New mural at Paraparaumu Beach celebrates Mexican culture

Kāpiti artist Theo Arraj with his latest work on Marine Parade, Paraparaumu Beach. Photo / Rosalie Willis

The latest artwork of Kāpiti's resident mural artist, Theo Arraj is a stunning design on Marine Parade, Paraparaumu Beach outside Hola, Kāpiti's newest Mexican restaurant.

Featuring symbols of Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday celebrating the day of the dead, bright and colourful flowers surround a portrait of a masked skull.

Spying a large blank wall on the south side of the building, Theo approached Ricardo Reis from Hola about a mural.

Theo Arraj outside Hola at Paraparaumu Beach with his latest artwork. Photo / Rosalie Willis

Sending ideas to each other, they met in the middle and Theo was given the blank space outside the restaurant on Marine Parade as his canvas.

"I love to paint murals and I saw the big wall around the corner and thought 'man, I'd love to paint that'," Theo said.

"We decided to start with the smaller one, to attract people to the restaurant, and it's just a great opportunity to get more art out around town.

"When I see blank walls, I think, 'man I want to put some art on there'."

Theo Arraj's latest artwork.

Being a Mexican restaurant, Ricardo and his team have been working on making the restaurant as authentic as possible.

This includes using chillis imported from Mexico in their dishes and having Latino musician Fernando Figueroa playing music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Researching the culture before he started his design, Theo looked into Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican public holiday celebrating the day of the dead.

His research included speaking to Fernando about his experiences of it and even watching Pixar film Coco, an animated movie about the day of the dead.

"I also did some research into my own whakapapa and found out that I have links to Mesoamerica in my family history.

"I did a whole bunch of research and a few DNA tests and I'm really blessed to have a really rich, diverse history which I can draw inspiration from for my art."

Fernando said, "I feel honored Theo asked me with a lot of respect about painting a Mexican mural.

"I think the mural is wonderful with the image of a dead woman's face full of life and color.

"The roses and chilis hanging on her earrings are great and represents the main image of and pre-columbian Mesoamerica and Mexican culture."

Taking just two days, Theo made the most of the warmth after the storm last week, finishing the design on Wednesday.

"I try to let my art explain itself," Theo said.

"I paint pictures as my expression and it's hard to try to describe it, I'd like people to look at it and get their own thing out of it.

"I've never painted a portrait like this before but I love to paint portraits and I think I've pulled it off."

For a taste of Mexico, head to the restaurant for Taco Tuesday and live music on Friday and Saturday nights.