Charles McQuillanA renowned street artist is back in Belfast for a new piece of work.
Dan Kitchener is famous for creating vibrant metropolitan street art in London and New York.
He has been commissioned to work on a new mural on 135 Ormeau Road, depicting the Ormeau Bridge lit up at night and reflected in the Lagan River.
It comes after the Lower Ormeau Road Traders’ Association received funding to make the road a more viable business destination.
The mural will sit on the corner of University Street in south Belfast in the hope that it will deter anti-social behaviour in the area and cover up existing graffiti.
Kitchener said the site “is huge – quite daunting – but it’s also exciting”.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme the street artist said he “always wants to get the vibe and the feeling” for the site and from people in the area then “try and mix my creative style into that”.
Kitchener is known for his vibrant, colourful cityscapes and said it was important to strike the right tone for street art.
“It’s a window into another world – you want it to not blend in too much that you don’t notice it but you obviously don’t want it to jar with the environment so much that it terrifies people, so it’s a balance – always.”
All of Kitchener’s work is freehand – there are no stencils, projectors or grid guidelines.
“Just this hand and spray paint – if it rains I get wet and it happens a lot especially in Belfast.”
Kitchener is hopeful he can bring “a positive and uplifting feeling experience” to the lower Ormeau Road.
Artur WidakKitchener has already painted a number of other murals in Belfast.
Among them is ‘Belfast – Blurry Eyed’. It was commissioned as part of Belfast Culture Night, it places a traditional Belfast black taxi in a Japanese street scene.
Another colourful mural, ‘Night Taxi’, can be seen on Enfield Street in Belfast.
His latest work has been funded as part of the Vibrant Business Grant, provided by the Department for Infrastructure and Belfast City Council.
It will be officially revealed on 16 March as part of the Lower Ormeau Road Traders’ Association Spring Festival.
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