Dunedin artist Koryu Aoshima was one of 15 of New Zealand’s top street artists who gathered in the rural town for the week to create art and hold workshops.
Aoshima’s mural, on the back of Italian restaurant Ristorante Pizzeria Paradiso in the town centre, was the largest of the more than 20 works done as part of this year’s South Sea Spray Festival.
The work features Michelangelo’s David having some gelato, the evangelist Matthew from the Bible’s New Testament gospels reading the menu and thinking of pizza, Mitre Peak, and an angel making pasta.
Rain had scuppered the other two days, which had put on a bit of extra pressure.
Other featured artists included Kell Sunshine, Flox, Sweats, Charles and Janine Williams, Jacob Yikes, Shane Walker, Meep, Ikarus, Dcypher, Enforce, Berst, Deow and Trudy Burdon, whose pieces around the town’s centre featured a range of Fiordland-relevant subjects, including a kea, a trout, a glowworm cave, a crayfish and a moose.
Festival founder and street artist Danny "Deow" Owen said last week’s results were amazing.
"The public feedback is amazing."
There were 23 murals in total, Aoshima’s measuring about 23m by 5m.
Southland district councillor Sarah Greaney said the murals were a vibrant addition to the community.
It gave another opportunity for tourists to take a really good look around Te Anau, she said.
South Sea Spray is an artist-led initiative to enrich communities through public art and cultural storytelling.
More than 100 murals have been created during five festivals held over the past six years, in Winton, Invercargill, Bluff, Gore and Riverton. — Allied Media
