TO ALL THE PIZZA I’VE LOVED BEFORE - JOI MURUGAVELL

By Sarah Birtles

I sat down to chat with Joi about her latest release of Pizza box paintings. The 2020 boxes proved so popular, selling out across Australia and Asia, she is now venturing into Jumbo size.

What prompted you to start painting on pizza boxes?

It was March 2020, Sydney was in lockdown, I ran out of canvases and was eating a lot of pizza. At the moment I prefer burritos

Why did you decide to move onto jumbo size pizza boxes?

Size matters when you want a good feeling like painting to last longer

You’ve glued things like bottle tops, felt and paint brushes into the paintings. What attracts you to collage?

I think collaging is a compulsive act, I see something lying around I have to stick it to something else. Other times a painting just hasn’t worked out so I cut it up and stick it onto another painting. Sometimes a collaged painting that has a collage from a failed painting with a collage from another failed painting doesn’t work out so there’s kinda 3 failures in one painting

Song lyrics often find their way into your artworks. Are there any particular songs you were listening to when you created these jumbo pizza boxes?

The Beatles, Nat King Cole, Queen and songs from The Lion King

What’s the best reaction you’ve had to your pizza box paintings?

I sold them all online, I received some emojis that looked super positive

Do you work on one pizza box in isolation or do you work on multiple boxes at the same time?

Usually multiple, I lay them out like a comic strip

Are there any funny anecdotes/encounters you’ve had with the pizza boxes

My friend Alejandra thought it was a good idea to visit Domino's Pizza with our masks on (to conceal our identities), I’d pretend to be her daughter and she’d say I had a school project and needed pizza boxes. It was a crazy plan from the start but I went along with it as I’m too shy to do things like this on my own. They knew we were lying and only gave us 5 blank pizza boxes so we’d get out of there

What’s your favourite kind of pizza?

The kind with lots of shrooms