Tauranga homeowners Sue Kurtovich and Tom Zonneveld commissioned the Mr G artwork, which is attracting a lot of public interest both online and outside their Otūmoetai house.
Internationally recognised mural artist Graham "Mr G" Hoete has created what could be a New Zealand first – and it's located in residential Tauranga.
Over the course of two days last week, Hoete spray-painted a portrait of Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen.
What made the realistic piece so different was it was painted on the outside of a residential home in Otūmoetai for everyone to see.
"I'm aware of what's out there in New Zealand, and I'm pretty sure this is a New Zealand first, man, in terms of a spray-painted portrait on a nice modern house," the 39-year-old artist, who is based in Pāpāmoa, told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"This was very unique and special and it kind of needed to be done right and tastefully as well, and the response it's had has just been awesome."
"We just love his writing, his songs," Zonneveld, 63, said. "I had open heart surgery about five years ago, and I just listened to Leonard Cohen in the hospital for five days or six days.
"I think we've got about 180-190 of his songs on the iPad and I just put the earphones on and listened to Leonard."
Zonneveld said those songs helped him get through his time in hospital.
"We just love them all."
Sue Kurtovich and Tom Zonneveld commissioned the Leonard Cohen mural for all to see outside their Otūmoetai house. Photo / George Novak
The couple bought their Otūmoetai house in April last year after moving to Tauranga from Auckland.
They have a motorhome named after one of Cohen's songs, Closing Time, and play a lot of his music as they drive it around New Zealand.
Zonneveld and Kurtovich first got the idea for the mural after seeing Hoete and his portraits on television a few months ago.
They wanted something that was outside the box.
Zonneveld emailed Hoete and pitched his idea. After meeting and sharing some photos of Cohen, the piece was drawn up, and on Friday and Saturday last week it came to life under clear blue skies.
Zonneveld said he watched, photographed and videoed Hoete working from start to finish, and crowds of cars and people stopped by to look and take photos.
In fact, while Zonneveld was being interviewed by the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday, someone hopped out of a van to look at the portrait and take a picture.
Zonneveld said the public interest did not worry them at all.
"I've got a lot of art inside the house; no one can see it except Sue and myself. So I thought 'Let's do something that everyone can see'."
As for Hoete's finished masterpiece, Zonneveld said: "It's brilliant. It's so Leonard, it really is.
"Graham is very talented. I've spent a lot of time talking to him about his art and what he's doing and where he's going. He is a very talented man."
Hoete said while he respected Leonard Cohen's genius, he was not as big a fan as Zonneveld and Kurtovich.
He said he was flat out with work at the moment, but the idea of painting a portrait on the house was too good to pass up.
"When he told me the concept, I thought, 'Nah, this is right up my alley'. I love doing stuff that's unique and different, so I kind of shuffled things around to make it happen."
