Thom McGinty (1 April 1952 â€" 20 February 1995), known as The
Diceman, was a Scottish actor, model, and street artist specialising
in mime, who spent most of his career in Ireland, where he became a
landmark living statue and honorary Dubliner.He was born in Glasgow in
1952 and was a member of Strathclyde Theatre Group in the early 1970s
before coming to Ireland in 1976 to work as a nude model at the
National College of Art and Design. The name "The Diceman" came from
one of McGinty's employers, The Diceman Games Shop that was located,
first, in an arcade on Grafton Street, Dublin, and then on South Anne
Street.McGinty specialised in standing in the street, stock still and
in complete silence, and in costume, for long periods of time like a
living statue, and would disturb his immobility only to perform his
trademark broad, saucy, pantomime wink to reward anyone who put money
at his feet. When the Gardaà told him to move along for causing an
obstruction in the street when crowds gathered to watch him, McGinty
developed an extremely slow-motion walk that was really immobility in
motion. Most of his costumes were exuberant and fanciful, and he
appeared in such guises as the framed Mona Lisa, or Dracula, or as a
light bulb, teapot, or clown. He was charged with breach of the peace
and with wearing a costume which could offend public decency, on 15
June 1991, for a street performance in which he wore nothing but a
skimpy loin cloth that failed to cover his buttocks. McGinty called
himself a "stillness artist" and "a human statue".
Diceman, was a Scottish actor, model, and street artist specialising
in mime, who spent most of his career in Ireland, where he became a
landmark living statue and honorary Dubliner.He was born in Glasgow in
1952 and was a member of Strathclyde Theatre Group in the early 1970s
before coming to Ireland in 1976 to work as a nude model at the
National College of Art and Design. The name "The Diceman" came from
one of McGinty's employers, The Diceman Games Shop that was located,
first, in an arcade on Grafton Street, Dublin, and then on South Anne
Street.McGinty specialised in standing in the street, stock still and
in complete silence, and in costume, for long periods of time like a
living statue, and would disturb his immobility only to perform his
trademark broad, saucy, pantomime wink to reward anyone who put money
at his feet. When the Gardaà told him to move along for causing an
obstruction in the street when crowds gathered to watch him, McGinty
developed an extremely slow-motion walk that was really immobility in
motion. Most of his costumes were exuberant and fanciful, and he
appeared in such guises as the framed Mona Lisa, or Dracula, or as a
light bulb, teapot, or clown. He was charged with breach of the peace
and with wearing a costume which could offend public decency, on 15
June 1991, for a street performance in which he wore nothing but a
skimpy loin cloth that failed to cover his buttocks. McGinty called
himself a "stillness artist" and "a human statue".
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