Owen Dippie taking city art to new heights

Owen Dippie will soon be weaving his mural magic on this specially coated side of Harrington House. Photo/George Novak

The biggest and most ambitious project so far undertaken by Tauranga aerosol artist Owen Dippie will reveal itself like a giant jigsaw puzzle on the side of a high-rise downtown building.

Harrington House has been selected as the next mega-canvas for the street artist whose talent is turning heads and helping to rejuvenate the CBD.

Like all his previous works for the City Centre Action Group, the Renaissance or classical masterpiece on which the mural will be based remains a closely guarded secret.

Action group project team member Anne Pankhurst said the 27m x 11m mural would be painted in a jigsaw fashion so that it was not immediately obvious what was being represented on the wall facing the Harrington St carpark.

"It will be a bit here and a bit there to tease out the interest."

With only a small amount of money left to be raised for his fifth downtown mural, he would start painting this month. Mr Dippie would work from the same crane that was being used to paint Harrington House.

Twelve to 15 murals were planned to eventually make up the project called "Larger Than Life - Owen Dippie".

Ms Pankhurst said they had permission from building owners for another five murals and were fundraising for a further three.

"They are already becoming a bit of a tourist attraction. People are walking around the city and looking at them," she said.

The action group was grateful the project was being made affordable by Mr Dippie not charging anywhere near his usual market rate.

"The whole project is about people feeling good. The public is really enjoying this project and getting behind it."

Not all the murals would be based on Renaissance and classical themes, with Mr Dippie expected to move into story themes that related to the area and his own material.

Mr Dippie and partner Erin recently returned from New York where they were married.

Mrs Dippie said Owen loved a challenge and the bigger the wall the better. The mural on the side of Harrington House would be the biggest so far.

She said Owen was getting great feedback on the work he had done so far and a recent magazine article in which he revealed his face for the first time to a media photographer had created a lot of interest and brought in work from across New Zealand.

Mr Dippie described the way he worked as "painting at the push of a button".