Hine, by Owen Dippie (2015)

In Auckland for the day, I took a late afternoon cycle ride. In the process I went past a mural which has been here for a little more than 18 months. It was painted by Tauranga artist Owen Dippie, working with spray paint. It is on the end wall of a block of apartments in Upper Queen Street. The mural is of his friend (known only as Tania).

Other murals by Dippie have included his rendering of The Girl with a Pearl Earring, and The Birth of Venus. He has also done paintings of famous persons, such as Nelson Mandela, Sir Edmund Hillary, and General Freyberg. Another mural is his rendition of a famous Charles Goldie portrait of Ina Te Papatahi. Most of his murals are in Tauranga.