New Zealand Artist Painting Prince Mural In Chanhassen
CHANHASSEN, Minn. (WCCO) -- It's been two months since Prince died, but a new memorial to him is taking shape in Chanhassen.
Over the weekend, an artist from New Zealand flew to Minnesota and started painting a huge mural on the wall of a building.
The side of the Chanhassen Cinema has never drawn so much attention.
On Saturday, an image of Prince began to emerge thanks to an artist who specializes in what's called "spray-paint photo realism."
"It's a specialized skill set, but I use it in a way that's -- you know, I love what I do," Graham Hoete, the mural's artist, said. "You'll always produce, I believe, good work when you are doing what you love."
Hoete is known as "Mr. G." He lives in Sydney, Australia, and is a huge Prince fan.
"I'm also a bass player as well so I can appreciate the creative genius that Prince was," Mr. G said.
Mr. G started working on the mural Saturday afternoon, beginning with the eyes.
"The power of the portrait is the engagement of the eyes. The eyes are everything in a portrait," he said. "I spent a wee bit of time on the eyes here just to really nail it."
Mr. G spray-painted a mural of Prince in Sydney shortly after the singer died. He says when Minnesotans saw photos of it on social media, they started pleading for him to come here.
"He loved movies. He loved rated G movies, rated PG movies. He always had his favorite place to sit. Favorite theater. He was one of our favorite clients," Martin Hubbard, manager of the Chanhassen Cinema, said.
Hubbard says Prince came here about twice a month to watch movies. The theater is planning to donate its recent ticket sales from "Purple Rain" to the McPhail Center for Music, where Prince once took lessons.
Jeff Anderson brought his daughter out to take a photo with the mural.
"It's really awesome," Anderson said. "Like I say, for being a guy that's painting with spray cans, it's incredible."
Mr. G is donating his time and his skill to create mural for free. He's planning an official presentation of the mural to the public on Wednesday at 7 p.m. He wants Prince fans to come out and be part of a huge group photo, taken by a drone camera.
