versace jacket $3325, Armani shirt $335, Versace scarf $220 from Emporio Guardi 07 5591 6148, pants $149.95 from Ben Sherman Robina 07 5575 8833 and shoes $279 from Aquila 07 3211 2506. Bar stool from Peace to Peace.
Tim spent ten years editing several Australian surfing magazines before going on to publish five books including the biographies of world surfing champions Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, Mark Occiluppo and Mick Fanning. He still contributes to surfing magazines and has just returned from a surfing and writing retreat in Bali to finish the “great unfinished novel”.
When people ask me how I scored my dream job as a surf writer I take them back to my final English exam. I was previously a maths and science student destined for studies in forestry or agriculture science. I had four essays to do in three hours and when I got to the last one it was a general essay topic, ‘early morning experiences’. As a surfer it was just the topic from heaven, I knew exactly what I was going to do and I wrote this stream of consciousness surf rave. I can remember it pretty clearly ‘getting up in the morning to check the surf’ and there was a line in there about “staring out over the ocean in the grey, pre-dawn, half light and pissing off the cliff, marking my territory like a dog”. I thought I was really literary. It was one of those moments when you are completely in an experience and you forget where you are and I forgot I as in an English exam. I stepped out of the exam into the harsh daylight thinking ‘oh god, what have I done’. When I got my results back I got 100 per cent for English. I took the mark as a sign that I couldn’t ignore and because I had written this really spontaneous, from the gut, surf rave it set my destiny as a surf writer.
LIAM HARDY: SCULPTOR at Sculpt Studios
Liam wears Versace jacket POA, Rare pants $350 and Armani knit $585 from Emporio Guardi 07 5591 6148 and shirt $119.95 from Ben Sherman Robina 07 5575 8833, shoes from Sneak and Destroy, sneakanddestroy.com. Work bench from Piece to Peace.
As principal designer and director of Sculpt Studios, Liam has gained his vast knowledge and experience from working on projects all over the world. From film sets, theme parks, zoos and resorts, to private commissions and celebrated bronze sculptures. At the time of going to print Liam was applying the finishing touches to his most memorable job to date, the Arthur Beetson memorial statue, to be positioned at Suncorp Stadium. Liam is a supporter of ‘The ARTIE program’, an organisation dedicated to achieving results through Indigenous education and was honoured to be chosen to ‘tackle’ the project.
Making ideas become a tangible reality is a lot of fun. I love creating spaces that immerse the viewer in an environment that will hopefully give them a sense of wonder. Sculpting the human figure is something that I could never grow tired of.
The Arthur Beetson memorial statue has been one of my favourite jobs to date. It’s an absolute honour to be asked to sculpt the memorial statue of one of Australias most influential sportsmen. He was the first Indigenous man to ever captain an Australian rep team and it’s pretty amazing to immortalise Artie in bronze. It will last for ever and hopefully be there at Suncorp Stadium for ever. It has taken just under five months to complete, but it’s well worth it to create something so that generations of Australians can pay tribute to the man that was the driving force behind our State Of Origin series.
One of the most rewarding parts of my job is collaborating with artists and craftsmen to produce large-scale work that would be impossible to do by yourself. When many different disciplines come together you can achieve spectacular outcomes.
TOM TATE: GOLD COAST MAYOR
Tom wears his own clothes. Pocket square, stylists own.
When Tom Tate decided to make the transition from business to politics he refused to start at the bottom of the ranks as a councilor, instead he ran the for the top job as Mayor. The Gold Coast hotelier has lived on the Coast for 20 years; he raised his four children here and says the one thing he loves best about his home town is the people.
When I found out I was the new Gold Coast mayor I had mixed feelings. First was humbleness for all the people who supported me and the second feeling was ‘wow, this is for real’ and after celebrations I need to get straight into it on Monday. Move over, I am ready!
I want to be remembered as the guy that got the Gold Coast working again. I want a record number of cranes in town, record number of jobs going, people wanting to invest here, people moving back here from New South Wales and Victoria and the Coast on the map as an International city. I don’t want to be remembered as someone who built something tangible, and that might seem strange coming from me as an engineer, but I want to a change the psyche. I want the Gold Coast to returned as the holiday capital of Australia, as the place to invest and as an International city.
Before the year is out I want to have done a deal with the Premier on the location of the cruise ship terminal and engage someone to do a master plan for the cultural precinct in Evandale. I want the Gold Coast City Council to deliver the lowest budget for the past 12 years and with my leadership, put confidence back in our city so the bankers and investors are willing to invest on the Gold Coast. In four years time it will all be happening here; infrastructure, the cruise ship terminal, the new art centre. It will be very vibrant.
MICHAEL ZAVROS: ARTIST
Michael wears Armani jacket $1320, Armani vest $410 from Emporio Guardi 07 5591 6148. Pants, shoes and bag, Michael’s own. Tailor’s chair from Piece to Peace.
Michael Zavros is one of Australia’s most celebrated surrealist painters. Having won several prestigious awards including the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and most recently, the Bulgari Art Award, inclusive of a painting acquisition for the Art Gallery of NSW and a residency in Italy, he is one to follow.
Being an artist is something that I’ve always been, ever since I was a little kid. Before I even started school I used to draw all the time and it was just something that I loved doing.
I was included in a show in 2000 at The Museum of Contemporary Art, a show called Primavera. That was a really big deal for me at the time because it was a show that showcased emerging talent around Australia and I was a very young artist. It was one of those really big milestones and a lot came from that. I find having children in the last six years to be really inspirational if for no other reason than to see the world through different eyes.
I work from photography so I take either photos or images and manipulate them. Basically photography is the starting point and it’s in that initial decision to paint that photograph or in the manipulation of it, that’s almost the creative moment for me.
I really just want to be able to continue making art and doing something I love every day. I think the world is becoming smaller and smaller in that you can have a presence on the international scene without actually leaving your studio.