Christchurch is now home to the tallest street art mural in New Zealand.
The incredible 12-storey painting on the back wall of the Distinction Hotel in Cathedral Square was created by Christchurch artist Jacob Yikes for last month’s Flare Street Art Festival.
Reaching a height of 55m and spanning 27.5m, it took Yikes more than three weeks to paint using about 250 litres of paint and 200 spray cans.
“The biggest that I had painted on my own would have been less than half the size of it. Around 23m or 24m,” he said.
Yikes, born Jacob Ryan, is a multi-disciplinary artist and member of the prolific ‘Dtr crew’. He has an extensive background working on large-scale murals and graffiti projects.
His work often depicts elements of dark humour and surreal landscapes.
Festival project manager Selina Faimalo told the New Zealand Herald it wasn’t until the mural was half finished that they realised it was New Zealand’s biggest.
Faimalo said it was a challenging project for both the artist and organisers.
The scale of the mural and gaining access to the wall made it a tricky job.
“I had to find a lift that went that high – and all the lifts were at the stadium [construction site],” Faimalo said.
“We had to make do with the biggest we could get and then there were time restrictions on that.”
Yikes painting was among 15 new pieces of street art created in the central city for the festival.
“I was doing like 14 hour days just to get as much as I could done with that,” Yikes said.
“I had to get abseiling to do the top part of it.
“I was planning to project the image on (the building) because, just the whole nature of that mural, that was the best way to attack it.
“And then we had somebody call noise control on us on that night that I was painting it and had to basically shut it down.”
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