Kiwi Prince fan Mr G paints tribute to 'creative genius' on Sydney wall

Graham Hoete painted a mural of Prince in Sydney's Liverpool area. Photo / Instagram

A New Zealand artist has paid tribute to Prince, painting a beautiful mural of the musician on a Sydney building.

Graham Hoete, 34, said the portrait of the American musician, who died last week, was a tribute to Prince's "creative genius".

"[He was an] all-time legend who was a major influence throughout my childhood and life," Hoete said

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RIP PRINCE! "Purple Rain" 🙏✊🙏Tribute to one of my fav artists, a creative genius & all time legend who was a major influence throughout my childhood & life..so many memories.. painted at Street Uni Liverpool, Sydney Australia. Big thanks to Delise and team for the wall! FEEL FREE TO SHARE to celebrate his life & work 🙏🙏 much luv. Mr G #mrgprincemural #prince #purplerain #princestagram #princeart

A post shared by mrghoete.art (@mrghoete.art) on Apr 23, 2016 at 10:40pm PDT

The former Tauranga Boys' College pupil, whose artist name is Mr G, painted the mural - a black and white portrait on a purple background - entitled Purple Rain yesterday.

In the painting, Prince has his eyes closed, and drops of rain fall across the foreground of the work.

"I've been a Prince fan since I was a kid. My brother had all his albums on vinyl, I remember the art."

The full-time Sydney-based artist said when he heard of Prince's death, he wanted to use his own skills to pay tribute.

"I put a call out on social media asking for a large blank wall and four people came back to me."

He chose the wall at 1 Speed St, in Sydney's Liverpool area, which was donated by The Street University - an organisation that works with youths - and spray painted the mural in about six hours.

Overnight, Prince fans visited the mural and left flowers, and while Hoete was painting, he had visits from fans, showing support and encouragement.

Hoete recently painted a portrait of All Black Liam Messam.

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All Black / Rugby Legend @liammessam with his G-series painting💪🙌👌👍 photo: @deon smith

A post shared by mrghoete.art (@mrghoete.art) on Apr 23, 2016 at 12:25am PDT

And in 2012, he and his wife travelled to New York to present rapper Ice T and his wife, Coco, with a portrait of their dog.

He has also given a dog portrait to dog whisperer Cesar Millan.