WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – On the 3rd day, being locked in the Australian hotel room for quarantine, David Marriott was bored. He had watched The Sopranos for several seasons, and his eyes were tired of reading.
Then his lunch arrived in a brown paper bowl and he thought, “Aha. It’s a hat waiting to happen. ”
The paper cowboy was born.
Using good quality paper bags, the food they delivered to her every day, Marriott, an art director in TV commercials, began to change an outfit. He added an edge to his hat, then came the vest and traps. Next? A horse, of course.
He found an ironing board in the closet and tied it to a desk lamp for his neck and head, creating a skeleton. The coffee paste became the eyes and nostrils. He called the horse Russell after an old father joke, “Have you heard of the paper cowboys? They were caught and hung for rustling. ”
The creative world that Marriott created in his hotel room in Brisbane became more complicated every day, as he added plot lines to the videos he posted online. The child Clingfilm became the bastard, who stole Russell while he slept.
Like Wilson in Castaway, Marriott says Russell may be a probe house.
“It’s an existential conversation, quite philosophical,” he says. “Why are we here? What are we doing?”
And he laughed at the staff at the Rydges Hotel, demanding that Russell be taken for a walk.
“It made everyone happy,” he said. “The hotel staff is hospitable, but it has all these guests I can’t see or interact with.”
The story behind Marriott’s quarantine is more troubling. His father Harry fell at his home in London and was taken to a hospital, where he was operated on and rehabilitation began. But then he caught the coronavirus.
“I was very lucky that my mother and sisters were there and they were allowed to see him,” Marriott said. “I would zoom in with him at 3 in the morning. Seeing it deteriorate was heartbreaking. But I was able to say goodbye and make peace. ”
Marriott flew from Australia for the funeral in what he says was a grim journey. Like other Australians returning home, he was forced to quarantine at a hotel for two weeks.
Marriott said he did props all his life. Even as a child, he used to have problems because he broke his father’s instruments.
Because quarantined guests are considered potentially infectious, their food is delivered in disposable containers and plates that are thrown away rather than recycled, which Marriott found few grills. But he said he had barely thrown anything away since the beginning of his stay and had to order only a few excerpts, such as duct tape and cling film.
And when he leaves on Saturday, she hopes to take him with Russell and his other creations. He said there was the interest of a film center that wants Russell in an art exhibition.
“He’s a bit of a superstar now,” Marriott said.
After all, he can fold Russell and put him in his bag.